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Salvation Colony
(2009)
Dennis Nunqam Ndendemajem, the spectral social misfit of No Way To Die, having failed to die by suicide, is pursued by the hatred of friends and family relations. He seeks refuge in The Salvation Colony of the Angels of Limbo Church of Africa - a veritable paradise for all whom society has sidelined and whom chance or choice have led thereto. Refuge Dennis finds at the Salvation Colony, thanks to the kindly founding spiritual and material patron, the highly reputable but extremely devilish Pastor Sixtus Shrapnell, fondly referred to as Our Father. At the Colony, though completely dehumanized, Dennis maintains self-value and something to live for in life - God. In dispensing so completely and successfully with any authorial presence in this extremely rare but deeply psychological novel, Asong pushes the art of African fiction to a great new height. The novel shows his intellectual and perhaps formal vortex. His iridescent flushes of exquisite know-how in art, philosophy and psychology make the work worth a thinker's time.
Son of the Native Soil
(2009)
Son of the Native Soil is a work whose quiet maturity glows in both subject and style. Here, love heals but the force of hate is very real. The hero, Lucas Achamba, by charisma and love undertakes to unite Dudum clan which politicking and egotism have split. His quick success stirs bitter rivalry and heartless cruelty that decide his fate. Nature is jumpy and even hysterical at this, and Ambanasom exposes it with fine evocative mastery. The style is refined and honeyed by sonal devices and visual tropes that half conceal subtle slashes at human foibles.
Mind Searching
(2007)
In Mind Searching Nyamnjoh has attempted to do something rather clever - to expose, through the attitudes, feelings and thoughts of one man and a very simple story, the hypocrisy and corruption of Cameroon society and humanity in general, often using understatement and irony in good effect. The commentary is unremittingly cynical and returns again and again to corruption, callous squandering, exploitation, prostitution, and other fairly worn butts. The book depicts a society where basic freedoms are shackled, and thinking aloud treasonable. Hence the mental ramblings of the narrator and central character Judascious Fanda Yanda, in the form of an extended monologue full of observations, anecdotes and asides written from the point of view of an apparently insouciant naive. The basic method is to foreground the opinions and conversational elegance of the narrator, while having events going on as a background to his thoughts. We trace the narrator's progress from a disenchanted 'Damn? de la Terre' to a comfortably well off Private Secretary to a Vice Minister over a number of years. It is a clear illustration of how the system perpetuates its mediocrity and buys off any spark of initiative. Nyamnjoh has a good command of ironic tone and sound control over form and structure. He employs a very fluent style, and often has very urbane and neat turns of phrase. He captures the bored, superior, cynical and ultimately predatory tone of voice of his narrator extremely well.
The Bad Samaritan
(2009)
The Bad Samaritan is set in a kleptomaniac and highly corrupt imaginary African country called Ewawa. Due to mismanagement, financial institutions collapse. Salaries are slashed and there is unprecedented unemployment leading to country exodus. Professor Esole and his wife are not only aggrieved by the salary slashes, but also by the dubious closure of the Post Office Savings Bank with their savings. Desperate for money, they resort to borrowing from private sources at exorbitant interest rates. Esole toddles into politics with the aim of righting things. Will his nai͏̈ve approach to politics make or mar?
Perspectives on Translation and Interpretation in Cameroon is the first volume of a book series of the Advanced School of Translators and Interpreters (ASTI) of the University of Buea. It opens a window into the wide dynamic and interesting area of translation and interpretation in a multilingual Cameroon that had on the eve of independence and unification opted for official bilingualism in French and English. The book comprises contributions from scholars of translation in the broad area of translation, comprising: the concept of translation and its pedagogy, the history of translation and, the state of the art of translation as a discipline, profession and practice. The book also focuses on acquisition of translation competences through training, and chronicles the history of translation in Cameroon through the contributions of both Cameroonian and European actors from the German through the French and English colonial periods to the postcolonial present in their minutia. Rich, original and comprehensive, the book is a timely and invaluable contribution to the growing community of translators and interpreters in Africa and globally.
Stranger in his Homeland
(2010)
Stranger in His Homeland completes the long-awaited trilogy of Linus Asong's fictitious village of Nkokonoko Small Monje, separately treated in The Crown of Thorns and its sequel A Legend of the Dead. However, it leads us back not to events after A Legend of the Dead, but to the crisis that created the passionately exciting The Crown of Thorns. Honest, enthusiastic, arrogant and self-righteous, Antony Nkoaleck, the first graduate of his tribe means well. But his society, entrenched in corruption, sees things differently and therefore judges him according to its own norms. Just one or two errors on Antony's part are enough to cost him his job with the government, the coveted throne of Nkokonoko Small Monje, and finally his life. It is a sad story, strongly reminiscent of Myshkin's fate in Dostoevysky's novel The Idiot, a story in which the Russian novelist vividly shows the inability of any man to bear the burden of moral perfection in an imperfect world.
