Table of contents
Cover Page Vol 5 No 1. Get the full PDF
De l’aventure individuelle à une action révolutionnaire collective. Le cas du héros des Conquérants d’André Malraux . Get the full PDF
Jean-Baptiste NDJOH OLITE …………………………………………….……..…..…1-18
L’histoire des Conquérants se déroule au début du XXe siècle, une époque marquée par de profonds bouleversements politiques et sociaux. L’action se situe principalement en Chine, alors en proie à une guerre civile entre les nationalistes du Kuomintang et les communistes dirigés par Mao Zedong. Cette période de l’histoire chinoise est cruciale, car elle marque le début de la Révolution communiste qui aboutira à la fondation de la République populaire de Chine en 1949. C’est dans cette mouvance que Pierre Garine, personnage principal des Conquérants de Malraux, s’engage dans une aventure dans le but de donner un sens à sa vie. En même temps, sans aucune intention au départ, Garine va devenir le symbole d’une idéologie sociale à Canton et au-delà de l’Europe de l’entre-deux-guerres. Cet article se propose donc de montrer comment l’action du héros du roman est motivée par la quête de sa vraie identité, en barrant la voie à tout ce qui est absurde. Mais au fur et à mesure qu’il se situe dans le temps, son activité individuelle tournera en sa défaveur. C’est ainsi que d’une aventure individuelle, Garine passe à une action collective révolutionnaire qui triomphera de l’impérialisme anglais à Canton pour un nouvel ordre idéologico-social, le communisme. Un mouvement qui, dans le contexte du moment et d’aujourd’hui, appelle à une humanisation des valeurs. La problématique de ce travail consiste à examiner ce qui pousse le personnage principal à une aventure personnelle. Mais la question est : parviendra-t-il à atteindre son objectif et à quoi cette aventure pourra conduire plus tard ? Ces questions peuvent trouver des réponses dans ce travail à l’aide de la des théories existentialiste et marxiste de la lutte des classes. Ces théories montreront le désir d’exister de Garine lui-même et celui de vouloir changer le cours des choses à Canton, en particulier et en Chine, en général. Au terme de ce travail, il ressort que l’aventure individuelle de Pierre Garine sera un échec à la faveur de la collective qui va aboutir à l’expansion du communisme. Dans cette perspective, ce roman de Malraux peut être considéré comme une production littéraire d’expression d’une idéologie sociale.
Keywords: Transformation, idéologie, existence, fraternité, communisme
Filmmaking in Local Languages and the Social Change Agenda in Anglophone Cameroon: Victor Viyuoh’s Nina’s Dowry Critiqued. Get the full PDF
Alasambom Nyingchuo…………………………………………………………………..19-35
Until the late 2000s, filmmaking in anglophone Cameroon paid little or no attention to indigenous languages as a means of expression. Filmmaking was seen as an elitist activity and fluent English in films (or attempts thereof) perpetuated this viewpoint. Most films were neoclassical, discussing issues of national importance like bribery, corruption, nepotism, tribalism and national unity. However, the release of Victor Viyouh’s Nina’s Dowry (2012) ushered in a new dawn in the Cameroonian cinematic landscape. For the first time, Viyouh used a mix of local languages to tackle salient social issues, achieving unprecedented success. From a cultural/historical analytic perspective, this paper sets out to x-ray the effectiveness of African languages as cultural property and an effective medium for film, especially when film is used as a tool for social intervention and a vector of social change. The major findings indicate that the use of local languages in films greatly enhances the reception and impact of such films. This is evidenced by the success of Viyouh’s Nina’s Dowry and the popularity and success of films by other Cameroonian filmmakers who emulated this approach. Consequently, the major recommendation is for Cameroonian filmmakers to use local languages more assertively in their films for more authenticity and a wider local audience.
Keywords: Filmmaking, Social Intervention, Social change, Local languages, Creole
Adult and Non-formal Education in Nigeria: A Discipline in Search of Scope and Direction . Get the full PDF
Musa Usman, Augusta O. Okwute, & Hadiza Buhari …………….……………..36-54
The study examined adult education as a field of study which is essential for national development because its relevance cuts across all sectors of the Nigerian economy. Yet despite its relevance in all sectors of the economy, it suffered much neglect and accorded low priority from the colonial to post-colonial governments in Nigeria. Also, as a discipline, it has not been properly subscribed for in the Nigerian tertiary institutions and has not been utilized in the development circle to minimize the many socio-economic problems in the society as emphasis is still placed on the formal education school system. However, positive changes and meaningful development cannot wait for those undergoing the formal school system to finish before solutions are found. The current challenges of globalization and the many socio-economic and political crises bedwelling our nations demand that the scope and curriculum of adult education be restructured to respond to the challenging needs of national development. The researchers adopted a documentary research design for the study. Documents on existing adult education curricula at the undergraduate level in some selected federal universities in the country were used for the study. The choice of the federal university was that adult education as a discipline started with the federal universities. Out of 39 federal universities only 15 are presently offering degree programmes in adult education. However, only 6 of the universities were selected based on the country’s geo-political zone. The researchers adopted a content analysis method for the study, and the choice was purely based on major thematic areas of adult education programmes as contained in the National University Commission (NUC) requirements. The findings of the study revealed that Community Development, Administration and Planning were adequately reflected in all the selected universities, except Women’s Education and Industrial Labour Studies. The study also revealed that ICT, Environmental Education and Cooperative Management were fairly reflected in the universities. Based on the findings of the study recommendations are made which include among other things that adult education as a discipline should properly reflect among other things the prevailing developmental needs of society; and focus on training professional adult educators in Nigerian universities to be in tandem with the contemporary national and global trends.
