Francis Nyamnjoh

Mobile Phones: The New Talking Drums of Everyday Africa? (Book Review)

Originally published here

Bruijn, M. ., Nyamnjoh, F. B., & Brinkman, I. (2009). Mobile phones: The new talking drums of everyday Africa. Bamenda, Cameroon: Langaa.

I have been reading up on mobile phone use in developing countries recently for a couple of papers. One of the few books entirely devoted to the issue is “Mobile Phones: The New Talking Drums of Everyday Africa”, edited by Mirjam de Bruijn, Francis Nyamnjoh and Inge Brinkman from the African Studies Centre in Leiden and published in 2009 in cooperation with Cameroon’s Langaa group. #The book takes an anthropological and historical perspective on the role of mobile telephony in a wide range of (sub-Saharan) African societies.

 

Profess Democracy but Implement Autocracy: Politics in Nyamnjoh's Married But Available

By George Esunge Fominyen

Is Francis Nyamnjoh’s *Married But Available simply an account of the experiences of Lily Loveless, a Muzugulander (western) researcher, who travels to Mimboland (Cameroon/Africa) to study the relationship between sexuality and power? Or is it about the telenovela-styled sneak peek into the lives of couples by Britney, Lily’s young research assistant? Isn’t it a, rather, witty stab at African leadership, democracy and the role of the media in society?

Book Review: The social life of 'maids'

Originally published on Pambazuka News

Efua Prah reviews Francis Nyamnjoh's 'Intimate Strangers', a book in which 'we learn and unlearn a lot about human beings and the solidarities they forge and deny one another'.

Through Francis Nyamnjoh’s Immaculate of Mimboland, a foreigner in Botswana, we learn and unlearn a lot about human beings and the solidarities they forge and deny one another.

I think my sense of what was normal and accepted behaviour really got tested as I read the stories Immaculate transcribed for Dr Winter-Bottom Nanny. My surprised reaction really is exemplary of how easy it is to normalise certain ways of being (like what our expectations are and what we measure as acceptable) and categorise relationships according to these definitions.

A Review of Two Books by Francis Nyamnjoh

BARBARA HARLOW (Race & Class, Vol. 51, No. 3, 99-101, 2010)

The Travail of Dieudonné By FRANCIS B. NYAMNJOH (Nairobi, East African Educational Publishers,2008), 164 pp.

Mobile Phones: the new talking drums of everyday Africa By MIRJAM DE BRUIJN, FRANCIS NYAMNJOH and INGE BRINKMAN, eds (Leiden, African Studies Centre/Bamenda, Cameroon, Langaa Research and Publishing, 2009), 173 pp.

Chopngomna is the only one of the habitués gathered in the Grand Canari bar who has a mobile phone; in fact, he ‘owned two mobile phones – the latest cutest and most expensive Nokia and Samsung in town; phones endowed with the fanciest ring tones that made him a popular spectacle around Nyamandem’. The group assembled that day, a day that extended well into evening, however, was more intent on another kind of communication, Dieudonné’s rambling account of his ‘travail’ – travail in the sense of ordeal, but also in the French sense of work or job, since The Travail of Dieudonné, written in English, is set in Mimboland/Cameroon, ruled by President Longstay, where French is but one of the colonial languages, and Dieudonné’s storytelling is also inflected dramatically with local pidgin and indigenous aphorisms and proverbs, along with frequent Insha ‘Allah’s. Nor is Dieudonné interested in a mobile phone of his own, no matter how cute or sexy or even fancy the ringtone, although one of the local beer companies, his favourite, is sponsoring ‘winning caps’ that could, if he were lucky, land him such an otherwise prized possession.

The ethics of research on human subjects in Africa

Apollo Rwomire and Francis B. Nyamnjoh (2007) Challenges and Responsibilities of Social Research in Africa: Ethical Issues.Addis Ababa, The Organisation for Social Science Research in Eastern and Southern Africa (OSSREA), 212 pages, and paperback, P120, ISBN 99912-572-9-2 (has an index of key names, but not a subject index). Available at BooksBotswana and Exclusive Books.

Reviewed by SHERIDAN GRISWOLD (Originally published in Mmegi Online)

Challenges and Responsibilities of Social Research in Africa: Ethical Issues is a collection of 21 essays that should be of interest to a variety of people, including researchers and consumers of research.

Its editors are well known in Botswana. Apollo Rwomire, a Ugandan, has taught in the Department of Social Work at the University of Botswana (UB) since 1993. His recent books include Social Problems in Africa (2001) and Human Impact on Environment and Sustainable Development in Africa (2003).