The Disillusioned African
(2007)
This humorous tale of the na?ve and curious African student-cum-philosopher wandering between North and South, the rural and the urban, has been in gestation for a period of nearly two decades. With allusion to traditions of the philosophical novel and the picaresque, Nyamnjoh's protagonist travels from his African village to the sharply divided and socially cruel world of 1980s Britain. By casting aside his disillusion and the traps of servitude and victimhood, The Disillusioned African reveals his creative potential for curiosity and adventure. He brings a bird's eye view, always affectionate, gently mocking, to the cultural idiosyncrasies of the new world he encounters, which throws his own African culture, politics and socio-economic realities into light relief. Praise for The Disillusioned African 'Whatever the imagined future for Africa, this courageous book will certainly provide, for both its foreign readers and the young generation of Cameroonians, a provocative insight into the complex web of despair, frustration, paradox and hope . on the eve of the 21st century.' - Louise Cuming, Catholic University of Central Africa 'In his characteristically humorous style, Nyamnjoh portrays the various social ills in society and castigates the political elite he holds largely responsible.' - Piet Konings, African Studies Centre, Leiden, The Netherlands. 'Francis Nyamnjoh . has a particular way of saying very serious things in the most unserious manner. He entertains, and in the process he moralises, he teaches, he gives you lessons. learning experience and philosophy to give you a view of the dilemma of the African.' - Sammy Beban Chumbow, Professor of Linguistics, University of Yaounde I
Civil society and empowerment have become buzz words in neoliberal development discourse. Yet many unanswered questions remain on the actual nature and configuration assumed by civil society in specific contexts. Typically, while neoliberals perceive civil-society organisations as vital intermediary channels for the successful implementation of desired economic and political reforms, they are inclined to blame the current resurgence of the politics of belonging for the poor record of these reforms in Africa and elsewhere. This book rejects such notions and argues that the relationship between civil society and the politics of belonging is more complex in Africa than western donors and scholars are willing to admit. Konings argues that ethno-regional associations and movements are even more significant constituents of civil society in Africa than the conventional civil-society organisations that are often uncritically imposed or endorsed. He convincingly shows how the politics of belonging, so pervasive in Cameroon, and indeed much of Africa, during the current neoliberal economic and political reforms, has tended to penetrate the entire range of associational life. This calls for a critical re-appraisal of prevalent notions and assumptions about civil society in the interest of African reality. Hence the importance of this book!
Doughty human rights crusader, Albert Mukong was incarcerated for six years in some of Cameroon's worst detention centres under the despotic regime of late President Amadou Ahidjo. This book details his personal account of the discipline and punishment that the Cameroonian state has systematically dished out to dissidents who have dared to stand their ground. Until his death in 2004, Albert Mukong was without doubt, Anglophone Cameroon's most conspicuous political prisoner, spokesperson and champion human rights advocate. The particular detention he recounts in this book is evidence of how nationalists such as Ruben Um Nyobe, Ernest Ouandie, Bishop Ndongmo and others, have in their struggles sacrificed enormously so that freedom and democracy might see the light of day in their reluctant Cameroon.
Initially considered something of a black sheep within the Anglophone Cameroon literary genres, the Anglophone novel has gradually grown to carve out a respectable niche for itself in the Anglophone Cameroon sub-system, imposing itself in a way that makes it impossible for critics to ignore it. Now a vibrant genre, it even threatens to overtake drama and poetry, both of which have enjoyed more critical attention. This book is a study of how Anglophone Cameroon has contributed in extending the possibilities of the novel as a literary form, and of some of the established conventions necessary for a fruitful evaluation of the growing body of the Cameroonian novel in English. In this eclectic and compelling book, Ambanasom sets out to achieve three primary objectives: to introduce the reader to the extensive body of Cameroonian novels in English, to re-examine the distorting and limiting criteria upon which the critical assessment of the Cameroonian novel in English has so far been based, and to bridge the widening chasm between literary theory and actual critical practice. To achieve these objectives, Ambanasom begins by elaborating an alternative and flexible theoretical framework which he christens the 'Socio-Artistic Approach' and which, according to him, is 'concerned with both a text's thematic, moral, cultural or ideological issues, on the one hand, and its central literary analysis, on the other.' He then proceeds to use this new critical framework to examine twenty-seven major Cameroonian novels in English. There are critical voices, already emerging within the Anglophone Cameroonian literary circles, calling for rigorous teaching and practice of theory in the interpretation of literary works, setting in motion a critical discourse. Such a call is salutary, and welcome. Those university lecturers whose responsibility it is to teach theoretical courses should take this call very seriously, moving from theory to hands-on practice. This book is Ambanasom's contribution to that critical debate.
No Way to Die
(2009)
What happens when a young man of talent and visions of greatness falls victim to a cruel set of circumstances over which he has no control? No Way to Die is such a story. Dennis Nunqam Ndendemajem gives up! Even when he is given a second chance to start again, he refuses to gather the broken pieces of his life together. He refuses to rebuild, and refuses to live. But he also finds no way to die.
