Occupation of public space: anglophone nationalism in Cameroon

Abstract

This article examines the historical process leading to the emergence of Anglophone nationalism in public space during the liberalisation process in the 1990s in Cameroon. Anglophone nationalism poses a severe threat to the post-colonial State's nation-building project that has been driven by the firm determination of the Francophone political elite to dominate the Anglophone minority and to erase the cultural and the institutional foundations of Anglophone identity. Persistent attempts by the Francophone-dominated State to control the newly created Anglophone movements have made Anglophone nationalists resort to less obtrusive forms of resistance, creating public space for an Anglophone identity and nationhood in historical, artistic, virtual, legal and everyday domains. Bibliographical references, notes, and summary in English and French. [Journal abstract]