Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - MUST READ: Paradise Lost? A Political History of British Southern Cameroons from 1916 to 1972

hi gloria

you might have understated the number of languages spoken in cameroon.

the world atlas lists

The incredible linguistic diversity of Cameroon is easily visible in its huge wealth of national languages. 55 Afro-Asiatic languages, 169 Niger-Congo languages, 4 Ubangian languages, and 2 Nilo-Saharan languages are spoken in Cameroon. The Niger-Congo languages spoken here can be further classified and includes 140 Benue-Congo languages, 28 Adamawa languages, and one Senegambian language.

A large number of the native Cameroon languages have alphabets and writing systems but are hardly represented in radio, television programs, and literary work. An orthographic system for all Cameroon languages was established in the 1970's. It is known as the General Alphabet of Cameroon.

but there are more. my memory is that there were 800 in the 1970s when i was there. some actually die. others shift and change over time--all the languages of the world do, and in the case of cameroon the influences of french and english impact the local languages a lot. the most widely spoken when i was there was cameroonian pidgin, and it probably still is. it is a version of pidgin, like niigerian, but with many different words coming from french etc. it has a vibrant literature

the relation beteween languages opens the question of dialects, as well. still cameroon, the cross roads of so much--the sahelian north, the forests in south east; the grasslands in the west, the divisions especially between anglo and francophone since independence--makes it a uniquely rich country for languages.

ken

kenneth harrow

professor emeritus

dept of english

michigan state university

517 803-8839

harrow@msu.edu

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From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Gloria Emeagwali <gloria.emeagwali@gmail.com>
Sent: Thursday, July 16, 2020 12:24 PM
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - MUST READ: Paradise Lost? A Political History of British Southern Cameroons from 1916 to 1972

 

Thanks for sharing.

 Cameroonian Studies should focus on geographical location and other meaningful  markers rather than the colonial language at play,  in their analyses.

This author focuses on Southern Cameroons  without the "anglophone" or "francophone" trope in the title. I have to read the book to see if this is true of the entire content.

Cameroon has about two hundred 

languages cutting across Niger- Congo, Nilo-Saharan and Bantu

Language families.There may be  many who speak neither French nor English. I do recall Bamum as a prominent language and  also  a writing system and the name of an ethnoregional polity, for example.

Ehret pointed out in his November lecture at Harvard that the

Cameroonian region was among the world's earliest iron producers around 2300BC or thereabouts, so it is no

new comer on the stage of human history.

It seems to  me that the Anglophone/Francophone/ or

Germanphone  categorization 

conceals the fact of  four millennia of 

significant human interaction with the

environment, in the region, before the euro-colonizers stepped in.It also marginalizes the Indigenous languages spoken, implying that they don't exist.It ossifies the colonial era, making it retroactive to the start of human history and  may even weaken the effort to do research on and embrace indigenous languages.

  Politicians may find it useful in rallying the troops but scholars should probably minimize usage and center their discussions on some other preferred nomenclature.  Savannah, Mountainous, Coastal; Eastern, Western, Central, Northern, Southern Cameroon? Since the dominant language families are Bantu, Niger Congo and NiloSaharan, how about Bantuphone, Nigercongophone (Nigophone) and NiloSahara phone (Nisaphone)CAMEROON?

Well I am definitely no expert on this region so these comments are subject to correction by the  specialists.

I shall have a look at the book.

Thanks.

GE

On Jul 16, 2020, at 9:05 AM, Abiodun Gbada <abiodunnbadmuss@gmail.com> wrote:



This is a complete and well balanced, fully researched history book of British Southern Cameroons spanning from pre-colonial era to post-independence and Neo-colonization. This book will be deeply cherished by the general public as well as scholars of history, international law and diplomacy. The facts are clearly presented and events are fully referenced.The book also clearly lays out the underpinnings of the crisis for sovereignty and self determination brewing in the former British Southern Cameroons and proposes a path forward that guarantees peace and prosperity for its citizens. It was written by Nfor Ngala Nfor, a well known figure in international circles as a political activist and freedom fighter. He has a lifetime of dedication to improving the wellbeing of all people through self-governance and self-determination

 To make Purchase

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