The Akroma File
(2009)
Faced with debts at home and threatened by poverty, Akroma a brilliant and well-educated Ghanaian, using unorthodox means, successfully gets into Cameroon. He is bent on making a fortune. Drawing on his tremendous presence of mind and, capitalising on the early discovery that in Cameroon there is no conscience that money cannot buy, this illegal alien, travelling under three criminal identities, builds up a great amount of wealth. But he cannot buy the entire police force. One police man, Inspector Kum Dangobert, will get even with him, even if it means death. The rest of this very readable novel is about what happens when the Ghanaian evil genius is pitted against the best Cameroonian police superintendent. It is the clash of giants that ends in a cataclysm.
The Death of Asobo-Ntsi
(2011)
This novel re-visions history through narrative fiction: the history of his people that has long been silenced and distorted as a colonial strategy, the history of an African community at the crossroads. Asobo-Ntsi, the stubborn yet proud Fon of Nyen, is faced with some challenges amongst which are: his seven- and nine-man council that is not happy with his dictatorship and tax laws, a disgruntled quarter that attempts to secede, and also, the encroaching colonialist, Nwuoupang, with his church and administration. How Asobo-Ntsi handles these challenges is expressed powerfully and movingly with great narrative artistry that absorbs the reader and keeps him/her enthralled to the end.
This book richly documents the battles fought by the Anglophone community in Cameroon to safeguard the General Certificate of Education (GCE), a symbol of their cherished colonial heritage from Britain, from attempts by agents of the Ministry of National Education to subvert it. These battles opposed a mobilised and determined Anglophone civil society against numerous machinations by successive Francophone-dominated governments to destroy their much prided educational system in the name of 'national integration'. When Southern Cameroonians re-united with La R?publique du Cameroun in 1961, they claimed that they were bringing into the union 'a fine education system' from which their Francophone compatriots could borrow. Instead, they found themselves battling for decades to save their way of life. Central to their concerns and survival as a community is an urgent need for cultural recognition and representation, of which an educational system free of corruption and trivialisation through politicisation is a key component.
Royalty and Politics is the fascinating autobiographical account of a life rich in controversy, leadership, service, achievement and innovation. Born 1925 into the prominent and influential royal family of Mankon in the Bamenda Grassfields of Cameroon, Solomon Anyeghamotü Ndefru least expected becoming king, only to find himself the chosen one following the death of his father in 1959. As Fo Angwafo III of Mankon, one of the most educated 'traditional rulers' at the dawn of independence, he succeeded into Parliament first as an independent, and subsequently as a member of the Cameroon National Union. He has served as First National Vice-President of Paul Biya's Cameroon People's Democratic Movement since 1990. In this unique, analytical and insightful reflection 50 years into his reign, Fo Angwafo III discusses growing up in colonial times; his surprise appointment as king; the 1961 Cameroon Plebiscite and his initiation into politics; being king and politician; coping with the hostility of the modern power elite towards his active involvement in politics; churches, schools and politics; life as an agriculturist; and investments in tending the Kingdom of Mankon. He argues that the best way of consolidating traditions is to make them modern, and that modernity can only make sense to the extent that it is firmly grounded in traditions. In many ways he feels his life encapsulates this negotiation and reconciliation of continuity and change.
Someplace, Somewhere
(2009)
Someplace, Somewhere is an exemplary piece of socio-political satire. It is a collection of short reflective stories that highlight the predicament of a people and exposes the ills of a society where neglect and decay are the nauseating lure and allure of everyday life. Carefully knit, this collection vividly provokes the nostalgia of the round-the-hearth rural evening story-telling atmosphere of yesteryears. Indeed, Bime has this knack for the fine details of story-telling, which blends so magically with her flare of crude humour, a combination that makes her social satire simply irresistible.
Shadows From The Abyss
(2009)
This is the first volume of a patriotic poet whose heart is on fire. The poems touch on a variety of issues, some personal and private, other public - past and current. They range from family, love and longing; friendship and marriage, to culture, politics, corruption and death. They are cadenced and vibrant with different emotions: nostalgia, regret and outrage; loss, pain and pathos tinged with a touch of wistfulness and irony. In style and themes, they reveal a keen observer, a budding poet struggling to find her stride; to mine the shallows and the deeps of human experience, to give a unique expressive voice to the human condition. With a wide range of emotions, Mbunda touches on a variety of turbulent issues muddying the waters. But she is not without hope; she believes the volcano will only erupt if her call is unheeded.
The personality of the highly charismatic foremost African Nationalist, Kwame Nkrumah as featured once in a while in Ghanaian fiction. For example, the celebrated Ghanaian novelist, Ayi Kwei Armah draws attention to the corrupt nature of the Nkrumah regime in his famous novel, The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born. But this is by far the very first time that Kwame Nkrumah and his era have been made the main subject of a full-length novel.
