Identity
Society & Culture
Protection and the Postponement of Growth
A reflection on how well-intentioned parental protection can inadvertently delay the development of essential life skills—communication, assertiveness, emotional awareness—by replacing trial and error with restriction. The writer traces how this safety-first approach creates compliance rather than confidence, and traces her own journey toward reclaiming agency in adulthood.
Seventeen Phrases Only a Cameroonian Will Understand
This essay assembles seventeen colloquial and code-switched expressions that encode the unwritten rules of Cameroon—phrases that teach adaptive intelligence, navigational pragmatism, and survival within systems marked by bureaucratic opacity and relational hierarchy. Together, they form a compressed manual for how to move through the country not by fighting its contradictions, but by translating them.
Things Only a Cameroon Will Understand
A humorous taxonomy of Cameroonian phrases and attitudes—'Le Cameroun c'est le Cameroun,' 'Man go do how?,' 'Si on t'explique le Cameroun'—that encode adaptive intelligence, institutional realism, and the psychological survival strategies required to navigate a country where systems are opaque and outcomes unpredictable. The piece frames these not as cynicism but as earned wisdom, folk philosophy expressed through resignation and creativity.
Ambition in National Dress: On Influencers, AFCON, and the Language of Marginalization
The writer examines a controversy over Anglophone content creators allegedly excluded from FECAFOOT's AFCON promotional campaign, arguing that the ensuing debate conflates personal ambition with national duty and mistakes popularity for leverage. Rather than address systemic exclusion, the discourse reduces itself to questions of individual selection and visibility.
Bilingualism as Mirror: A Reflection on National Character
The writer challenges Cameroonians' tendency to blame bilingualism for social discord, arguing instead that resistance to language learning reveals personal laziness and entitlement rather than any inherent flaw in the policy itself. Bilingualism, the piece contends, is not a burden imposed but an opportunity for individual and collective growth that remains largely squandered.
On Support and What We Mistake for It
The piece examines the recurring complaint that Cameroonians do not support each other, particularly in creative industries, by sorting the complaint into three groups and arguing that the real problem is a mutual misunderstanding of what support actually means. It contends that support requires both generous reception of early effort and realistic self-assessment from creators, and that much of the perceived lack of support stems from looking for validation in the wrong places.
For Better or Worse: On Marriage, Vows, and the Limits of Unconditional Commitment
The writer reflects on the marriage vow—particularly the phrase 'for better or worse'—and argues that while couples should weather life's circumstances together, they should not be bound to tolerate a partner's deteriorating character or toxic behavior. The piece challenges the assumption that marriage vows create an unconditional obligation to endure harm.
The World's Discomfort with African Pride
Following Francis Ngannou's boxing loss to Tyson Fury, the writer reflects on the double standard applied to Black athletes—particularly African ones—when they assert confidence or pride. The piece argues that Ngannou's real victory lies not in the ring but in his journey from poverty to global prominence, and that his dignity transcends any single fight.
Typecasting and the Impoverishment of Cameroonian Cinema
Typecasting—the practice of repeatedly casting actors in similar roles—constrains both individual talent and the film industry's creative range. The essay argues that this limitation is particularly acute in Cameroon, where a thin market for scripts and a consolidation of producer-actors narrows the stories told and perpetuates harmful stereotypes.
Six Cameroon Types: A Taxonomy of Power, Aspiration, and Survival
The writer sketches six distinct social archetypes within Cameroon—from the privileged beneficiaries of state patronage to the disenfranchised survivors—each with a different relationship to power, money, mobility, and hope. The framework maps not individuals but patterns of thinking and behavior that emerge from systemic inequality and limited mobility.
We Have an Influencer Problem
The writer examines the degraded state of influence and celebrity in Cameroon, where the term 'influencer' has been stretched to encompass everyone from scammers and gossip-peddlers to those trading in leaked intimate content. The essay argues that this hollowed-out ecosystem serves a regime's interest in pacifying youth while obscuring whether its participants are victims of systemic failure or willing perpetrators of emptiness.
On Genuinety in Human Relations
The writer explores whether truly genuine human relationships—free from pretense, hypocrisy, and ulterior motive—are possible in a world where all action is driven by personal interest. Drawing on psychology and lived experience, the piece argues that while pure genuinety may be illusory, awareness of human motivation is essential to navigating relationships wisely.
