In the name of the (God) father: The unnameable name
Dados Bibliográficos
AUTOR(ES) | |
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AFILIAÇÃO(ÕES) | Department of Anthropology, University of Douala Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Cameroon |
ANO | 2024 |
TIPO | Artigo |
PERIÓDICO | Ethnography |
ISSN | 1466-1381 |
E-ISSN | 1741-2714 |
EDITORA | SAGE Publications |
DOI | 10.1177/14661381241263847 |
ADICIONADO EM | 2025-08-18 |
Resumo
The article provides an answer to fundamental questions of what qualifies a name, specifically the (god) father's name, as something unnameable comparable to the God's name? What word is commonly used by the Bamilekes from the Grassfields region of Cameroon to name a name that cannot be named in public? What is substituted for when a name is unavailable? Why are these people engaged in a politics of sur-naming, despite the fact the fact they usually bear many names? Is the prevailing sur-naming practice justified by the lacking of proper name as Derrida argues? The text argues that in Bamileke societies where a respectable kinship system (in opposition to a joking kinship) prevails, an adult is rarely referred to by his/her name but rather by his/her ndap (eulogy name) that ends up obliterating the person's proper name to the point of turning it into a dead name.