The collaborative context of language learning in Teletandem (TELLES; VASSALLO 2006) involves the principles of autonomy, reciprocity and separation of languages, as well as the mediation of the partnerships (in Vygotskian terms). This article aims to discuss the formats of teletandem mediation, by focusing on the strategies used to reconcile the management of interactions (SALOMÃO 2008) through reflective journals in our specific educational context This qualitative investigation is based on the analysis of a corpus of reflective journals produced after teletandem sessions by Brazilian students and the feedback offered by the mediators. The Brazilian participants wrote journal entries after practicing teletandem with speakers of the following foreign languages: English, German, Italian, and Spanish. They address a wide range of topics, covering aspects of technology, foreign language learning, methodological issues, as well as comments on the relationship with their partners. The data suggest great potential of the journals and the feedback for participants, mediators and coordinators to evaluate specific issues of collaborative language learning in the teletandem, as well as other relevant aspects for the pedagogical supervision of the project.
Cry My Beloved Africa is a compendium of essays having as locus the continent of Africa. It comprises insightful observations on the politics, governmental systems, political economy, cultural practices, educational systems and natural phenomena that impact on the lives of Africans. True to the tradition of French novelist Stendhal, the author intends this work to serve as a mirror that reflects the day-to-day living of the different peoples that inhabit the fifty-three nation-states in Africa. It is directed to contemporary Africa and to the relationship between Africa and the rest of the globe. The didactic value of the book resides in its suitability to the young and the old. The language is clear and free of sophistry.
In the Shadow of my Country
(2009)
Growing up almost simultaneously with the independent Cameroon nation, it takes Tipoung'he a long time together with challenging experiences to realise that he has all along been living in the shadow of his country. His epic story is representative of the many whose untold stories are caught in the schematic confusion of independence, in which self-knowledge must rally back finally from the lethargic ideals of the Nation and the Patriot in a redeeming instance of identity. The story mirrors the growth of the hero as he gets used to his ever shifting environment. The complexity of experience, the burden of knowledge, and how to express these, confront Tipoung'he with prescriptive arrogance, and the more he gets entangled in the authoritative and patriotic mesh, the more he becomes aware of the need to withdraw from their osmotic consciousness. The moment of withdrawal, which coincides with self-knowledge, is a personal and symbolic rebirth.
The essays collected in this volume are, by the depth of their analysis and the breath of their vision, indeed 'No Trifling Matter'. They are a chronicle of the events in contemporary Cameroonian society, especially as concerns the conduct of public affairs therein. Over and above its relevance for our own time, this chronicle will, in the decades that lie ahead, serve as a rich source of information, opinion and comment which future generations, anxious to understand the making of an era whose impact, positive or negative, is destined to survive long after the longest-living of its principal actors and actresses shall have disappeared from the face of the Earth, will find a great benefit. Rotcod Gobata has, through these essays, lit and placed on a pedestal, a candle whose flame shall never die and whose glow shall serve as a beacon to guide and to inspire generations yet unborn.
God the Politician
(2008)
God the Politician is a compelling analytical, critical, informed and largely eyewitness account of the major events that have taken place in Cameroon since the return of multiparty politics in the 1990s. The accession of Paul Biya to power under the one-party regime in 1982 and the attempt to overthrow him in a coup d'?tat in 1984 are told in flashback, so are the excesses of power without responsibility that have come to be associated with over 25 years of Biya as President. Most of the story is centred on the struggle by the opposition, led by the Social Democratic Front (SDF), to overthrow the incumbent. In his determination to crush opposition, President Biya and his collaborators have sometimes used intrigue, but mostly force and callous indifference to basic human rights and to democracy. Bloodshed has often been the result of the regime's titanic struggles against freedoms. President Paul Biya is not in a hurry to go and so instead of democratizing Cameroon, he has chosen to Cameroonize democracy, turning electoral fraud into an art. Because of massive fraud during elections and the inability of the opposition to unite, political party leaders have decided to join him who they cannot beat. The book is an x-ray of a regime and the Frankenstein monsters it has created and sustained to thwart democracy. It exposes the corruption, electoral fraud, human rights abuse and cynicism that make politicians believe they can play God in the lives of Cameroonians.
This study analyses the effects of democratic transition in two African countries - Cameroon and South Africa - on chiefs and the institution of chieftainship. Based on ethnographic fieldwork, the monograph explores the cultural and socio-political conditions that enabled chiefs to reinvent themselves in the new era of democratic politics despite their status as 'old political actors'. It explores the kinds of legitimacies claimed by chiefs in the new era and the responses of their subjects to such claims, particularly with respect to chiefs' involvement in national politics. The monograph makes a case for the importance of comparative research on chiefs in the era of democracy and the predicaments they face therein. It contends that contrary to exhortations about the incompatibility of chiefs and democracy, the reality is that political transition in both South Africa and Cameroon produced contradictions, creating space and a role for chiefs in a fascinating and negotiated interplay of legitimacies and history.
Beware the Drives
(2008)
This collection of verse, which has mostly short poems, some of which are two-liners, is an outcome of several years of keen observation of the very nature of man. The observation brought this writer to the conclusion that man is dominated by fear and in his effort to conquer it, he resorts to unbridled aggression. Such aggression has been very instrumental in much of the success that humanity has been able to achieve, so far. But at the same time, the same aggression in man's nature has been responsible for the pleasure he takes in the ruthless destruction of his own kind, the environment in which he cushions himself, plants and animals.
