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The Power of the Local: Education Choices and Language Maintenance Among the Bafut, Kom and Nsoˈ Communities of Northwest Cameroon

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The Power of the Local: Education Choices and Language Maintenance Among the Bafut, Kom and Nsoˈ Communities of Northwest Cameroon DigitalResources SIL eBook 46 ® The Power of the Local: Education Choices and Language Maintenance among the Bafut, Kom and Nsoˈ Communities of Northwest Cameroon Barbara Louise Trudell The Power of the Local: Education Choices and Language Maintenance among the Bafut, Kom and Nsoˈ Communities of Northwest Cameroon Barbara Louise Trudell SIL International® 2012 SIL e-Books 46 2012 SIL International® ISBN: 978-1-55671-340-8 ISSN: 1934-2470 Fair-Use Policy: Books published in the SIL e-Books (SILEB) series are intended for scholarly research and educational use. You may make copies of these publications for research or instructional purposes free of charge (within fair-use guidelines) and without further permission. Republication or commercial use of SILEB or the documents contained therein is expressly prohibited without the written consent of the copyright holder(s). Editor-in-Chief Mike Cahill Managing Editor Bonnie Brown The Power of the Local: Education Choices and Language Maintenance among the Bafut, Kom and Nso' Communities of Northwest Cameroon Barbara Louise Trudell Ph.D. Thesis University of Edinburgh 2004 Table of contents Abstract .................................................................................................................................. i Acknowledgements .............................................................................................................. ii Chapter 1. Introduction ........................................................................................................ 1 1.1. Conceptual context for the study................................................................................ 2 1.2. The language communities under study .................................................................... 5 1.3. The phenomena under study ..................................................................................... 7 1.4. The limits of the subject ............................................................................................. 8 1.4.1. The demographic environment.................................................................... 8 1.4.2. The educational environment .................................................................... 10 1.5. Personal motivations for the investigation................................................................ 11 Chapter 2. Discourse and Design...................................................................................... 13 2.1. Language, community and identity .......................................................................... 14 2.1.1. Minority languages in the 'Global Village'.................................................. 14 2.1.2. Language development............................................................................. 19 2.1.3. The language community .......................................................................... 20 2.1.4. Language and culture: shared knowledge, shared meanings................... 22 2.1.5. Summary: Language, community and identity .......................................... 24 2.2. Language and literacy.............................................................................................. 25 2.2.1. Literacy and orality .................................................................................... 25 2.2.2. Literacy: individual skills vs. social meaning ............................................. 27 2.2.3. The language of literacy............................................................................ 30 2.2.4. Summary: Language and literacy.............................................................. 31 2.3. Language and education.......................................................................................... 32 2.3.1. Education as enculturation........................................................................ 32 2.3.2. The politics of education in Africa.............................................................. 34 2.3.3. Educational alternatives for minority African communities ........................ 36 2.3.4. Local language use in education............................................................... 37 2.3.5. The challenges of mother-tongue education in Africa ............................... 43 2.3.6. Summary: Language and education ......................................................... 48 2.4. Summary: Discourse framework on language, literacy and education .................... 48 2.5. Research design ...................................................................................................... 48 2.5.1. Research objectives .................................................................................. 49 2.5.2. The subject................................................................................................ 50 2.5.3. Methodological orientation ........................................................................ 50 2.5.4. Data gathering and interpretation.............................................................. 61 2.6. Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 65 Chapter 3. Setting the historical context: Language and education in anglophone Cameroon ................................................................................................................ 66 3.1. History of language and education in Northwest Cameroon: 1844-the present...... 66 3.1.1. Cameroon, the Grassfields and European contact before 1884 ............... 66 3.1.2. The German protectorate: 1884-1914....................................................... 69 3.1.3. The British Cameroons: 1914 - 1939 ........................................................ 74 3.1.4. The British Cameroons: 1939-1960 .......................................................... 87 3.1.5. Independence: 1960 to the present........................................................... 91 3.1.6. Reflections on local agency....................................................................... 98 3.2. Language development activity in Nso', Kom and Bafut........................................ 101 3.2.1. History and description of PROPELCA ................................................... 101 3.2.2. Institutional framework of PROPELCA.................................................... 105 3.2.3. Language development in Nso'............................................................... 106 3.2.4. Language development in Kom............................................................... 109 3.2.5. Language development in Bafut.............................................................. 111 3.2.6. Similarities between the three language development programmes....... 112 3.2.7. Differences between the three language development programmes...... 115 3.3. Conclusion ............................................................................................................. 117 Chapter 4. The status of the mother tongue in the homeland: authority, institutions and interests.......................................................................................................... 119 4.1. Traditional authorities............................................................................................. 119 4.1.1. Structure of traditional authority by the 18th century................................ 120 4.1.2. The Bafut, Kom and Nso' kingdoms........................................................ 121 4.1.3. Current evidence of the role of traditional authority................................. 123 4.2. Government authorities.......................................................................................... 128 4.3. Education authorities: government and denominational ........................................ 129 4.4. The role of the homeland in language use and attitudes ....................................... 132 4.4.1. Geographic and demographic context .................................................... 132 4.4.2. Who lives in the homeland ...................................................................... 133 4.4.3. Language choices in the homeland......................................................... 135 4.5. The elite ................................................................................................................. 136 4.5.1. Attitudes towards the mother tongue....................................................... 137 4.5.2. Maintaining contact with the homeland ................................................... 139 4.6. The language committee........................................................................................ 141 4.6.1. History and structure of the language committees .................................. 141 4.6.2. Activities and characteristics of the language committee........................ 143 4.6.3. Relationship to the national political hierarchy ........................................ 146 4.6.4. Position within the language community ................................................. 147 4.7. Summary: Leadership and its relation to language use and attitudes ................... 150 4.7.1. Authorities ............................................................................................... 150 4.7.2. The homeland ......................................................................................... 151 4.7.3. The elite................................................................................................... 151 4.7.4. The language committee........................................................................
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