On Pan-Africanism and Cultural Boundaries
The writer defends a Cameroonian brand's adoption of a Nigerian Yoruba term, arguing that cultural exchange strengthens rather than weakens Africa. She positions the controversy as a test of whether continental unity is a genuine aspiration or merely rhetoric obscuring deeper tribalism.
Is this not the Africa we dream of?
Are we not the ones who say for Africa to finally end her economic and political enslavement, Africans must come together? How do we then come together if we start setting up cultural boundaries? Should we not appreciate and participate in the cultures of other African nations? Each time a line is drawn, room opens for many more lines to be drawn.
In my country Cameroon, there is an identity crises birthed by the economic and social crises that have also contributed to a civil war. We cannot downplay the effects of globalization and Web 2.0 specifically social media which has exposed us to the rest of the world in a way that has no precedent. With globalization, has come cultural appropriations and cultural exchanges. There is therefore a lot of confusion on what it means to be Cameroonian and an Anglophone Cameroonian. For a long time, we had held on to an identity that many of us now find to be false. In our quest for a new sense of identity, we have begun to do things that go against our own self interest. I remember writing an article advising Anglophones in Cameroon to learn French. I was attacked by many for being a sell out and thought of as someone who had been assimilated.
Any-Ha!
One of Africa’s most prolific rappers, Sarkodie, is from Ghana. One of the songs that propelled him in the beginning of his career is titled “Oluwa Is Involved” - ‘Oluwa’ is the appellation for ‘God’ in the Nigerian Yoruba language. I took a surf to the comments section of Sakordie's song on YouTube. I hoped to not see any Ghanaian coming at him for valorizing another culture. Thank God I didn't. The only comment I saw that did not echo "Oluwa Is Involved" or praise Sark was one which said the song would have been bigger if it was done by a Nigerian. Do you think the fact that Sarkodie borrowed from Nigeria hurt the Ghanaian entertainment industry? I highly doubt.
Since the time I first read Thomas Friedman’s book ‘The World Is Flat,’ China has grown to become a superpower in the world. When you think about it, it is thanks to globalization and the huge Chinese population that operates a near singular culture - language being the most significant of the cultural factors in this context. The argument for Africa to come together lies mostly in the power of numbers but the coming together of African countries has partly been slowed by our so called diversity. Diversity in and of itself is not necessarily a good thing. Diversity becomes a positive force in society when we can freely participate in economies and cultures other than ours.
We are using a brand name inspired by another African culture. We might sometimes get to choose what we are exposed to but we can hardly pick what will inspire us. Should inspirations be translated because of a need to dissociate them from their original source - I don’t think so. I believe if a Nigerian had adopted a phrase that originated from Cameroon to create a brand, we would have celebrated the move. It is therefore cognitive dissonance to want to stop one of ours from tapping into another culture.
Maybe Nigeria does not appreciate our culture. Can we try something other than payback? Because I doubt payback is any way to advance a relationship. We preach pan-africanism but we somehow believe it must start with further emphasizing the boundaries we already have.
Of the opinions voiced, many have seen no issue with us using the brand name ‘Oluwa Is Involved.’ If I write, it is because many more have stayed silent because they are confused on what to think about the whole situation. In the fewest of words I as I could possibly use, I hope I have shed some light on why the brand name ‘Oluwa Is Involved’ by a Cameroonian is perfectly in line with our common interests as Africans - that is if we truly believe African Unity is the pathway for the political and economical liberation of Africa.
- Tino Foy
The piece emerges from Cameroon's layered identity crisis—compounded by civil conflict, globalization, and the rise of social media—where questions of linguistic and cultural belonging have become fraught. The specific incident (a brand name drawing criticism) becomes a lens for examining how Africans negotiate shared heritage and individual pride in an interconnected age.
In 2020, as pan-African rhetoric dominated progressive discourse, this piece offered a quiet corrective: unity cannot coexist with the policing of cultural boundaries. It remains acute because the tension—between celebrating African identity and resisting parochialism—persists, and the writer's refusal of performative nationalism in favor of pragmatic integration still reads as necessary clarity.