Dispossession and Access to Land in South Africa. An African Perspective : An African Perspective
(2009)
This book deals with the conceptualization of access to land by the dispossessed in South Africa as a human right. Yanou examines the country's property model in the context of the post apartheid constitutional mandate to redress the skewed land distribution of the past. The book reviews the strengths and weaknesses of the land restitution process as well as the question of the payment of just and equitable compensation for land expropriated for restitution. It also reviews the phenomenon of land invasion and quality of access to land enjoyed by the South African black woman under the present dispensation. Yanou argues that the courts have, on occasions, construed just and equitable compensation generously. This approach has failed to reflect the fact that what is being paid for is land dispossessed from the forebears of indigenous inhabitants. In a South Africa that lost most of its ancestral land during colonialism and apartheid, access to land for the dispossessed should not be equated with the protection of property acquired under apartheid. Getting it right would entail truth and reconciliation with the collective dispossession suffered by South African blacks.
' Cameroon's Social Democratic Front (SDF) was among the watershed challenges c.1990 by sub-Saharan Africa's democratization forces against autocratic regimes, but it crested in 1992 and has subsided since. Yet the party survives, participates in the National Assembly, maintains a grass roots structure, and prepares for a presidential ballot in 2011 that will likely determine its fate. The author conducted research four times in Cameroon, 1989-1999, focusing on the SDF since 1991, and maintains party contacts to the present. The book assesses its history and its prospects, covering the SDF in Africa-wide as well as Cameroonian terms. ''Krieger has given us the first, superbly researched, finely tuned analysis of the fortunes of a major contemporary African opposition party, Cameroon's Social Democratic Front (SDF).'' - Victor Le Vine, Washington University, St. Louis, USA. ''The book goes far beyond its title and puts in context a daylight re-emergence of political opposition in Cameroon. To say that this long overdue history of the SDF party is a prolegomena to understanding contemporary Cameroon social forces is not an overstatement.'' - Ambroise Kom, University of Yaounde I, Cameroon. ''...a level-headed but provocative examination of the structure and workings of a major African country...the sobriety with which he evaluates institutions and leadership is commendable, yielding exceptional analysis that will stand the test of time.'' - Toyin Falola, Fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Letters and Fellow of the Historical Society of Nigeria. Milton Krieger started teaching and research about sub-Saharan Africa in 1970. Nine trips there include four research visits providing two years time in Cameroon, 1989-99. The second, 1991, coincided with 'villes mortes' and turned his primary scholarship to the Social Democratic Front. Access to party documents, officials, and rank and file members included visitor status at the 1995 and 1999 national conventions. Party contacts continue to the present.'
' ''Building Capacity promotes the vision that the teaching of African languages can best achieve its aim of boosting the economic and cultural development of the Africans if they are made to work in synergy with a revamping of the course contents of international languages that will be taught within the frame of a development-oriented literacy curriculum. Great emphasis is put on the oral skills in the use of African languages as they are to serve as a link between the community and the school for the ultimate revitalization of the positive aspects of African cultures in a world beset by globalization. The book is supplemented with a sample of texts in the appendix that are meant to be a bridge between formal texts taught in classrooms and literacy texts that can raise the genuine interests of the local populations in that they address their immediate needs. Among the possible topics language teachers are encouraged to explore in their classes are those concerning economic development, but also such issues as health, education, the environment, food security, and conflict resolution. ''''In the face of the growing interest in the use of African Languages by Africans as symbols of personal and cultural identity and as means of empowering the rural communities in the entreprise of national development,the need for a methodologically appropriate manual to guide the teaching and learning of African languages becomes urgent.This book is a timely response, predicated on a policy of the symbiotic use of African languages along with partner (foreign-official) languages, to attain a balanced level of economic and socio-cultural development.It is based on a compendium of well- thought-out principles geared towards a rapid acquisition of written and oral language skills that are congruent with and reflect the socio-cultural and economic concerns of the linguistic community.'''' Beban Sammy Chumbow, Professor of Linguistics, University of Yaounde I ''''Among the numerous proposals in this book is the necessity for Africans, and I would add, for the communities of Asia and Latin America, to re-think the contents of their language courses and assign them an objective which aims at the integral development of their communities. It is indeed imperative that these courses reflect clear objectives of seeking social, cultural, and economic developments that harmonize with African, Asian, and Latin American values that are deep rooted in their respective various cultures.'''' Jean-Pierre Angenot Professor of Linguistics, Federal University of Rond?nia, Porto Velho, Brazil.'''
In K?cracy, Trees in the Storm and Other Poems, Bill Ndi vociferously bemoans the fate of a world in which the good and the evil are intimate bedfellows; a world wherein miscreants proceed with nauseating impunity to trample on innocence. The poet, a widely traveled scholar in Africa, Europe, and the Americas, currently resides in Australia where he is hailed as an Ambassador of the Peace. Informed by his experience as a child of the world - being at home away from home and thinking of home, Bill Ndi serves the reader with a delicious platter of poetic maze which to him is synonymous to the political maze he has known around the world.
