Design and acculturation process of young Bamilekes in Cameroon

When we approach the question of design in Africa, we come up against two problems that seem major to us: the first is that of its very existence, due to the youth of this discipline, and the second is that of its very definition. We will not discuss here the existence or not of a design that could rightly be called African, what matters most to us is the definition of the term. Indeed, the term design does not seem to have posed the same concerns to authors as the word 'art' in its definition. Several approaches have been developed and only two have retained our attention: the historical one and the etymological one. Why be afraid to talk about an African design? Africa, and Cameroon in particular, has always been the seat of magico-religious rites and beliefs that have influenced the various creations. The richness of symbols that comes from this is part of our heritage, we must preserve it.