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Alexis Mbeutcha

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Alexis Mbeutcha Alexis Mbeutcha FOOTBALL AS A VEHICLE OF NATIONAL INTEGRATION: THE CASE OF CAMEROON Department of Sociology and Social Psychology International School of Social Sciences Master’s Thesis Supervisors: Prof: Ulla M. Vuorela, Prof. Laura Huttunen December 2009 Abstract University of Tampere International School of Social Sciences Department of Sociology and Social Psychology Alexis Mbeutcha: FOOTBALL AS A VEHICLE OF NATIONAL INTEGRATION: THE CASE OF CAMEROON Master’s thesis, 85 pages Social Anthropology December 2009. ________________________________________________________________________________ This study set out to examine the influence of football in nation-building, in which case national integration. A qualitative research method was employed whereby the contents and discourses of Cameroonian football analysts were retained and analyzed in relation to the concept of national integration. The objective was to examine the meanings which the analysts make of the role of football in national integration, peace and in cultivating collective sentiments. The data were collected during several months from some popular Cameroonian Football websites, where Cameroonians around the globe comment about Cameroonian football in particular and world football in general. The data were analyzed qualitatively along related themes to national integration. The study is particularly important in the context of Cameroon as a recurrent successful football nation in Africa because of its national unity, integration and longstanding peace, which contrast its very diverse and fragmented multicultural, multi ethnic and heterogeneous society, with over 200 ethnic groups. This record of peace which may be indicative of its national integration makes Cameroon an interesting case study to which none in the (Central and West African) sub-region may be comparable to. The strategies of the Cameroonian government in pulling together the different ethnic groups to be both, a recurrent successful football and peaceful nation were some of the issues of interest in the research. Despite the controversial natures of some of the arguments and the negative impacts of such sentiment-driven activities, the study generally suggests that, football in that particular context and other collective activities could be as important and influential as any major political or economic instruments in nation-building processes. The contribution of football seems significant in the national integration and peace processes in Cameroon. In a successful football nation like Cameroon, football may help divert attention from serious political and economic issues like poverty, government businesses, governance debates and underdevelopment. Because of the accumulated heritage in football and consequently its capacity to mobilize collective sentiments and love for the game, people especially the lay majority, tend to forget their differences because most of their attention and discourses are regularly focused on sporting events and in the case of Cameroon, football. Other literatures in the thesis suggest as well that sporting activities like football usually enhance social cohesion as well as lubricate national socio-economic and political processes. Key words: Football, ethnicity, national integration, unity, tribalism. Table of Contents Chapter 1. Introduction ................................................................................................................... 1 1.1. Location of Cameroon ......................................................................................................... 3 1.2. Football in the Cameroonian Social and Sporting Landscape ............................................... 4 1.2.1. The Kings of the Forest ................................................................................................ 4 1.2.2. The Place of Football in Cameroon’s Sport ................................................................... 6 1.3. Research Statement .............................................................................................................. 7 1.3.1. Objective of the Study .................................................................................................. 8 1.3.2. Research Questions ...................................................................................................... 8 1.3.3. Summary of the Methodology ...................................................................................... 9 1.3.4. Significance of the Study .............................................................................................. 9 Chapter 2. Literature Review......................................................................................................... 11 2.2. Dealing with Ethnic Diversity ............................................................................................ 12 2.3. Politics and Football in the Cameroonian Context .............................................................. 16 2.4. FIFA: The World Football Ruling Body ............................................................................. 17 2.4.1. Identity and Objectives ............................................................................................... 17 2.4.2. The “Global”and “Local”in Football......................................................................... 19 2.4.3. National Football Teams and the World Cup ............................................................... 20 Chapter 3. Theoretical Framework ................................................................................................ 24 3.1. Ethnicity ............................................................................................................................ 24 3.2. Patriotism .......................................................................................................................... 26 3.3. Nationalism ....................................................................................................................... 28 3.4. Identity / National Identity ................................................................................................. 34 3.5. From ethnic and patriotic football to multinational industry ............................................... 36 Chapter 4. Data Collection and Methodology ................................................................................ 40 4.1. Data Collection .................................................................................................................. 40 4.1.1. The Data Source ......................................................................................................... 41 4.1.2. Method/process of the Data Analysis .......................................................................... 44 4.1.3. Coding ....................................................................................................................... 46 4.2. Validity and reliability of the data ...................................................................................... 47 Chapter 5. Presentation of the Data ............................................................................................... 48 5.1. The Tribe and Ethnic Related Issues................................................................................... 48 5.1.1 Advocates of Ethnic Identities portrayals ..................................................................... 49 5.1.2. Silent identity as an Answer to Tribalism in Cameroon ............................................... 50 5.2. The Nation-state ................................................................................................................ 51 5.3. Discourse on FIFA and FECAFOOT .................................................................................. 54 5.4. Discourse on Patriotism ..................................................................................................... 55 5.5. The Influence of Money ..................................................................................................... 57 5.6. Football’s Impact on Societal issues ................................................................................... 59 5.7. Discourse on Development ................................................................................................ 60 5.8 The Political Economy of Football ...................................................................................... 61 Chapter 6. Discussions and Conclusion ......................................................................................... 66 6.1. The facilitative role of football in societal issues ................................................................ 66 6.1.1. Synthesis of the discourses ......................................................................................... 67 6.2. The Multinational industry ................................................................................................. 70 6.2.2. The Impact of the Commercialization Processes ......................................................... 71 6.3. Football’s and national Development ................................................................................. 77 6.4. Football and national Unity (integration)............................................................................ 79 6.5. Concluding Statement ........................................................................................................ 80 References ...................................................................................................................................
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