Dogs in the Sun
(2009)
This compelling narrative pits the legacies of two men in the village of Nwemba. Winjala the Crude, yardman to the English surveyor Pete Harrington, kills the latter's favourite animal, the big monkey called Stirrup, and runs to his village. Sama Gakoh, washerman to Harrington, also returns home when his services are terminated for age reasons. Both hold clashing views of the white man. They die shortly after their return but their sons pick up and sustain their conflicting philosophies. The drama culminates in the fishing contest where the village chief, Ndelu, takes an unprecedented decision charged with meaning and wisdom. The action is given piquancy by a strong undercurrent of human passion that flies in the face, so to speak, of artifices that divide and alienate. We are dealing here with a profound allegory that brings the classical stereotypes into pointed - and hopefully final - disrepute.
This book, slim as it looks, took Bernard Nsokikia Fonlon the best part of five laborious years to write 1965-9 inclusive. He writes 'I was penning away as students in France were up in arems against the academic Establishment, and their fury almost toppled a powerfful prestigious, political giant like General de Gaulle. In America students, arms in hand, besieeged and stormed the building of the University Administration, others blew up lecture halls in Canada - the student revolt, a very saeva indignatio, was in paroyysm. But in England (save in the London School of Economincs where students rioted for teh lame reason that the College gate looked like that of a jail0house) all was calm. 'Fonlon drew on these events to define the role of university education in this precious treasure of a book, which he dedicates to every African freshman and freshwoman. The book details his reflections and vision on the scientific and philosophical Nature, End and Purpose of university studies. He calls on African studens to harness the Scientific Method in their quest for Truth, and to put the specialised knowledge they acquire to the benefit of the commonwealth first, the, to themselves. To do this effectively, universities mus jealously protect academic freedom from all non-academic interferences. For any university that does not teach a student to think critically and in total freedom has taught him or her nothing of genuine worth. Universities are and must remain sacred places and spaces for the forging of genuine intellectuals imbued with skills and zeal to assume and promote social responsibiliti4es with self abnegation.
Foot Prints of Destiny
(2009)
The edifice of colonial Africa starts cracking as the Black experience with colonialism becomes intimately personal. There is Martin Paul Samba, whose adopted German aristocratic home as a student does not consider him material for a son-in-law. There are also Prince Rudolph Douala Manga Bell and Dr Bele who go to school with Samba in Germany. And then, of course, Princess Zara, the youthful Amazon warrior who is rescued from a slave ship on the shores of Kamerun. Supported by the Douala princes, Martin Paul Samba champions the cause of the exploited, in a central drama pitting Kamerunian nationalism against German colonialism. This is the story of youthful endeavours and loves, of some of Africa's best and brightest, immediately before and after the First World War.
When Sembe discovers that Amu, her husband of fifteen years, is having an affair with another woman, she moves out of the matrimonial home, but is persuaded to return by relatives and friends. However, a few months later, when Amu comes home to reveal that his mistress is pregnant with his child, everything crumbles. The social networks, customs and love that had restrained her from leaving him initially are overcome by the deep feelings of betrayal. The spouses, unable to resolve the matter amicably, immerse in a needless and senseless altercation that culminates in a physical fight. Sembe moves out of the matrimonial home and the marriage collapses. The spouses are left to struggle for the custody of their three daughters and, the ownership of matrimonial property in the plush Kenya suburb of Kileleshwa, through a corrupt Kenyan judicial system. Kileleshwa is a tale of love, betrayal and corruption, set on a background of ethnic incongruity, political uncertainty and very difficult economic times.
This book deals with the important subject of governance and development. Even more significantly, the book has the merits of critically evaluating the concept of good governance in an African context, identifying the internal factors that impinge on good governance and development, and proposing solutions. It provides empirical evidence on the extent to which inappropriate governing strategies are the main internal obstacle to development in Cameroon. The authors discuss factors contributing to precarious and problematic governance from multidisciplinary perspectives, and demonstrate the extent to which such inadequacies impede positive social change. To promote effective development, the authors argue for the implementation of a good governance strategy that comprises, inter alia: adopting appropriate development strategies; decentralizing administration to make for popular participation and ensure accountability; taking the necessary steps to fight corruption; and ensuring the enforcement of property and cultural rights.
There is a growing body of literature on what was originally envisioned as a free political association of the French and British Cameroons and its dramatic effects on the 'British Cameroons' community. Anyangwe's new book is an attempt to write the history of the Southern Cameroons from a legal perspective. This authoritative work describes in great detail the story of La Republique du Cameroun's alleged annexation and colonization of the Southern Cameroons following the achievement of its independence, while highlighting the seeming complicity of the United Nations and the British Trusteeship Authority. In the process, Anyangwe unravels a number of myths created by the main actors to justify this injustice and, in the end, makes useful suggestions to reverse the situation and to restore statehood to the Southern Cameroons. The book is rich in archival research and informed by a global perspective. It convincingly shows the uniqueness of the Southern Cameroons case.
