Blackitude Museum is an

ethnographic Ethnography (from Greek ''ethnos'' "folk, people, nation" and ''grapho'' "I write") is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. Ethnography explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject o ...

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...

Yaoundé Yaoundé (; , ) is the capital of Cameroon and, with a population of more than 2.8 million, the second-largest city in the country after the port city Douala. It lies in the Centre Region of the nation at an elevation of about 750 metres (2,50 ...

;

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

. The museum project began in March 1998 from a commitment of its founding president Her Majesty Ngo Nab. Fo I NANA Agnes Sunjio through her deep desire to save what remains of the artistic heritage in Cameroon. As a member of the royal family Bahouoc (Department of Nde in the western province of Cameroon), she carefully protected and preserved collections of art objects which were bequeathed by both her father and by kings of other chiefdoms, such as

Bamileke The Bamileke are a Central African people who inhabit the Western High Plateau of Cameroon. Languages The Bamileke languages belong to the Grassfields branch of the Niger-Congo language family, which is sometimes labeled as a " Bantuoid lang ...

Plateau In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; ), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. Often one or more sides ha ...

of western Cameroon.

History

The Blackitude Museum is a private museum created in 2000 by Her Majesty Queen Nana Agnes after receiving important parts of the collection from her father, who was the traditional ruler of the Western Region in Cameroon (Grass Field). The rest of the collections are constituted through donation and purchase.

Prehistoric Prehistory, also known as pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the use of the first stone tools by hominins 3.3 million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use of ...

Lithic Lithic may refer to: *Relating to stone tools **Lithic analysis, the analysis of stone tools and other chipped stone artifacts **Lithic core, the part of a stone which has had flakes removed from it **Lithic flake, the portion of a rock removed to ...

artifacts were collected in 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2012 during field researches in the Western Region of Cameroon. Some of them, such as scrapers and tips of arrows, are copies of original

lithic Lithic may refer to: *Relating to stone tools **Lithic analysis, the analysis of stone tools and other chipped stone artifacts **Lithic core, the part of a stone which has had flakes removed from it **Lithic flake, the portion of a rock removed to ...

tools collected from the archeological laboratories in

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

by the curator Apollinaire Kaji in 2012.

Collection

In addition to the collections of the royal treasury received in 1982 after the death of her father, Fo Nab Ngo I has increased the collection to over 2,070 works of art. The collection and documentation of these works has helped to create a framework for both the protection and dissemination of Cameroonian art. Several different themes are present in the museum's permanent exhibitions.

Governance

The museum is run by a board of trustees consisting of seven individuals: * Chair person: Dr Sunjio Eric, * Founder: Her Majesty Queen Nana Agnes Fo Nab Ngo I., * General Director: Tchuisseu Nana Christian, * Treasurer: Chantal Djomen, * Secretary: Ateba Ossende Ghislain, * Scientific coordinator: Professor Joseph-Marie Essomba, * Vice-coordinator: Kaji Appolinaire.

Building

It is situated in the center of the city of Yaoundé, the political capital city of Cameroon. The museum is housed in an old building that was modified to create space for exhibitions and other services. Currently, it is still under renovation to meet the standards of a museum.

References

Museums in Cameroon Yaoundé Cultural infrastructure completed in 2000 Ethnographic museums in Africa {{ethnographic-museum-stub