Talk:Baka people (Cameroon and Gabon)

Religion and belief systems
The Baka I have met do not worship anything, but depend on the forest as their guardian and provider.

Any comments or objections? If there are none, I'll change it. Abbyemery 19:16, 16 July 2006 (UTC)
 * You need a reference to back you up. Otherwise, that's original research, forbidden on Wikipedia. — BrianSmithson 20:46, 16 July 2006 (UTC)

pygmoids
If "pygmoid" is a term that's been discarded because it was based on disproven notions, how can the Baka be "strictly speaking" pygmoids? Isn't that a bit like discussing whether or not the Aleuts are "strictly speaking" part of the "American" race? There's certainly historical interest in what researchers used to think about the Baka, but since nothing is sourced or explained here, you can't really surmise anything useful.205.212.73.70 22:15, 27 May 2007 (UTC)

Cleaned up the "pygmy" stuff. But this whole damn article is unsourced. Really, who came up with such elaborate information, and couldn't be bothered to source it? I smell original research. And original research, at that, by someone who used "Baka" and "pygmy" interchangeably, which was never acceptable even when it was considered acceptable to speak of "pygmies." This article is begging for something radical.205.212.75.210 10:52, 5 June 2007 (UTC)

Radical Expansion of Baka People Article
As part of a project for my Poverty, Justice and Human Capabilities class at Rice University, I have decided to take on the task of expanding this article. I would greatly appreciate your feedback as I am sure that you are aware of how difficult it is to find information about the Baka here in the States. As far as the changes I would like to make:

1. I would like to create a new section entitled Identity in which I will discuss the Baka population (where they are located) as well as their way of communal living and the roles of women and men in Baka society. I was thinking of including some information on the term "pygmy" and it's controversial nature in this section. Do any of you have any specific information that I could use in creating the Gender Roles in the Baka Community sub-part?

2. I would love to add a section on Baka history. This has been the hardest information to find thus far. Do any of you have any information or know where I can find verifiable information on the history of Baka people? This would be extremely helpful as not much information is readily available.

3. I would like to develop the culture section and split it into three parts: Hunting and Gathering, Performing Arts and Religion and Belief Systems. Abbyemery, as you mentionned the Baka do not worship a specific deity however, they do worship Nature and rely on it to provide for them. I will thus discuss their relationship with Nature in the Belief Systems section.

4. I would like to dedicate an entire section on the Baka people's contributions to the medical world. Do any of you have any advice on how I could divide this section?

5. I would like to discuss Baka Present-Day Exploitation. I would include the lack of Voting Rights, Healthcare and access to Education that the Baka face as well as discuss how deforestation may have a negative impact. In this sub-section, I will expand on the WWF situation.

6. I would like to discuss efforts that have been set into motion to aid the Baka. Do any of you have any information that you think would be useful?

I am looking forward to working on this article and would truly love to get some of your help with this. Please feel free to post any advice that you may have for me on the Talk page.Sessama7 (talk) 05:16, 21 October 2013 (UTC)Sessama7

Review of article
Sessama7 has definitely made some improvements to this article. Overall, I find the article to be informative in its scope and detail. There seem to be certain specifics that are lacking such in-depth detail about certain aspects of the Baka lifestyle. The tone of the article in regards to neutrality of the information provided adheres to the Wikipedia standards. There are sections within the article which are certainly incomplete, but it appears that these areas are intended to be developed in the future. Some other major concerns include the number of sources that are used to support the work, which may be difficult to acquire, as Sessama7 has indicated that she has been having troubles finding information regarding specifics into the lives of the Baka. There does not seem to be a mixture of scholarly perspectives or a collection of corroborating evidence for the claims being presented, but it would be nice to see information presented in each section with information from more than 1 resource. Otherwise, I find the work to be informative and of a high quality based upon Wikipedia standards. Keep up the good work! and thanks for increasing the information that Wikipedia can offer AlecLH (talk) 01:34, 7 November 2013 (UTC)


 * Hi AlecLH!

Thank you so much for taking the time to read and review my article. I have taken into account your recommendations and have done by my best to incorporate them within my article. Concerning the sources and areas in need of being developed, I must admit that it is a bit difficult finding detailed information about the topic. I did the best that I could given the time that we were allotted, but I definitely look forward to adding more information in the coming months as I find more information. Once again thank you for your help and please let me know if you have any further advice! Best, Sessama7 (talk) 07:24, 3 December 2013 (UTC)

Peer Review
Sessama7 has greatly improved this article and the scope of knowledge is commendable. Some points that could be changed are mainly dealing with the tone and grammar of the article. At times, sentences are confusing and run on for a while. Also, I sometimes feel that the language varies; at time it seems too casual and at other times, the word choice may not be accessible to all who would read the article. There are also an abundance of blue links with unnecessary things being linked to such as death and foliage. Removing these blue links would be beneficials as it just seems to cloud up the article with unnecessary references. Overall, this article is great and has been successful in getting out more information about the Baka people and their lifestyle.Gracieoribamise (talk) 02:28, 7 November 2013 (UTC)


 * Hi Gracieoribamise!

Thank you for taking the time to look over my article. I greatly appreciated your advice and made sure to clean up my grammar mistakes as well as the sentences that may have been confusing. I also made it a point to remove unnecessary blue links. Please let me know what you think. I look forward to hearing your thoughts. Best, Sessama7 (talk) 07:26, 3 December 2013 (UTC)

TA Comments
Sessama7, great work on this article! I noticed a few things you might want to look at. The References to the "Pygmy" throughout history section would make more sense if you mentioned more about the Baka being viewed as pygmies in the Identity section - right now the only mention you have of that is a brief point in the introduction. You describe the Baka as a "primitive community" in the Culture section, which you might want to rephrase because that phrase has negative connotations. The section title Relief efforts also implies that they need relief; a more neutral title would be Nonprofit efforts or NGO efforts. Nadhika99 (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 06:39, 18 November 2013 (UTC)


 * Hi Nadhika99!

Thank you so much for taking the time to read and review my article. Your comments were much appreciated and I made sure to fix some of the wording that you recommended I change. I did my best to bring more information about the Baka being "pygmies" and of short stature. I, however, could not go into much depth because I could only utilize a few sources to back-up my statements. Please let me know if you have any advice for me concerning this matter. Thank you again! Best, Sessama7 (talk) 07:29, 3 December 2013 (UTC)

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External links modified
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 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20131205184446/http://www.insightshare.org/hubs/cameroon to http://www.insightshare.org/hubs/cameroon
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