Football for solidarity: Bridging gaps between the Baka and the Bantu in East Cameroon

This chapter focuses on the conditions under which a football tournament set up as an action research project in Cameroon was successful in nurturing solidarities. It presents the results of a football programme in Cameroon which was set up as an action research project to improve the relationships between the local Bantu and Baka communities. The chapter argues that better relations between the Baka and the Bantu are crucial. As stereotyping and lack of positive interactions between Baka and Bantu are identified as crucial barriers to intergroup solidarity, an action research intervention was set up in which Baka and Bantu were brought together in positive contact situations. By focusing on practices of solidarity, the authors made it clear that changes do not only occur in the attitudes and the discourses people hold, but also in the practices they deploy towards each other.