The conflict of norms generates psychological suffering

For his thesis the author carried out a study on the basis of questionnaires addressed to 1,200 victims of the conflict of inheritance norms between tradition and modernity within their families. ‘My objective was to evaluate the impact of these conflicts on the individual behaviour of people and their relationships with others. This social psychology research is closely linked to the theory of cognitive dissonance conceived in 1957 by Léon Festinger. This theory models the way people live out and manage contradictions on a daily basis. In 1987, for the thirtieth anniversary of his theory, Léon Festinger deplored the fact that it had remained too much in a laboratory context. He wished that researchers would go out into the field more. My thesis has the aim of proving the usefulness of such fieldwork.’

The responses to the questionnaires show that the ambiguity generated by the duality of laws brings about several types of psychological suffering amongst people faced by the conflicts of succession norms: psychological discomfort (a feeling of being destabilised); anxiety and angst; negative effects linked to the self (being angry with oneself, shame, a feeling of disgust, frustration, guilt, etc.); negative effects connected to the Self and Others (a feeling of contempt, hostility, etc.).

The field investigation also demonstrates that more respondents accept the succession norms of modern law (73.34% of respondents) than those of tradition (67%). Less than half of the respondents (44.71%) accept at the same time what tradition and modernity advocate. ‘We noted that the children of divorced parents and widows were less inclined to be in favour simultaneously of both norms, as they have experienced succession conflicts more intensely,’ emphasises Joseph Bomda. ‘It is following situations such as sharing the legal estate after a divorce or the death of a spouse (above all a man) when the conflicts between tradition and modernity are the most intense. These children find themselves faced with a dilemma: defying tradition, which will lead them to being stigmatised and subject to the anger of the ancestors, or repudiating modernity and subjecting themselves to the injustice of tradition.’

Joseph Bomda feels that an adaptation of the law is necessary to reduce the suffering of those who are victims of the current duality. ‘Modern law is welcome, as it is inadmissible for example that a woman or a girl is considered as a person-object. Civil law should nevertheless respect the logic of the perpetuation of the person in the succession: let the assets be divided, but let a member of the community represent the deceased person in the social chain. Modern law could recognise the existence of a main heir, a child who has a psychological majority over the others given the social responsibilities linked with his position (presiding over a family reunion, to the ancestral cults, being able to interrupt work to console a member of the family affected by a problem, etc.). A project for a Family and Peoples’ Code has been debated in the National Assembly for the past fifteen years. I am not a legal expert, but it is time the Cameroon leaders grabbed the bull by the horns and stopped playing on two different fields. My thesis helps to show the scale of the emotional and psychological shock that this duality entails for the people.’