Mokoagne moni: Sorcery and New Forms of Wealth in Cameroon

Since the mid-1990s, feymen , as young successful urban tricksters and professional swindlers are commonly known in Cameroon, have become the iconic figures of what many Cameroonians conceive as prosperity, success, and good life. 2 They have also become the embodiment of a successful monetary quest which is the main concern of many marginalized youths in this country. 3 Through the economy of fraud, swindle, and deception, these young people, who mostly come from underprivileged social backgrounds, manage to accumulate huge fortunes enabling some of them to wear flashy clothes, drive fancy cars, live in impressive mansions in gentrified residential areas of Douala (the economic capital) and Yaounde (the political capital), or to patronize music bands or football clubs in their home town. More importantly, feymen have become the living icons of what Jean and John Comaroff aptly call ‘occult economies’, 4 one of the most noticeable manifestations of millennial...