Keywords: Adult Education, Non-formal education, education managers, & administrators
Audience Dynamics in Novel-to-Film Adaption: The Case of Half of a Yellow Sun . Get the full PDF
Awat Malone Embuta, Adamu Pangmeshi & Mbuh Tennu Mbuh ……………..55-76
This paper sets out to evaluate reader-audience attitudes to adaptation. It underscores the point that intertextuality and technological evolution have had a great influence in audience preferences for a film over its novel counterpart in the study of novel-to-film adaptation. Inspired by such transformation, this analysis posits that in the contemporary world, especially in the African/Cameroon postcolony, more people prefer watching/viewing than reading. To sustain this premise, the paper examines intertextuality and audience reaction dynamics. Stated differently, the paper seeks to reveal that there exists an ideological contestation between the novelists and artistic directors which has a causal effect on the audience in terms of audience perception and preference. This is because there exists a controversial question of “which is better: the book or the film?” The response to such a question will always be linked to both the literary artist and the artistic director. The challenge is for the audience to deduce relative meaning from the film based on the artistic director’s vision in the adaptation, which in most cases is different from the ideological frame of the source text, thereby making it difficult to ascertain faithfulness. This gives way to the discourse of infidelity in cinema, with the audience caught between the biases of the source author and film director. Applying intertextuality as a theoretical frame, the paper employs the mixed research method wherein selected texts are exploited and data is collected with the help of observation, textual analysis, field survey, the use of interviews, focus group discussion, administration of questionnaires and pilot reconnaissance survey. The results reveal that indeed in today’s society, a vast majority of people prefer viewing to reading.
Keywords: Adaptation, intertextuality, audience, preference, novel and film
Female Objectification in African Culture: A Study of Selected Drama . Get the full PDF
Esther Frank Apejoye-Okezie ……………..………………………….…………..…77-92
Women are vital members of any society. However, female objectification has been a recurring theme in many African cultural experiences. Several scholars and playwrights who have written extensively on the issue link it to the patriarchal nature of most cultures in Africa. From plays such as The Lion and the Jewel by Wole Soyinka to Hands that Crush Stones by Theodora Adimora, female characters are often portrayed as objects to be controlled and dominated by male characters. This is evident in how their appearances, actions, and desires are all determined by the male gender, and how their worth is often tied to their physical appearance and ability to please men. Female objectification not only perpetuates harmful gender stereotypes but also reinforces askew patriarchal power dynamics within African societies. Borrowing insight from the humanist feminist theory, this paper critically interrogates the derogatory depictions of women in selected African drama. It adapts the content analysis methodology to connect the experiences of the women in the texts under study to real-life consequences for the treatment and representation of women in society.
Keywords: Objectification, Female, African Drama, Humanism, Culture, Patriarchy
The Paradox of Independence and Cultural Assertion: A Eurocentric Analysis of John Nkemngong Nkengasong’s God Was African. Get the full PDF
Anueye-Apeneh Vanisa Peke, Njong Divine, & Adamu Pangmeshi …..….…93-109
This paper sets out to prove that the situation in independent Africa is paradoxical, as illustrated by John Nkemngong Nkengasong in God Was African. The work is undertaken because, in a dynamic where migration is unavoidable, social relations are constrained by numerous differences and practices still practised, which were hoped to have been abolished at independence like slavery and slave trade, racism and inequality of races. John Nkemngong Nkengasong focuses on the postcolonial era where migration has made it inevitable for the once colonized people of Africa and their former colonizers to co-exist. Anxieties, tensions, crises and binary sentimentalities plague this co-existence. The work is based on the hypothesis that the characters depicted by John Nkemngong Nkengasong in God Was African are plagued by crises and binary sentimentalities which threaten their worth as a people and a race although these binaries were said to have been abolished. In this guise, they try to project their cherished values. The Post-Colonial Theory and Eurocentricism sheds light on the binary polarities between the two distinct races (the grand North and the grand South) that result in tensions and crises The findings revealed that independence did not bring equality in races as Europeans made Africans to believe. There still exist prejudiced behaviours practised by the colonisers on the once colonised.
