Kapsiki people

Home on the outskirts of Rhumsiki

The Kapsiki (Ka-Tsepkye) is one of the dialects of the Kamwe Language found in Nigeria and Cameroon. They live in the Far North Province in the Mandara Mountains. The Ka-Tsepkye are considered one of Cameroon's Kirdi (pagan) ethnic groups due to their resistance to Islamisation during the Fulani jihad of Modibo Adama. The Kamwe language has about eleven other dialects which are Nkafa, Sina, Ghye, Humsi, Dakwa and Tilli amongst. The Kamwe people resisted the invasion by the Fulani jihadists led by Modibo Adama and Hama Yaji.

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  Volcanic peaks in the Kapsiki region

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  A woman outside Rhumsiki.

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  Kapsiki women at the yearly festival

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  Crab divination by the Kapsiki

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  Just initiated boys in Rumsu, Kapsiki.

References

• DeLancey, Mark W., and Mark Dike DeLancey (2000): Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Cameroon (3rd ed.). Lanham, Maryland: The Scarecrow Press.
• Van Beek, Walter E.A. (2012): The Dancing Dead. Ritual and Religion among the Kapsiki/Higi of North Cameroon and Northeast Nigeria, Oxford University Press.
• Van Beek, Walter E.A. (2013): Crab divination among the Kapsiki/Higi of North Cameroon and northeastern Nigeria' in Reviewing reality : dynamics of African divination Walter E.A. van Beek & Philip M. Peek, eds. Berlijn: LIT Verlag, p. 185-209.