From feasting to fasting: An autoethnography of Njangis

Abstract

IIn this article, I use autoethnography to share my personal experiences with Njangis in Cameroon, Central Africa. ‘Njangi’ is an old business practice where members of a community contribute money to assist one another turn by turn. There is literature on the concept of Njangis, however, autoethnography has not been used to share the rich African values that underpin this concept. Using reflexivity as a postmodernist technique,I describe my experiences with Njangis as both a child and adult, while contrasting this with a conventional ‘Western’ banking system. The aim of this emancipatory exercise is to give voice to an African practice as it relates to business and ethics.