The result of more than twenty years of research, Chevalier KUTCHE's *Du Pou' au captif atlantique* offers a masterful exploration of the history of slavery in Cameroon's Grassfields (17th-20th centuries). By rigorously cross-referencing colonial archives with oral traditions, the author lifts the veil on a taboo in historical memory by exploring the Bamiléké kingd, the Bamoun Sultanate, and the Tikar chiefdoms. The book draws a major conceptual distinction between the Pou'-traditional customary slavery, conceived as a process of gradual social integration-and the transatlantic slave trade, introduced by European powers as early as the 17th century. The book offers a keen analysis of the violent rupture caused by Western demand: integration into the global economy perverted ancestral ways of life, transforming integration into a brutal and systemic commodification of human beings, fueled by the firearms trade. This work of history and anthropology highlights the agency of local actors and gives voice to the oppressed. This invaluable book stands as an indispensable act of reclaiming memory for contemporary Cameroon.
