Francis Nyamnjoh

“Images of Nyongo amongst Bamenda Grassfielders in Whiteman Kontri”

Francis B. Nyamnjoh

A copyedited and copyrighted version of this paper was published in Citizenship Studies Vol.9(3):241-269, 2005

Call me back’ or ‘Kontri fashion go catch you’
‘You bring me wetti from Whiteman Kontri?”

Excerpts:
Whiteman Kontri as Nyongo
Bamenda Grassfielders abroad compare Whiteman Kontri to Nyongo and liken themselves to victims of Nyongo. It is common to call and ask to speak to someone and be told he or she ‘has gone to work Nyongo’, meaning that they have to offer devalued and highly exploited labour at factories, as cleaners, maids, security guards or prostitutes, sweating and toiling round the clock, just to make ends meet. I was first intrigued by this comparison among undocumented Grassfielders in Italy, and as I discussed further with others, I realised the comparison was indeed widespread. But Cameroonians also use Nyongo to capture the excessive demands for remittances and consumer items by people who are not always family or friends, and who do not care much about them as human beings.

The Domestication of Hair and Modernised Consciousness in Cameroon: A Critique in the Context of Globalisation

Francis B. Nyamnjoh, Deborah Durham, Jude D. Fokwang

(Originally published in Identity, Culture and Politics, 3( 2), December 2002, pp. 98-124)

The concept of globalisation is becoming pervasive in social scientific studies,but its effects are still poorly understood, and its dimensions are only beginning to be explored in their wide range of subtleties. Although the movement of ideas, people and material items across parts of the globe has undoubtedly been part of all human history, the currently popular concept of globalisation is associated primarily with modernity and the modern - two concepts with subtle and often underexplored implications.

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.