The densely populated Bamenda Highlands of Cameroon remains one of the regions with the greatest land degradation problems in the country. Factors responsible for this include climate change, the hilly nature or topographic layout of the land, and human interference through overgrazing, destructive agricultural practices and the impact of deforestation. This detailed study of resource management and its ecological challenges in the Bamenda Highlands, stresses an important link between falling food output and soil deterioration. While most areas in this predominantly agricultural region enjoy food abundance, the inhabitants of high-density infertile, rugged mountainous areas are forced to resort to double cropping and intensified land exploitation that leave little room for soil regeneration. The population problem in relation to land degradation is infinitely more complicated than the region's sheer ability to produce enough food supply. The authors make a strong case for a delicate balance between human agency and environmental protection in this highly populated and physically challenging region where land is a precious resource and land conflicts are common.
Forest Echoes
(2010)
Forest Echoes is a literary quilt revealing a mature poet bestriding generations as he patches together a people's culture, their philosophy, history, along with their attendant woes into a subtle, sometimes disillusioning even, yet purposeful and poignant whole. Nol Alembong is not afraid to be himself in this work: a scholar, teacher, parent, traditionalist and, above all, an Anglophone-Cameroonian. Whatever the case, these are magisterial and equally influential individual traits that have merged into a united whole in forging this poet's identity and concerns as evident from the thematic panorama of the poems. In 'Forest Echoes', the title poem, for example, one encounters a poet who, though steeped in his people's struggles, has been able to stand back, watch and evaluate the effects of the interactions of time, events, and society. It is this ability of his, as an involved yet detached observer, along with the trend of events that have scarred his people's lives, which have yielded the powerful emotions that he has assembled in this thematically lush, historically nostalgic, and overwhelmingly evocative collection.' - Dr. Emmanuel Fru Doh
Pidgin English is the chief medium of communication for the great majority of Cameroonians. It sustains a world view, culture and way of life. Pidgin embodies concepts that would at best be partially expressed in formal English. A critical understanding of Pidgin English requires not only a thorough grasp of the socio-cultural matrix from which the words and expressions originate but also an immersion in an Afro-centric worldview. Majunga Tok: Poems in Pidgin English is the poet's attempt at capturing these speech patterns of ordinary Cameroonians in written form. Pidgin English, also called broken English, is a lingua franca spoken not only in Cameroon but also in many West African countries, including Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone and Liberia amonst others. This poetry anthology is inspired by the poet's desire to salvage a language that has been subjected to multiple forms of denigration because it is oral. In Cameroon, for instance, Pidgin English has been the target of myriad attacks from self-styled linguistic purists who claim that Pidgin is a bastardized variant of Standard English and, therefore, should not be allowed to thrive. The controversy and denigration directed at Amos Tutuola and his Pidgin English creative genius are vivid examples. This condescending attitude of speakers of Standard English stems from the fact that Pidgin is often associated with illiteracy.
The celebrations that heralded democratic change in the 1990s in Africa have gradually faded into muffled cries of anger and attendant violence of despair. Almost everywhere on the continent so-called democratic leaders are openly subverting the people's will and disregarding national constitutions. Ordinary people find themselves removed from the centres of power, marginalized and reduced to helpless and hopeless onlookers as political leaders, their friends and families noisily enjoy the spoils of impunity. From Nigeria to Zimbabwe, Kenya to the Ivory Coast and Uganda to Cameroon, the writing is on the wall. The experiment with democracy has blatantly taken a dangerous nosedive. There is a crisis of honest, committed and democratic leadership, in spite of the advancements in education and intellectualism of the populace, and despite the influences of globalization and new understandings of governance. In this brief volume, Tatah Mentan makes an incisive diagnosis of how the 'security forces' brutally crush protests against bids to stay in power through corrupt electoral practices as well as how opposition voices have been hunted down and crushed or intimidated into graveyard silence. This is a clarion call for Africans to embrace the values of People Power in synch with the dictates of the current global imperatives. There is no place for visionless leadership. Africans need to raise their voices to recapture their freedom.
Coils of Mortal Flesh
(2008)
The diverse voices in the poems in this collection are unified in the single voice of the omnipresent persona who appears to be searching for a collective voice, some kind of order or rhythm that would impose meaning to life. Reading the poems constitutes an individual journey. This poetic journey from Awakening that takes the reader to Moonlight Spells and Wreaths and leads her/him through Laments to the Epilogue is a continuous movement in the search for humanity's existence. As a metaphor of self-discovery, the poetic quest is both an expression of, and a search for mankind's elusive self-that single, unbroken umbilical cord that is firmly rooted in the African experience and identity. Ba'bila Mutia teaches oral and written literatures, creative writing, advanced writing and research methodology, at the University of Yaound? I. His poetry and short stories have been featured in anthologies and reviews worldwide, and his work has been broadcast on the BBC. In June of 1993 Mutia was honoured by the Berlin Academy of Arts as special guest writer in an international writers' reading. He is the author of Whose Land? (Longman), Before This Time, Yesterday (Silex/Nouvelles du Sud) and 'The Miracle' in the Heinemann Book of Contemporary African Short Stories.
