The chief and the trash heap: waste management policy as a political arena and anattribute of power in Cameroon In Garoua and Maroua, North Cameroon, authorities maintain an ambivalent long-standingrelationship with garbage. Waste piled up in specific places turns out over time to be anemblem, a source or a manifestation of political authorities' ability or inability to manage thetown and the city-dwellers. The diachronic study of ways of perceiving and managing wastein this context are key to understand local political stakes and conflicts. It also highlights the essence of power, as it is conceived in these two mid-size African towns
