Comment on Jean-Pierre Warnier's "“The Grassfields of Cameroon: Center or Periphery?"”

Since the 1960s, African historiography of early periods, especially of early social complexity, has oscillated between models of local initiative and outside input. Fortunately, the more overtly political debates about state formation in Africa have passed from the scene, and our discussion can focus more closely on the specific merits of the various arguments. [...]the discovery of new data, especially from archaeology, and the better use of existing data, as in linguistics, can help clear the way for a deeper understanding of poorly documented regions like the Grassfields.