In this rich and compelling collection of poems the author explores the recesses of the imagination to reveal the different facets of contemporary experience. In doing this he highlights the social, the spiritual, and the metaphysical functions of poetry. The reader will find in the collection sincere expressions of feelings and penetrating thoughts, the genuine tone, spirit and taste of poetry and its ability to provide contemplative clues to prevailing circumstances. The preponderance of stimulating imagery and the overall display of ingenious poeticality reveal the poet as one imbued with a fertile imagination and prove as well that poetry remains the most noble of art through which one understands and comes to terms with the hidden secrets of the universe.
Imitation Whiteman
(2009)
This intriguing novel chronicles one migrant worker's experiences on a colonial plantation in West Africa. Martin Tebi cannot wait to board a truck to the south where he hopes to become a pioneer at a newly established oil palm plantation. Once he arrives, he realizes that becoming a 'Big man' in a new environment would not be as easy as he had thought. Set in the South West Region of Cameroon near the Bakassi region, this captivating story told in an authentic voice that fuses Pidgin and Standard English would keep readers spellbound as they follow Martin through his many struggles to become the first African manager. The experiences of Martin Tebi would resonate with economically displaced people in any part of the world.
Green Rape: Poetry for the Environment is an anthology of poems written in strong support of environmental literacy. Each poem is the poet's cry of protest against the rape of natural and built environments. The anthology examines a wide range of issues including the clash of global capitalism with environmental activism. It takes a close look at the major themes in international discourse on environmental degradation, climate change, renewable energy sources, global warming, Gene technology, biodiversity and more. The poet dispels a number of myths, notably the existence of an inexhaustible bank of natural resources at the disposal of Man. He attempts to provide a solution to the abusive and unbalanced utilization of scarce natural resources. In a unique way, the poems contribute to the fostering of environmental awareness that would contribute to the sustainable management of natural resources. The poet invites us to look beyond the doomsday rhetoric about the state of the environment and to commit more of our resources where they will do the most good to lifting the world's population out of poverty. The significance of this anthology to environmental education resides in its contribution to the debate on global sustainable development, especially efforts to protect the environment and eradicate poverty.
The Day God Blinked
(2008)
The Day God Blinked x-rays the politico-economic and socio-moral life of a rich and resourceful country called Ewawa from 1982 to 2007. The country had been ruled by a dynamic and insightful miser known as the Old Man. But because he had been in power for too long, his citizens longed for change. It happened when nobody expected it. The old man died suddenly in his sleep and was replaced by his handpicked successor. Unfortunately, the successor whom everybody had expected would do better plunged the country into terrible economic and moral crises. Lucia, the protagonist, narrates her predicament. To her, Ewawa is rotten in all totality. There is nowhere to turn for salvation. The custodians of the economic, social, moral and spiritual values of the land are not up to the task. The country is without hope. Is all doomed?
Babi Yar Symphony
(2008)
This unique work lifts the African question out of the dust. Against the backdrop of prison life, it explores the complex reality of being an African in today's world. Through the tight sensitivity and illuminating knowledge of its two principal characters, themselves victims of misplaced justice, greed and lust, it captures the pain and sadness that almost always comes in the wake of betrayal and egotism. The work's message is strong, and is delivered with equal strength by characters whose individual convictions also sway us to their side. We have here a new, powerful shaft of light on the landscape of recent African writing.
#RhodesMustFall. Nibbling at Resilient Colonialism in South Africa by Francis Nyamnjoh was awarded the 2018 Fage & Oliver Prize. This book on rights, entitlements and citizenship in post-apartheid South Africa shows how the playing field has not been as levelled as presumed by some and how racism and its benefits persist. Through everyday interactions and experiences of university students and professors, it explores the question of race in a context still plagued by remnants of apartheid, inequality and perceptions of inferiority and inadequacy among the majority black population. In education, black voices and concerns go largely unheard, as circles of privilege are continually regenerated and added onto a layered and deep history of cultivation of black pain. These issues are examined against the backdrop of organised student protests sweeping through the country's universities with a renewed clamour for transformation around a rallying cry of 'Black Lives Matter'. The nuanced complexity of this insightful analysis of the Rhodes Must Fall movement elicits compelling questions about the attractions and dangers of exclusionary articulations of belonging. What could a grand imperialist like the stripling Uitlander or foreigner of yesteryear, Sir Cecil John Rhodes, possibly have in common with the present-day nimble-footed makwerekwere from Africa north of the Limpopo? The answer, Nyamnjoh suggests, is to be found in how human mobility relentlessly tests the boundaries of citizenship.
Fragmented Melodies
(2007)
This is a foundational text on the production and dissemination of Anglophone Cameroon literature. The Republic of Cameroon is a bilingual country with English and French as the official languages. Ashuntantang shows that the pattern of production and dissemination of Anglophone Cameroon literature is not only framed by the minority status of English and English-speaking Cameroonians within the Republic of Cameroon, but is also a reflection of a postcolonial reality in Africa where mostly African literary texts published by western multi-national corporations are assured wide international accessibility and readership. This book establishes that in spite of these setbacks, Anglophone Cameroon writers have produced a corpus of work that has enriched the genres of prose, poetry and drama, and that these texts deserve a wider readership.