THE ANGLOPHONE PROBLEM IN CAMEROON: IS IT BEYOND LANGUAGE

Conventionally, the Anglophone Problem in Cameroon is perceived as that of a language crisis. The Anglophone Problem is usually described as the emergence of an Anglophone consciousness derived from the feeling of being " marginalized " , " exploited " and assimilated by the francophone-dominated state. In this context, a language crisis is understood as the forceful imposition of a language, on a group of people against their will (Hebert 2004) which is not the situation in Cameroon.

However, my position is that this conflict goes way beyond that of a language crisis. This paper elaborates on the dynamics of this conflict by trying to examine other factors that place this conflict beyond being a mere conflict of language. It is argued in this paper that in addition to and more than a language crisis, the Anglophone problem has been accelerated by such factors as communal stratification, transition from a federal system to a unitary system, violation of constitutional provisions on judicial appointments and the fear of assimilation through education. Communal stratification refers to the political and economic inferior positions as well as under-representation in the Anglophone Community.

Transition from a federal state to a unitary state resulted in the loss of autonomy of the Anglophone Community which generated the feeling of being " second class " citizens in the unitary state. The violations of constitutional provisions on judicial appointments, through the imposition of the civil law administrators in Anglophone common law courts is destroying the Anglophone judicial system and finally the fear of assimilation through education derived from the recruitment of " French-oriented " teachers into Anglophone schools are all aspects that aggravates this conflict. This paper will employ statistical data and secondary sources to study the perception of the Anglophone Community and show how this accelerates the Anglophone Problem in Cameroon.

Nancy N . Achu