Marilyn Douala Bell
Encyclopedia
Marilyn Douala Bell Schaub is a socio-economist, president of the cultural organisation doual'art
Doual'art
doual'art is a no profit cultural organisation and art centre founded in 1991 in Douala, Cameroon and focussed on new urban practices of African cities....

 based in Douala
Douala
Douala is the largest city in Cameroon and the capital of Cameroon's Littoral Province. Home to Cameroon's largest port and its major international airport, Douala International Airport, it is the commercial capital of the country...

 Cameroon
Cameroon
Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon , is a country in west Central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west; Chad to the northeast; the Central African Republic to the east; and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the Republic of the Congo to the south. Cameroon's coastline lies on the...

.

Life and Work

Marilyn Douala-Bell is born in Cameroon in 1957 in the royal family of Rudolf Duala Manga Bell
Rudolf Duala Manga Bell
Rudolf Duala Manga Bell was a Duala king and resistance leader in the German colony of Kamerun. After being educated in both Kamerun and Europe, he succeeded his father, Manga Ndumbe Bell, on 2 September 1908. Manga Bell styled himself after European rulers, and he generally supported the colonial...

. She moves to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

 where she accomplish a master in Economy of Development and where she met her husband Didier Schaub. They get married and they move to Douala in 1986.
Since 2000 she has been in charge of urban participatory development policies for the decentralised co-operation of the French Alsace Region; since 1994 she has been collaborating as an international expert in urban and rural development with the Swiss co-operation (DDC), the World Bank
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...

 (GREA), the European Commission
European Commission
The European Commission is the executive body of the European Union. The body is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union's treaties and the general day-to-day running of the Union....

 (PPDR-FED) and with the German co-operation (EED, GTZ). From 1995 to 1998 she co-ordinated the programma in Douala tha programme FOURMI of the European Commission. From 1988 to 1993 she has been a delegate and executive manager for the Central Africa Region of APICA-Association pour la Promotion des Initiatives Communautaires Africaines, a pan-African NGO based in Douala. From 1990 to 1991 she produced with APICA, AFVP-Association Française de Volontaire du Progrès, GRET-Groupe de Recherche et d’Echanges Technologiques and with the support of the French co-operation a analysis on negotiations between population, founders and public operators for urban development.
In 1991 she co-founded the cultural organisation and contemporary art centre doual'art
Doual'art
doual'art is a no profit cultural organisation and art centre founded in 1991 in Douala, Cameroon and focussed on new urban practices of African cities....

. In 2007 she created with Didier Schaub the SUD-Salon Urbain de Douala, a triennial festival on public art. Marilyn Douala Bell has contributed to numerous conferences in particular on independent cultural institutions and on art and urban transformations, among which in 2010 Kenya Workshop organised by the Mondriaan Foundation, Mobile A2K: Resources Interfaces and Contents on Urban Transformation at the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center
Rockefeller Foundation
The Rockefeller Foundation is a prominent philanthropic organization and private foundation based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The preeminent institution established by the six-generation Rockefeller family, it was founded by John D. Rockefeller , along with his son John D. Rockefeller, Jr...

 and Curating in Africa Symposium at the Tate Modern
Tate Modern
Tate Modern is a modern art gallery located in London, England. It is Britain's national gallery of international modern art and forms part of the Tate group . It is the most-visited modern art gallery in the world, with around 4.7 million visitors per year...

 in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

in 2009 Cairo Residency Symposium; in 2007 "The Issues and Networks of Art during the Post-Contemporary Era.

The work of Marilyn Douala Bell as president of doual'art is well-know internationally. Her work, the work of her husband Didier Schaub, artistic director of doual'art, and of all their team has received the Prince Claus Award in 2010 and it is acknowledged in numerous publications. In particular Marilyn Douala Bell has achieved to establish an international network around Douala and to produce a significant number of projects and cultural initiatives to experiment new ways of transforming the city.

Publications

  • M. Douala Bell and L. Babina (eds.), Douala in Translation. A view of the city and its creative transformative potentials, episode publishers, Rotterdam 2007.
  • Lexique du dévéloppement à la base, Editions APICA, 1997.
  • La crise structurelle des économies minières africaines: les enseignements des années 70, University of Sussex. Institute of Development Studies, 1984.
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