Paper short abstract:

This paper qualitatively examines whether households and communities that have been directly affected by the Anglophone conflict have experienced a fall in their income and reduced economic opportunities. The results reveal that they have.

Paper long abstract:

Since 2016, the ongoing conflict in the English-speaking part of Cameroon has led to what the Norwegian Refugee Council has described as the world’s most neglected displacement crisis. This paper examines the economic impact of the Anglophone conflict as lived by those affected by the conflict. Most of the literature on the economic consequences of conflicts tends to focus on aggregate level data which provides little insight into the implications for households and communities that are directly affected by the conflict. In addition to the tragic loss of thousands of lives and the destruction of built infrastructure and farms, the Anglophone conflict has caused mass unemployment, driven up commodity prices and increased the already high levels of poverty in the North West and South West Regions. These regions have also lost their attractiveness for both local and international investors. Several humanitarian efforts are currently underway from national and international actors, including a reconstruction plan by the Cameroon government, but these have not had a significant impact as the conflict continues to drive more people out of business and work in the two regions. This study uses a qualitative research approach to uncover whether the households and communities that have been directly affected by the conflict have experienced a fall in their income and reduced economic opportunities. The results reveal that they have. Current efforts by the government and international organisations to address the economic setbacks of the conflict are unlikely to change the economic situation of the population and communities affected while the conflict continues. The findings of this study thus show that a peace process backed by all stakeholders is urgently needed to provide the preconditions for economic recovery in the North West and South West.

Paper short abstract:

This study mainly aims to shed light on media representations related to causes and conflict resolution initiatives in the North West and South West Regions of Cameroon. It examines reporting in five Cameroonian major newspapers – The Post, The Star, Le Messager, The Sun and Cameroon Tribune.

Paper long abstract:

Representations in the media are important sources of information especially about contexts that people have limited access to, such as the Anglophone Conflict in Cameroon. This study mainly aims to shed light on media representations related to causes and conflict resolution initiatives in the North West and South West Regions. It examines reporting in five Cameroonian major newspapers – The Post, The Star, Le Messager, The Sun and Cameroon Tribune. The study uses quantitative and qualitative content analysis to categorise, record, interpret and overall analyse articles on the Anglophone conflict published between 2016 and 2020. The quantitative and qualitative methods are both complementary as they allow a wide-ranging analysis on stories in the newspapers. While the quantitative method is adopted to quantify categorised concepts and record the frequency of crisis stories on headline cover and content pages of newspapers, the qualitative method is mainly used to interpret meaning of statements. The study reveals that, despite differing in reporting on the basis of their different editorial lines, the five newspapers have nonetheless projected dialogue as the most suitable pathway to resolve the conflict.

Paper short abstract:

Diaspora members play a central but ambivalent role in the Southern Cameroons Conflict. This role might be influenced by their understanding of their own migrant status and the mixture of marginalisation and privilege it engenders.

Paper long abstract:

The prominence of diaspora members has been a defining feature of the Southern Cameroons conflict so far. While diaspora involvement in civil conflicts is common, it came as a surprise in this particular case, given the lose structures of the Anglophone diaspora before 2017. I am exploring the factors that led to the current conflict dynamic in my ongoing PhD project. Here, I want to focus on a seemingly small observation I made while coding interviews with Southern Cameroonians in Germany that might be pertinent in understanding diaspora involvement in homeland conflict more generally: The local Cameroonian perspective paints emigrates as successful, albeit out-of-touch, cosmopolitans as emigration requires substantial resources and offers vast socioeconomic opportunity. Yet, my interlocutors stress the involuntary nature of their lives abroad, some using the term “refugee” to describe their predicament. These diverging understandings of the diaspora explain some of the current friction over the ethics and legitimacy of a diaspora led Southern Cameroonian independence movement. Further, I argue that arriving at the refugee narrative is a step in my interlocutors’ political radicalisation; realising that, though privileged to be able to travel, they came to Germany for greener pastures when, in a fair world, their homeland’s pastures would have been green to begin with. As a theoretical starting point for this consideration, I suggest adapting the “integration paradox” coined by sociologist Aladdin El-Mafaalani, which posits that members of marginalised groups become more likely to voice criticism and demand betterment the less intensely marginalised they become.

Paper short abstract:

Butake and Besong's plays are hallmarks of revolutionary praxis in Cameroon's bicultural conflict. Though they dramatise the need for resolution, their views differ. Key Words: Franco-British Heritage, Cameroon Anglophone Literature, Anglophone Problem, Peaceful Co-existence, Nationhood

Paper long abstract:

Bole Butake and Bate Besong are amongst the most renowned Anglophone writers in Cameroon. Their writings do not only serve as a source for intellectual development but also as guide-books for revolutionary praxis. The Playwright’s opera in spite of their universal overtones, fall within the context of Cameroon Anglophone Literature which sprang in the last decade of the 20th century and demarcated itself as essentially a protest literature against what has become “The Anglophone Problem” in Cameroon. The fundamental difference between the two playwrights is that while Besong’s revolutionary drama is uncompromising and apparently precludes possibilities of peaceful co-existence between Anglophone and Francophone Cameroons, Butake’s radical dramaturgy possesses signposts of harmony between the two sections of Cameroon. Read from the perspectives of Homi Bhabha and Joseph A.B. Clara in Nation and Narration and “Nation Because of Differences” respectively, the paper argues that Besong’s plays like The Most Cruel Death of the Talkative Zombie, Beasts of No Nation, and Requiem for the Last Kaiser appear to be oppositional to the fundamental principles of nationhood. Conversely, Butake’s And Palm wine Will Flow, Family Saga and Betrothal without Libation dramatize the Anglophone plight in Cameroon but envision a peaceful and united Cameroon that benefits fully from its dual Franco-British heritage. The paper concludes that, Besong and Butake dramatize the urgent need for the resolution of the Anglophone Problem in Cameroon so that the country can enjoy its bicultural heritage.

Key Words: Franco-British Heritage, Cameroon Anglophone Literature, Anglophone Problem, Peaceful Co-existence, Nationhood