Francis Nyamnjoh

African-Americans Seeking Tikar Origin in Cameroon: Notes on Multiple Dimensions of Belonging

By Francis B. Nyamnjoh

Recently I have been contacted by some African-Americans and agents of African-Americans who have traced their origin to the Tikar of Cameroon and would like to know more about this group of people. I have therefore written up these notes to assist them and interested others in their quest to capture their multiple dimensions of belonging.

If you are an African-American looking for Tikar communities in Cameroon, here are the four places to start, once you have landed at the Douala International Airport:

Theorizing Agency In and On Africa: The Questions Are Key

Francis B. Nyamnjoh

(Published in: Mirjam de Bruijn, Rijk van Dijk and Jan-Bart Gewald (eds.), Strength beyond Structure: Social and Historical Trajectories of Agency in Africa, Leiden: Brill, 2007, pp.340-344)

When I agreed to write an epilogue for this impressive collection on the social and historical trajectories of agency in Africa, the intention was not to discuss the various contributions – a job masterfully done by the editors in their introduction – but rather to draw inspiration from them to highlight further research questions for debate and reflection, especially those from a standpoint sensitive to the African predicaments described in this book and beyond.

"For Many are Called but Few are Chosen": Globalization and Popular Disenchantment in Africa

Francis B. Nyamnjoh

African Sociological Review, 4(2), 2000, pp.1-45

Defined as the compression of time and space or 'the intensification of worldwide social relations which link distant localities in such a way that local happenings are shaped by events occurring many miles away and vice versa' (Giddens, 1990:63-78), globalization is seen as a process of accelerated flows of capital, consumer goods, people, and products of culture and knowledge (especially in the form of electronic audiovisual images (cf. O'Brien, 1993; Appadurai, 1996; Thompson, 1999; Geschier & Meyer, 1998; Gray, 1998).

Children, Media and Globalisation: A Research Agenda for Africa

By Francis B. Nyamnjoh

Published in: Cecilia von Feilitzen and Ulla Carlsson (eds), Yearbook 2002: Children, Young People and Media Globalisation, The Unesco International Clearinghouse on Children, Youth and Media: Nordicom Goteborg University, pp.43-52).

If globalisation is a process of accelerated flow of media content, to most African cultures and children it is also a process of accelerated exclusion. While African cultures are marginalized by the streamlined information and entertainment menu served by global media conglomerates, the bulk of African children are only spared by the fact that global availability is not synonymous with global affordability.

State of the Media in Botswana, 2001

By Francis B. Nyamnjoh

Introduction
The 2000 report on media-government relations in Botswana sounded a relative note of optimism, which has been seriously tempered by events and developments in 2001. Relations between the government and the media have grown tenser, and mutual suspicion between the two has increased remarkably. It would appear that both are fast catching up with the reality of government-media relations elsewhere in Africa, making Botswana’s commitment to liberal democracy under increasing scrutiny. What accounts for such change of tone and direction? In what way have the media and the government given each other reason to rethink the importance of tolerance and freedom of expression as the foundation of liberal democracy in Botswana?

The State of the Media in Southern Africa 2000: Botswana

By Francis Nyamnjoh

Introduction
The main development in Botswana in 2000 was in the area of broadcasting. The press, of course, continued to play an active role in the promotion of civil society and democracy. MISA Botswana monitored and reported accordingly on media related issues, and in November there was a sub-regional workshop on Cartoon Journalism and Democratisation in Southern Africa, at the University of Botswana. As the report shows, government-media relations are not, comparatively speaking, characterised by hostility. But there is no room for complacency.

A Relevant Education for African Development—Some Epistemological Considerations

By Francis. B. Nyamnjoh

This paper argues that education in Africa is victim of a Western epistemological export that takes the form of science as ideology and hegemony. Under the Western epistemological export, education in Africa and/or for Africans has been like a pilgrimage to the Kilimanjaro of Western intellectual ideals and also the tortuous route to Calvary for alternative ways of life.

Chieftaincy and Democracy in Contemporary Africa

By Francis B. Nyamnjoh

Theorizing democracy and accountability in Africa ought to emphasise networking and creative domestication of encounters with others.

Bakweri Chiefs in Cameroon (© Makuna Tande)

This focus should check the application of misleading labels, and draw attention to the various pressures exerted on the state and private corporate entities by various groups in various ways for various reasons of empowerment. As people increasingly distrust states, markets and NGOs to accommodate their needs, they will continue to explore other avenues of fulfilling their expectations.

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Interrogating Barbie Democracy

By Francis B. Nyamnjoh

The world is currently hostage to a very uncreative idea of democracy informed by a very narrow idea of what it is to be beautiful, healthy, successful and free. Nowhere is this narrowness better exemplified than in the colossal investment that consumer capitalism has made in slimness, the greatest icon of which is Barbie.

The Africa of 2015 will be more assertive and critical of certain orthodoxies as Africans seek to harness their distinctive creativity, adaptiveness, sociality and conviviality in relationships and encounters. This essay focuses on democracy, a domain in which, paradoxical as it may seem, Africa would have much to teach the rest of the world by 2015.