Postcolonial theory has all along been theorizing how former colonists may come out of the shackles of their erstwhile colonizers, seeing the colonial situation as having hampered the flourishing of dominated peoples around the world. In order to overcome their colonial situations, one of the premises on offer is that the suppressed voices of the former colonies need to be brought to the fore and local worldviews have to shape the life of the people. Theorizing the end of colonialism is however being seriously undermined by a very complex problem in Cameroon, one of only two countries in the world (Canada is the other) that have English and French as their official languages.
The problem in Cameroon is called the Anglophone problem, that is, the marginalization of the English-speaking regions by the French-speaking regions of the country. This problem has recently come to the fore with deadly consequences, especially in Bamenda, Cameroon. The disruption caused in the country has led a group of Roman Catholic prelates, always more politically informed than their Protestant counterparts, to send a letter to Cameroon's dictator, Paul Biya, calling for urgent measures to be taken to address the situation.
The situation flies in the face of most post-colonial theories in that the claims made by English-speaking Cameroonians against their French-speaking counterparts is rooted in colonialism. English-speaking or Anglophone Cameroonians are claiming their British heritage, which they claim is far more democratic and respect the rule of law than the French-speaking system. As the Roman Catholic prelates note, what is at stake is the "Anglophone identity," which "goes beyond the mere ability to speak or understand the English language. It speaks to a core of values, beliefs, customs, and ways of relating to the other inherited from the British who ruled this region from 1916 to 1961. ‘Anglophonism’ is a culture, a way of being which cannot be transmitted by merely learning a language."
It is quite interesting that the postcolonial struggle here does not draw from any perceived African way of being but rather on a way of being inherited from the British. In other words, Cameroonians are fighting and dying in order to determine whether they want to be British or French. How would postcolonial theory theorize this without risking being out of step with the people, as Frantz Fanon once charged? Or as Achille Mbembe noted in the opening paragraph of his On The Postcolony, is it possible to theorize Africa without repeating the same things in different ways? In this case, is it even possible to speak of a postcolony or should we rather speak of the continuation of colonialism in another way?
The problem in Cameroon is called the Anglophone problem, that is, the marginalization of the English-speaking regions by the French-speaking regions of the country. This problem has recently come to the fore with deadly consequences, especially in Bamenda, Cameroon. The disruption caused in the country has led a group of Roman Catholic prelates, always more politically informed than their Protestant counterparts, to send a letter to Cameroon's dictator, Paul Biya, calling for urgent measures to be taken to address the situation.
The situation flies in the face of most post-colonial theories in that the claims made by English-speaking Cameroonians against their French-speaking counterparts is rooted in colonialism. English-speaking or Anglophone Cameroonians are claiming their British heritage, which they claim is far more democratic and respect the rule of law than the French-speaking system. As the Roman Catholic prelates note, what is at stake is the "Anglophone identity," which "goes beyond the mere ability to speak or understand the English language. It speaks to a core of values, beliefs, customs, and ways of relating to the other inherited from the British who ruled this region from 1916 to 1961. ‘Anglophonism’ is a culture, a way of being which cannot be transmitted by merely learning a language."
It is quite interesting that the postcolonial struggle here does not draw from any perceived African way of being but rather on a way of being inherited from the British. In other words, Cameroonians are fighting and dying in order to determine whether they want to be British or French. How would postcolonial theory theorize this without risking being out of step with the people, as Frantz Fanon once charged? Or as Achille Mbembe noted in the opening paragraph of his On The Postcolony, is it possible to theorize Africa without repeating the same things in different ways? In this case, is it even possible to speak of a postcolony or should we rather speak of the continuation of colonialism in another way?
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