The Power of the Local: Education Choices and Language Maintenance Among the Bafut, Kom and Nso' Communities of Northwest Cameroon
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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......................................................................... 152 4.7.5. Conclusion............................................................................................... 153 Chapter 5. Roles and uses of the written mother tongue ............................................. 154 5.1. Social domains for English and mother tongue in the language community: an overview........................................................................................................................ 155 5.2. Acquiring literacy in the mother tongue.................................................................. 156 5.2.1. PROPELCA classes and adult literacy classes....................................... 157 5.2.2. Cooperating institutions........................................................................... 161 5.2.3. Summary: acquiring literacy in the mother tongue .................................. 164 5.3. Mother-tongue literacy and language maintenance..............................................