Political liberalization in Cameroon has been marked by the construction and mobilization of ethno-regional identities that pose a major challenge to the postcolonial nation-State project. This... Show morePolitical liberalization in Cameroon has been marked by the construction and mobilization of ethno-regional identities that pose a major challenge to the postcolonial nation-State project. This book focuses on Anglophone Cameroon, a region characterized by a widespread feeling that reunification with Francophone Cameroon in 1961 has led to a growing marginalization of the Anglophone minority. The book traces the historical trajectory of Anglophone Cameroon to reunification and outlines the strategies used by the Francophone-dominated State to undermine the identity of Anglophone Cameroon, the emergence of Anglophone organizations in the aftermath of political liberalization in the 1990s, the strategies employed by the Biya government to deconstruct the Anglophone identity, and Anglophone and Francophone responses to the Anglophone movements' views. It pays special attention to two of the major confrontations between the government and the Anglophones, namely the struggles for the preservation of the Anglophone educational and economic legacies. The book concludes with some suggestions on how the present stalemate between the regime and the Anglophone movement could be broken. [ASC Leiden abstract] Show less
This paper discusses the repression of the identity of the anglophone minority in Cameroon after the initial liberalization of the one-party francophone-dominated State of President Paul Biya... Show moreThis paper discusses the repression of the identity of the anglophone minority in Cameroon after the initial liberalization of the one-party francophone-dominated State of President Paul Biya since the early 1990s. The reactivation of anglophone identity at the time of democratization became manifest in the emergence of the Social Democratic Front (SDF), the first opposition party, and other anglophone organizations, and this posed a threat to the regime and to the unitary State. The Biya regime has been quite successful in its strategies to deconstruct anglophone identity and disempower the anglophones. One strategy has been a refusal to negotiate about a return to a federal State or peaceful secession, and a resort to outright repression. Another government strategy has been to re-establish control over the media. An important strategy has also been to apply a divide and rule policy and to fuel the existing tensions between South-Westerners, or the coastal/forest people, and North-Westerners, or grassfields people, in the anglophone territory. In this way and through the construction of new ethnic identities, the regime has attempted to crosscut the francophone-anglophone divide. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum Show less
The root of the 'anglophone problem' in Cameroon may be traced back to 1961, when the political elites of two territories with different colonial legacies - one French and the other British -... Show moreThe root of the 'anglophone problem' in Cameroon may be traced back to 1961, when the political elites of two territories with different colonial legacies - one French and the other British - agreed on the formation of a federal State. Contrary to expectations, this did not provide for the equal partnership of both parties, let alone for the preservation of the cultural heritage and identity of each, but turned out to be merely a transitory phase to the total integration of the anglophone region into a strongly centralized, unitary State. Gradually, this created an anglophone consciousness: the feeling of being marginalized by the francophone-dominated State. In the wake of political liberalization in the early 1990s, anglophone interests came to be represented first and foremost by various associations and pressure groups that initially demanded a return to the federal State. It was only after the persistent refusal of the Biya government to discuss this scenario that secession became an overt option with mounting popularity. The government's determination to defend the unitary State by all available means, including repression, could lead to an escalation of anglophone demands past a point of no return. Notes, ref Show less