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Keywords:Eurocentricism, postcolonial, paradox, Migration, crises, culture, Assertion
Creation of in situ monuments: the case of the ARCAM site in Yaounde . Get the full PDF
Landry Ghislain TELE DJOSSEU ………………………………..……..……..…110-129
The institutional shaping of the State of Cameroon began in 1946 in this place with the creation of the Representative Assembly of Cameroon (ARCAM) by decree n°46-2376 of the French government. This same site, which today serves as the “Yaounde Pilot Linguistic Centre”, is a highly symbolic place that has witnessed the constitutional evolution of the country, from the State of Cameroon under UN trusteeship to the Oriental Republic of Cameroon. It was in this room that the form of the State was developed and the very first President was sworn in. Given this exceptionality, it is quite curious that this site doesn’t stand out from a visual point of view, with a remarkable artistic and sculptural representation executed according to the site, to play an active, alternative and unique role in promoting and safeguarding our historical and heritage legacy. Proposing a sculptural monument in-situ remains the main objective of this research, because, situated in the heart of the city of Yaounde, the idea is to revitalise this space of such great importance, to draw the attention of the public authorities and the citizens of the city to the importance of this site so that it no longer continues to sink gradually and surely into oblivion. Based on historical and factual data, field surveys and a methodological approach to the creation of works based on Mnémo-Génératisme, several proposals for in situ sculptural works were made, and a model developed using ceramic technology was produced. This in situ sculptural monument would be a permanent solution to restore this mythical space, which no longer needs to demonstrate its importance.
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Keywords: Creation, In-situ Monument, History, Yaoundé, Mnemo-Generatism
Female Traditional Militancy in the Bamenda Grassfields: The Case of “Anlu” of the Kom Fondom, 1928-1972 . Get the full PDF
NGAI KILLIAN NCHAM & CANUTE A. NGWA …………..………………………130-149
The struggle for gender equality and enchanting discourses on egalitarianism in governance and other sectors have ignited multidirectional policy and scholarly interest in women and their participation in varied aspects of public life. While the drive for female emancipation has gained enormous ground in the global North, its parallel push in the global South, especially in Africa, has been relatively muted. There has been a neglect, in policy and scholarly circles, of women’s ability, under certain circumstances, to resort to violence or protest against patriarchy or some forms of domination. In African societies, there have historically been various forms of female protest which unfortunately have been given scant attention. In the Bamenda western Grassfields of Cameroon, a historically glorified sanctuary of patriarchy, forces of change – notably education, Christianity and changing worldviews and perceptions of property ownership – provided opportunities for women to seek various ways of addressing or highlighting their grievances. This approach overwhelmingly led to protests and various forms of militancy, overturning conservative perceptions about the female folk. This study lingers on these mutations to show the spiral of female militancy in the Grassfields with emphasis on Kom. The paper draws from a careful review of oral and written literature and a consultation of (especially Kom Fondom) sources. Over 70% of the information for this study was obtained through written sources. The study finds that the changing dimensions of female revolt were thanks to the courage and determination of some key persons in the Kom Fondom like Fuam, Muana and Jua Nathalia Nuh. They and their successes served as inspiration for neighbouring villages in which similar associations such as “Fembue,” “Ndofumbue” and “Takumbeng” of Aghem, BabakiTungoh and Bafut, respectively, were created.
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Keywords: Mutations, Grassfields, Anlu, and Kom
Inondations pluviales et contraintes d’accès aux marchés périodiques à l’Extrême- Nord du Cameroun . Get the full PDF
AHIDJO Paul…………………………………………………………………………….150-166
La zone sahélienne du Cameroun est en proie aux effets des changements climatiques qui se traduisent par la récurrence des sécheresses et des inondations. Les inondations constituent des phénomènes météorologiques extrêmes à l’origine de la dégradation des infrastructures routières qui relient les différentes agglomérations de l’Extrême-Nord. La haute saison des pluies qui survient au mois de jjuillet-août s’accompagne parfois des inondations. Le constat de terrain montre que certaines routes en terre sont complètement coupées et dégradées pendant la période pluvieuse. Cette dégradation rend difficile l’accès des populations et des biens aux marchés périodiques, lieux de retrouvailles populaires et d’échanges commerciaux. Les effets des inondations sur les infrastructures routières sont générateurs de problèmes, notamment l’approvisionnement des marchés en divers produits, de la flambée des prix des denrées alimentaires et de l’augmentation des coûts de transport. Sur la base des données primaires, des données secondaires et de l’observation de terrain, le présent travail ambitionne de montrer comment en saison des pluies, les inondations constituent des facteurs de dégradation des infrastructures routières, dans une région à vulnérabilité écologique établie et sous-tendent le développement de nouvelles alternatives de transport. L’altération du réseau routier, la vulnérabilité alimentaire et l’apparition de nouvelles modalités de transport constituent les résultats de cette recherche.
Mots clés : inondations, saison des pluies, contraintes, accès, marchés périodiques.
