Critical Perspectives on Cameroon Writing

5. The Indigenous and the Alien in Cameroon Writing

37 5 The Indigenous and the Alien In Cameroon Writing A. Bame Nsamenang Ecole Nonnale Superieure, Bambili Abstract Although Cameroon has made tremendous progress with the written word, a tradition inherited from the West, the dominant mode of cultural transmission remains the spoken word. Cameroon Writing is contextualized within a triple heritage of indigenous imperatives, Eastern traditions and Western legacies, some of which foster as well as constrain literary and scientific productivity. Cameroon’s culture is the sorry story of how alien forces impacted on indigenous institutions and cultural systems and stagnated, corrupted, distorted, or replaced them at least partially. This accounts for the duality of the Cameroon socio-cultural system, characterized by the existence of Cameroonians at the fringes of traditional and modern worlds. The marginality of Cameroon Writers is exacerbated by their extensive academic acculturation which makes it difficult, if not impossible, for to discern the stark realities of their ecocultures. It is for this reason that the ecocultural framework is proposed here as a conceptual paradigm to inspire sensivity to the local ecoculture and a fresh look at our ethnocultural histories and identities, which contribute to the Cameroon Identity that must be preserved. Thus far, our strategies for the preservation of this identity have been misguided; they have been lopsided in favour of the Francophone majority and partial to the detriment of the Anglo-Saxon cultural minority. Cameroon Writers are called upon to research and bring out the truth about our identity of diversity. Only the truth shall set us free and save our nation from impending disaster. Each Cameroonian Writer owes an obligation for the survival of this identity. 38 Introduction I understand Cameroon Writing to refer to that body of the written word, that is, the literature produced by Cameroonian women and men of science: arts, and literary culture. Even a cursory scrutiny of this literature would reveal that it contains elements of both the indigenous and the alien. It is indigenous in the sense that it is produced by Cameroonians and reflects their heritage culture and. ecological and existential realities, as well as the blind spots and shortcomings of its producers. It is alien in the sense that the outlooks of the Cameroonians who produce it and their ecology have been influenced by exogenous or alien forces whose impact on their writing cannot be ignored. This alien element is magnified by the fact Cameroonians inherited the Writing Tradition “ready-made from the West rather than having participated actively in its development” (Kagitcibasi, 1984). In fact, the logic of discourse within African social thought differs considerably from its nature within Western scholarship. In consequence, Cameroon Writers can only attempt to present their indigenous reality in terms of what is acceptable in western academia. Thus, literature out of Cameroon is “neither entirely indigenous nor entirely alien”, it is a hybrid (Nsamenang, 1992a) suffuse with themes and images wherein “the old traditional ways have a continuing relevance, along with the new” (Ellis, 1978). In the light of this dualistic, inherently conflictual, scenario, the major scholarly challenge to the Cameroon Writer is to strike a delicate balance between representing the indigenous and upholding, at least minimal standards of acceptable scholarship. From this perspective, it is extremely important to accept and work from the premise that Cameroon and Cameroonian Writers of all persuasions must measure up and compete at par with all others in the arena of international scholarship. However, in doing so, they must, at all times, preserve that unique Cameroon Identity; an identity born out of unparalleled diversity. The primary purpose of this paper is to highlight the extent to which alien forces set to work on the varied raw materials (e.g., DavisRoberts , 1986) of Cameroon’s heritage cultures and ecology and its impact on or implication for Cameroon writing. More precisely, my 39 intention is to briefly; trace the development of Cameroon’s hybrid culture, and attempt to articulate how these foster or stifle Cameroon Writing; and present an ecocultural frame of reference, defined by ecology, cultural history, and the sociocultural system as a conceptual framework that can guide awareness of local points of view into Cameroon Writing. This is a framework that can promote indigenization of Cameroon Writing. I begin the paper with an examination of the wide variability in the ecology of Cameroon Writing. Next, I trace the externalization of the Cameroonian space, culture, and psyche. My use of the term...