See the Bigger Picture: Action, Consequence, and the Calculated Life
A meditation on how individual actions ripple outward into larger consequences, using a public incident involving footballer Samuel Eto'o to argue that success requires seeing beyond the immediate moment. The writer urges readers to calculate outcomes, understand their position in society, and recognize that life rewards intentional choices over reactive ones.
Culture and Tradition: On What It Means to Be Cameroonian
The writer examines the false opposition between cultural preservation and artistic innovation in Cameroon, arguing that culture is a living force shaped by its moment, not a fixed monument to the past. Through examples in music, language, and tradition, the piece challenges the gatekeeping that insists Cameroonian artists must perform Cameroonianness in prescribed ways to be considered authentic.
The Water Theory: Excellence as Anglophone Leverage
The writer argues that Anglophones in Cameroon seeking to overcome marginalization should focus on building excellence and competitive advantage in spaces beyond government control—health, education, private enterprise, and the arts—rather than waiting for institutional inclusion. Excellence, the argument goes, becomes its own form of leverage and visibility.
The Embiid Choice: Governance, Loyalty, and the Economics of Representation
When NBA star Joel Embiid moved to obtain French nationality for international basketball competition, Cameroonians responded with anger rooted in historical grievance and wounded pride. The writer examines both the rational constraints—financial and institutional—that may have guided his decision, and the legitimate frustration of a nation whose young talents consistently leave for more resourced systems.
The Weight of Sacred Cloth: On Cultural Guardianship in a Flattened World
A reflection on a moment when musician Wax Dey challenged the appropriation of a Ndop blanket—a textile carrying deep ceremonial and hierarchical significance in Cameroonian tradition—by a foreign man. The piece moves from the backlash Wax faced to a meditation on cultural erosion, collective amnesia, and why defending such symbols matters.
Patriotism as Distraction: The Mimi Fawaz Incident and Cameroon's Defensive Culture
A writer examines the swift, vitriolic public response to a Nigerian journalist's casual tweet about a mosquito in her hotel room during AFCON, arguing that the outrage reveals a deeper pattern of performative patriotism that shields bad governance from accountability.
On Being Cameroonian Enough: Cultural Gatekeeping and the Cost of Conformity
The writer examines the rigid expectations placed on Cameroonian artists and public figures to perform a narrow, prescribed version of 'Cameroonianness'—pidgin speech, local references, a certain aesthetic—and argues that this gatekeeping conflates culture with kitsch and stifles both individual expression and national competitiveness.
The Stories We Tell: Why Cameroon Needs Its Own Heroes
The writer argues that identity and aspiration are shaped not by events themselves but by the narratives we construct around them. Cameroon's youth, lacking locally rooted stories of excellence—teachers, doctors, engineers, entrepreneurs, and public servants—default to distant Western role models or absorb narratives of corruption and failure.
The Tyranny of Conformity: On What It Means to Be Cameroonian
The writer examines how narrow, prescriptive ideas of 'Cameroonian authenticity'—rooted in language, musical style, and cultural markers—suppress artistic expression and individuality. Drawing on personal experience and observations of local music scenes, the piece argues that Cameroon's culture of conformity pressures artists to perform identity rather than explore it.
On Authenticity and the Unbending Measure of Cameroonian Identity
The writer examines a pervasive social habit in Cameroon: the policing of artistic and personal expression against an unspoken standard of "Cameroonian-ness." Drawing on experiences in music and popular culture, the piece argues that this gatekeeping—rooted in anxiety about cultural preservation—actually stifles growth and mirrors the country's deeper failure to compete globally.
The Indecency of Social Affection: On Children as Brands
The writer examines the trend of parents creating Instagram accounts for toddlers, questioning whether the practice stems from genuine documentation or parental hunger for social validation. The post distinguishes between legitimate child modelling—governed by safeguards—and the uncontrolled exposure of infants to digital platforms driven by addiction to likes and followers.
On Celebrity Events and the Illusion of Networking
The writer examines the June 2021 visit of Cameroonian celebrity Dencia and guest Blac Chyna, questioning whether the high-ticket event truly offers networking value to ordinary Cameroonians. Through sharp analysis of celebrity gatherings, the piece argues that meaningful professional exchange rarely happens at such functions, and that real opportunity lies elsewhere.
The Silhouette Challenge and the Right to Define One's Own Sexuality
A rebuttal to Poise's earlier critique of the silhouette challenge, arguing that the practice represents women's assertion of sexual autonomy and freedom from historically imposed shame and control, rather than a lapse in judgment requiring male protection.
