View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Stellenbosch University SUNScholar Repository Rebellion as a Lifestyle: Representations of Youth Revolt in Cameroon Serge Ntamack Thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (International Studies) at Stellenbosch University Supervisor: Professor Ian Taylor Faculty of Arts and Social Science Department of Political science December 2010 i Declaration By submitting this thesis electronically, I declare that the entirety of the work contained therein is my own, original work, that I am the owner of the copyright thereof (unless to the extent explicitly otherwise stated) and that I have not previously in its entirety or in part submitted it for obtaining any qualification. Date: 15 June 2010…………………………….. Copyright © 2010 Stellenbosch University All rights reserved ii Abstract This research has used a critical discourse analysis approach encompassing postcolonial theory and theory of media effects in order to investigate the influence of political discourse in the media upon youth’s violence in Cameroon. As a result it has been found that the use of private violence by young people in urban cities has become ordinary. Such an attitude reflects among other some aspects of youth’s lifestyle designed to cope with the hardship of their social status and to resist the elite’s dominance. While no counter-narrative has been found in the independent publications about the portrayal of youth’s violence as criminal by the state-owned press, the young people nevertheless have produced through a street culture a narrative deconstructing the political discourse in the media and highlighting their grievances in a more or less violent tone. Thus the use of private violence during the riot in February 2008, is far from an isolated (re)action of angry young people , it obeys the very practicality of their existence and the political turmoil it might cause is incidental to the way of life in which it is embedded. iii Opsomming Die navorsing het ‘n kritiese diskoers analise-benadering gebruik wat ‘n post- koloniale teorie en ‘n teorie van media-effekte insluit om sodoende die invloed van politieke diskoers in die media op jeuggeweld in Kameroen, te ondersoek. Daar is gevolglik gevind dat die gebruik van private geweld deur jongmense in stedelike gebiede normaal geword het. So ‘n houding reflekteer onder andere sommige aspekte van die jeug se leefstyl wat ontwerp is om die ontbering van hul sosiale status te hanteer en ook die elite se dominasie te weerstaan. Ofskoon geen teen-narratief sover gevind is in die onafhanklike publikasies oor die uitbeelding van jeuggeweld as krimineel en die publikasies van die staatsbeheerde pers wat die jeug uitbeeld met min agentskap nie, het jongmense wel ‘n teen-narratief geskep deur ‘n straat-kultuur. Hierdie teen-narratief dekonstruktueer die politieke diskoers in die media en onderstreep hul griewe in ‘n geweldadige toon. Dus die gebruik van private geweld gedurende die onluste in Februarie 2008, wat nie as ‘n geïsoleerde (re)aksie van woedende jongmense gesien kan word nie, is getrou aan die wese van hulle bestaan en die politieke onrus wat dit moontlik mag veroorsaak, is bykomstig tot die leefstyl waarin dit vasgelê is.” iv Acknowledgments • To those who lend me His strength to express my ideas • To those who always will nourish my ideas • To all those who die pour rien because of their ideas • To my beloved dad, Onesime Esseba and my great friend, Peter Hanbury v TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction....................................................................................1 Chapter 1. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK...............................3 1.1 CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS THEORY.......................................3 1.2 POSTCOLONIAL THEORY.......................................................................6 1.3 FRAMING AS A THEORY OF MEDIA EFFECTS...................................9 1.4 THE ROLE OF MEDIA IN FRAMING PUBLIC/PRIVATE VIOLENCE AS NEWS..................................................................................................13 Chapter 2. CAPTURING SOME LOGICS OF THE CAMEROONIAN POSTCOLONY.................................................16 2.1 COLONIAL TRAJECTORY OF CAMEROON.......................................16 2.2 AHIDJO’S LEGACY.................................................................................18 2.2.1 On politics..................................................................................................18 2.2.2 On economics.............................................................................................20 2.3 FROM BIYA TO AHIDJO: DISCONTINUITY AND CONTINUITY OF THE NEOPATRIMONIAL REGIME.........................................................................21 2.3.1 Leadership transition..................................................................................21 2.3.2 Economics reforms.....................................................................................23 2.3.3 New economic landscape...........................................................................26 2.3.4 Political Reforms........................................................................................29 2.3.5 Reconfiguration of the ruling elite, consolidation of status quo, and popular disenchantment................................................................................................32 2.3.6 Experiencing the so called ‘ civil society’ in Cameroon............................38 Chapter 3. NEGATION OF MARTYRDOM, SEDUCTION OF ILLEGALITY, PRESENTATION AND REPRESENTATION OF REBELS’ SUBJECTIVITIES.........................................................44 3.1 THE MEANING OF REBELLING...........................................................44 3.2 THE STATIST PRODUCTION OF HISTORY AND THOSE WHO ‘DIE POUR RIEN’: SOME IMPLICATIONS FOR PUBLIC COGNITION....48 3.3 SURVIVING IN THE POSTCOLONY: REBELLING AS A LIFESTYLE ....................................................................................................................55 3.4 THE RISE OF PRIVATE VIOLENCE.....................................................63 vi Chapter 4. JOURNALISM IN CAMEROON: A FIELD BOUND BY THE RISK OF DEATH............................................................69 4.1 THE LEGAL STRUCTURE OF PRESS FREEDOM...............................69 4.2 ECONOMY OF JOURNALISTIC PRACTICE........................................75 4.3 CONTRASTING REPRESENTATIONS OF THE FEBRUARY’S EVENT IN CAMEROONIAN NEWSPAPERS........................................85 4.4 THE WORK OF THE POLITICAL DISCOURSE IN CAMEROONIAN MEDIA : CONSTRUCTING A MEANING OF YOUTH IN RELATION TO VIOLENCE................................................................................................95 4.5 REPRODUCTION OF THE DOMINANT REPRESENTATION OF YOUTH....................................................................................................102 Chapter 5. THE PRACTICE OF REBELLION AS A LIFESTYLE.................................................108 5.1 IN SEARCH FOR A NARRATIVE : YOUTH, VIOLENCE AND MBOA RAP........................................................................................................116 5.2 THE STYLE OF YOUTH VIOLENCE ……………………………….. LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Table 2.1 Ethnic groups in Cameroon.........................................................................17 Figure 1.1 A process model of Framing research........................................................11 Figure 2.2 Economic dependency ratio (EDR) of the population of Cameroon, 1976, 1987 and 1998..............................................................................................................27 Figure 3.3 Age structure of the population in Cameroon, 1976, 1987 and 1998.........46 Figure 3.4 Schooling rate of Children from 6-14 years in Cameroon, 1976, 1987 and 1998.......................................................................................................................55 Figure 3.5 Ratio of Population of 12-24 to population 25-59 in Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, Cameroon and Pakistan.................................................................................64 Figure 4. 6 Percentage readerships among the ten largest publications ( newspapers and magazine) in Cameroon.......................................................................................79 Figure 4.6 Number of Journalism training Institutes in Cameroon.........................81 vii BIBLIOGRAPHY.........................................................................121 DISCOGRAPHY...........................................................................134 APPENDIX...................................................................................134 Front page of Cameroon tribune No 90445243, 25th February, 2008......................135 Front page of Le quotidien mutation, No2100, 25th February, 2008.......................136 8 INTRODUCTION During the first half of 2010, International Crisis Group published two reports concerning the current political situation in Cameroon. The first report titled Cameroon: Fragile State? in Africa Report No 160, uncovers some points of political instability and suggests how to tackle them. In the light of this report it appears that the country shows a pattern of apparent stability followed by violent crisis. In this regard International Crisis Group (2010) argues that: For long periods, problems have been masked but not dealt with, and consequent