A Miscarriage of Revolution: Cameroonian Women and Nationalism

This article gives an account of Cameroonian women’s role in the radical, anticolonial nationalist movement led by the UPC (Union des populations du Cameroun) and explains the formation of the Union démocratique des femmes camerounaises (UDEFEC), a women’s political party linked with the UPC. The study demonstrates that the UDEFEC transcended ethnic, class, educational, and social divides, and popularized nationalism in both urban and rural areas throughout the Trusteeship Territories of Cameroon under French and British administration. By premising issues such as economic autonomy and biological and agricultural fertility, UDEFEC politics wove anti-imperial democracy into locally based political philosophies.