Francis B Nyamnjoh, a Cameroonian, is an anthropologist and sociologist who has written five works of fiction including The Disillusioned African (1995) and The Travails of Dieudonne (2008). His academic books span topics as diverse as sexuality, xenophobia, democracy, the media and Magical Interpretations, Material Realities (2001).

Review of Francis Nyamnjoh's 'Married but Available'

Vicensia Shule gives an appreciative review of Francis Nyamnjoh's 'Married but Available'.

The title of Francis Nyamnjoh’s 'Married but Available' (MBA) is both inviting and intriguing. Being MBA as opposed to having an MBA! Reading the cover page, it was evident to me that the author had set out to refute, or at least interrogate, the existing practice of people being simultaneously married and available for relationships with persons other their married partners. This is a practice that can be traced to almost all societies of the world. Nyamnjoh sheds light on this phenomenon not only in relation to the traditions of the fictional Mimboland in which the novel is set, but more on the global motives behind the possibility of marriage and availability. The most fascinating aspect of Mimboland is its unique ‘products’, such as Mimbo Wonder beer, Air Mimbo and the University of Mimbo, which surface throughout the novel. 

Book Review: Francis B. Nyamnjoh, (2008). Souls Forgotten.

By Tanja Estella Bosch (Originally published on TEBlog)

This satirical portrayal of the fictional West African 'Mimboland’ begins with the anguished reflections of a rather stereotypical Emmanuel, experiencing an emotional breakdown of sorts after failing university exams. Acutely aware of the unrealistic expectations of his family and the rural villagers who pin all their hopes on his return, Emmanuel simultaneously navigates his way through a shaky relationship and the dirty, dangerous yet glamorous streets of the fast city.

Chose promise, chose dûe : Note de Lecture Souls Forgotten de Francis B. Nyamnjoh

Par Nathalie Gabiam

D’abord je tiens à vous remercier pour l’honneur que vous m’avez fait par la dédicace de ce premier volume de SOULS FORGOTTEN. Comme je vous l’ai dit dans notre discussion, à mon avis, l’histoire de ce roman ne ressemble pas du tout à la trame de vos autres romans que j’ai pu lire. Il me paraît plus profond car le thème étudié porte à réfléchir sur le monde visible et le monde invisible. Sur la relation entre nos pères et nos ancêtres défunts et les préoccupations des villageois par rapport aux préoccupations des citadins. Le cadre est tellement bien décrit que parfois on se retrouve là-dedans ; les quartiers pauvres des villes avec leur misère et le manque d’infrastructures le plus élémentaire (pas d’eau courante, pas de toilettes), l’insalubrité et les gens qui se battent pour survivre.

Note de lecture sur "Marrried But Available" de Francis B. Nyamnjoh

Par Ngo Nlend Nadeige Laure

C’est une image véritablement scabreuse que celle du Mimboland, ou peut être devrait on dire : Libidoland – Bacchus conduisant fatalement à Vénus - que celle projetée dans ce qui tient plus d’un traité sur la sociologie sexuelle que d’une oeuvre de fiction, et dont l’intitulé seule en dit long sur la nature épicée du contenu. Married But Available, pour citer cette dernière sortie littéraire de Francis B. Nyamnjoh, n’a pas failli à la tradition du tragi- comique qui caractérise l’univers de l’auteur. Un univers où l’humour décapant et le dramatique s’allient et se combinent avec une régularité et une aisance difficilement égalables, pour servir à un public chaque fois plus conquis, le divertissant menu que constitue ce qui désormais est connu comme la spécialité du chef, à savoir, les tribulations du Mimboland.

A journey into dejection or the denunciation of resignation: A review of Francis Nyamnjoh’s Souls Forgotten

Souls Forgotten (355 pages; Langaa research and Publishing CIG, 2008)

 Reviewed by George Esunge Fominyen

It took Emmanuel Kwanga four years after dropping out of university to take control of his life and decide to set up an NGO to assist his community reeling in neglect, instead of griping about the fate of the rich and poor, the corrupt and the defenceless in his country Mimboland. Francis Nyamnjoh in Souls Forgotten (2008) used the subtlety of prose to tell Cameroonians in 355 pages what the U.S Ambassdor Janet Garvey said to them via a speech to the American Chamber of Commerce in Douala in June 2009 : it is time to take ownership of their destiny, their government, their community.