Sensitive Threats to the Bafut Cultural and Architectural Heritage

Abstract

There are many threats facing the cultural heritage of the Bafut Fondom. There are many other problems and challenges that hinder the full use of the heritage of this Fondom for the benefit of tourism and socio-economic development.

The dying architectural heritage for instance is a socio-cultural emergency, as traditional architecture remains an indispensable aspect of its history, her cultural heritage-defining who they are as Africans and Cameroonians in particular.  

Most of our African countries have little or no stated policy towards the protection and promotion of traditional African architecture. The affordability and ease of construction should ordinarily have made this style of architecture the most appropriate for low-income housing and communal buildings like schools, hospitals and markets in suburban communities. Sadly, architects and designers will typically have a hard time obtaining building permits for these kinds of buildings in the country, because the development control units at the town planning departments are ill-equipped to arbitrate over the approval of building permits for indigenous architecture, because the existing codes donot cover them.  

The spaces one lives, works, and plays in are essential to one’s overall sense of self, community and well being. In most of our countries there is little research to date on the role of built environment in defining cultural values, largely because it is broadly perceived that great architecture and architectural innovation originates in the developed world - infact this misconception is a serious threat to Architectural heritage in Africa. This paper is dedicated to raising awareness on the dangers and threats rocking the cultural and traditional architectural heritage of the Bafut fondom and beyond. Emphasis is placed on the fact that failure to respect and recognize the Traditional Management Systems of our communities threatens the very survival and existence of architectural heritage in particular and cultural heritage in general.Bafut owns a wealth of tangible and intangible heritage that is not fully exploited and the tourism the fondom receives is not commensurate due to many challenges and threats that face the use of heritage. This paper aims to highlight some of these sensitive threats and challenges.