Ngaoundéré Anthropos was stablished in 1992 at the University of Ngaoundéré. The program aimed at development of academic competence in northern Cameroon, a region which, due to is geo-political characteristcs had been separated from the acadmeic and cultural institutions in the south of the country. By the time of Anthropos’ creation, none of the published works about peoples and cultures of northern Cameroon was available in northerly regions. Nor were any of them written by natives of northern Cameroon.
Anthropos recruited students from the local, multi ethnic population (including women) which up to that time didn’t have any chance to pursue higher education. To many students, the seminars offered their first opportunity to interact with people from different sociocultural backgrounds.
In addition to many Bachelor’s and Master’s theses, the Anthropos Program generated books, articles and radio broadcasts as well as Cameroon’s first social science and humanities publication, “Anthropos Journal”.
The program played a major role in establishing social sciences in Cameroon even after it finihed its activity in 2006. Many academics who were beneficiaries of Anthropos scholarships were recruited to the University of Maroua, which opened in 2008 becoming the second university in Northern Cameroon. Another major contribution of the collaborative activities between Ngaoundéré and Tromsø through the Anthropos programme was the creation and development of Visual Cultural Studies (VCS), at the University of Tromsø.
Important Anthropos collaborators included: Eldridge Mohammadou, Oumaru Nduudi, Mohammadou Djingui, Aliou Mohammadou, Hamadjoda Gabriel.