A region with a long history of great cultural diversity, northern Cameroon is populated by the politically dominant Fulbe, the pastoral Mbororo, and by farming populations such as the Gbaya. Based on knowledge of each group built up over twenty-five years of research, this study elaborates (on) the shifting patterns of social assimilation and exclusion that characterize inter-ethnic relations - including recent violent episodes.

Taking a resolutely interethnic approach, Philip Burnham analyzes the local construction of identity as well as the influence of political and economic forces at the state and global level.

He shows how local social trends as well as recent large-scale developments in Africa such as the decline of state power, World Bank structural adjustments, and the growing importance of ethnic associations, nongovernmental organizations, and international religious groups have exerted a major impact on the character of interaction and political mobilization in the region.

A major contribution to current debates about the 'ethnicized politics' that predominate in contemporary Africa, The Politics of Cultural Difference in Northern Cameroon discusses the 'invention' of tradition, the deconstruction of ethnicity, and the nature of the modern African state.