Colonialism, Identity, and the Question of How We Move Forward
The writer examines how colonialism fractured Cameroon's precolonial structures and forced a dependence that persists today, leaving Africans caught between romanticizing the past and grappling with present reality. Rather than seeking to reverse history, the piece argues for forward-looking unity—whether through a federal Cameroon or a broader African federation—as the only pragmatic path to collective power.
The Dress Code Debate: Beyond Marketplace Arguments About Rape Prevention
The writer interrogates the oversimplified claim that clothing causes rape, arguing instead that rape is perpetrated by a spectrum of offenders with different motivations and methods. Rather than dismissing prevention measures entirely, the piece calls for a more nuanced conversation that acknowledges both the false premise of dress codes and the legitimate complexity of sexual violence.
Wax Dey and the Ndop: On Cultural Literacy in a Global Age
The writer reflects on a social media dispute over a non-Cameroonian's misuse of sacred Ndop cloth, arguing that dismissals of the offense reveal a deeper cultural amnesia among Cameroonians themselves. The piece traces how colonial erasure and commercial democratization have severed many from the knowledge of their own textile traditions and their hierarchical, ceremonial significance.
The Present as the Measure: Why Cameroonians Must Stop Living in Yesterday
The writer argues that Cameroonians—and Africans broadly—are chronically oriented toward either a mythologized past (independence-era prosperity, Makossa's continental reach) or an idealized future (Wakanda-inflected visions of return to glory). Real change, the writer contends, happens in the present moment, through daily decisions and accountability that cannot be deferred to political upheaval or generational redemption.
Nobody Wants You to Be Like Nigerians
The writer reflects on why Cameroonians often look to Nigeria as a model while resisting accountability at home. Drawing on examples from events, commerce, and professional partnerships, the piece argues that Cameroon's real obstacle is not comparison to other nations but the reluctance to apply basic standards of professionalism and diligence to one's own work.
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.
Daughters, Ambition, and the Cost of Conditional Futures
The writer reflects on how gendered expectations—particularly the assumption that women will subordinate careers to family—shape girls' aspirations from childhood onward. Drawing on personal experience and family observation, the piece asks whether societies are truly enabling daughters to dream freely, or subtly steering them toward self-imposed limits.
Maahlox and Trash Talk Diplomacy: When Platform Becomes Provocation
A critical reflection on a Cameroonian musician's inflammatory social media remarks about a fellow public figure, examining the gap between his platform's occasional utility and his habitual resort to crude, sexist speech. The piece questions whether this 'trash talk diplomacy' has crossed from edgy brand into simple disrespect.
I Have Epilepsy, But It Is Not My Social Identity
A medical professional and epilepsy advocate examines the gap between the neurological reality of epilepsy and the social stigma that surrounds it in Africa, where the condition is widely attributed to witchcraft, demonic possession, or curses rather than understood as a treatable brain disorder. The piece centers on how this stigma—particularly acute for women—becomes a social identity imposed from outside, with profound psychological and material consequences.
Beyond Money: The Architecture of Cultural Capital
The writer examines Pierre Bourdieu's theory of capital—economic, social, cultural, and symbolic—to argue that cultural capital (valued knowledge, credentials, and embodied style) may matter more than money for long-term advantage. The internet, by lowering institutional gatekeeping, is democratizing access to cultural capital and rewarding work and creativity more directly than legacy systems ever did.
Thirty Going Twenty, or Eighty Five: Purpose as the Measure of a Life
A reflective essay on the gap between societal timelines for marriage and the deeper question of personal purpose. The writer traces her own journey—from ending a promising relationship over differing marriage timelines a decade earlier to arriving at 30 unmarried but increasingly clear about what she actually seeks in partnership.
When Decency Became a Judgment
The writer reflects on how social media shaming around women's clothing choices has become reflexive and counterproductive. Rather than reforming behavior, public condemnation—rooted in older village norms around modesty—reveals more about the judges than the judged.
Woman, Choose Yourself First
A Cameroonian woman interrogates the gendered conditioning that teaches girls to perform femininity and domestic competence for male approval, rather than for themselves. The writer argues that women's self-love and autonomy—in education, ambition, appearance, and life choices—are not threats but necessities, and that societal pressure to prioritize men's comfort over women's flourishing is both unjust and self-defeating.
Be True to Who You Are and to Your Skin Colour
A personal essay challenging the widespread practice of skin bleaching among young African women, framed as a failure of self-esteem rather than aesthetic choice. The writer draws on her own experience, medical evidence, and the example of celebrated dark-skinned figures to argue for acceptance of natural complexion as an asset and identity marker.
I Am Not My Hair. Or Am I?
A reflection on the writer's four-year natural hair journey, sparked by reading Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's *Americanah*, and a broader meditation on how Black women navigate beauty standards, hair choice, and what it means to celebrate International Women's Day with intentionality rather than aesthetic display.
Woman: The Beautiful Mystery
A celebratory portrait of womanhood that moves beyond the stereotype of female complexity to honor the multifaceted strength, generosity, and resilience women embody. The writer traces the arc from perceived contradiction—the moods, the drama, the skepticism—to revelation: that women are simultaneously nurturing and formidable, intuitive and wise, self-sacrificing yet unbreakable.
The Trap of Perpetual Beauty Standards
A personal reckoning with the impossibility of keeping pace with shifting beauty ideals—from childhood messaging about 'correct' features, through the adoption of cosmetics as armor, to a hard-won understanding that validation through appearance is a drug without a cure. The writer traces how beauty standards are both universal human psychology and manufactured cruelty, and asks what remains of us when appearance inevitably fails.
The Arithmetic of Ascent: On Friendship and Economic Mobility
A narrative essay examining how economic fortune reshapes friendship, tracing the arc of two men whose bond survives job loss but fractures upon recovery. Through a third figure—the steadfast old friend who appears only when crisis demands—the writer interrogates the uncomfortable truth that proximity and reciprocal gain often matter more than loyalty or gratitude.
Jessyka Fon and the Illusion of Luxury
A reflection on a Cameroonian actress's refreshingly honest social media post about her red-carpet look, in which she disclosed the modest costs and thrifted sources of her outfit. The piece celebrates her candor as a quiet act of resistance against the pressure to perform wealth and exclusivity online.
Am I My Sister's Keeper? On Doubt, Desire, and the Cost of Success
A reflective essay prompted by an overheard remark about a young woman's expensive car. The writer examines why Cameroonian society—particularly women—so readily attributes a young woman's visible success to sexual favor rather than her own effort, and asks whether this reflex is rooted in observable reality or in deeper anxieties about gender and economic power.
Blaise B and the Case of the Dress Code
A writer observes the Saving Mbango film premiere—a carefully produced event with a stated dress code of 'native chic'—and critiques musician Blaise B for arriving in casual sportswear while other guests honored the request. The piece uses this moment to reflect on a broader pattern of rule-disregard in Cameroonian culture.
The Trap of Beauty Standards and the Search for Authentic Self
A personal account of growing up under rigid beauty ideals, only to recognize their constant, exhausting mutability. The writer traces her journey from shame to acceptance, examining how societies weaponize appearance standards while acknowledging the real social costs of ignoring them.
The Mboko Gang: Herd Mentality and the Limits of Conviction
The writer examines the 'Mboko Gang'—a vocal faction organized around support for a particular African rapper—as a case study in social-media-driven groupthink, where repetition and fear of missing out calcify into unexamined belief. The piece distinguishes between thoughtful adherents and the loud, unreflective converts who weaponize consensus and coerce agreement.
Authenticity and the Stories We Tell: Why Cameroon's Cultural Signposts Matter
A reflection on a low-budget hotel advertisement in Yaoundé that, despite its technical shortcomings, succeeds by rooting itself in recognisable Cameroonian social archetypes—the bushfaller, the neighbourhood thug, and the young woman. The writer argues that this authenticity is precisely what makes it memorable and culturally generative.
The Toghu as Worldview: Reading the Grassfield Garment Beyond Decoration
The writer examines the Toghu, a traditional garment from Cameroon's Grassfields, not as mere decorated cloth but as a visual language encoding values and cosmology. Through analysis of three motifs—the spiderweb, the lizard, and the gong—the piece reveals how each symbol carries ethical and social meaning rooted in Grassfield philosophy and social order.
The University of Buea and the Absent Brand
A reflective essay questioning whether the University of Buea possesses an institutional identity or aspiration that extends beyond credential delivery. The writer contrasts their experience at UB—four years lived more outside than inside its walls—with the intentional brand-building and alumni pride cultivated by institutions like Montclair State and their own secondary school.
Body Shaming in Cameroon: A Contested Practice
This analytical piece examines body shaming as a social practice in Cameroon, presenting arguments on both sides of whether it is harmful or justified. The writer considers the psychological and social costs of public criticism of bodies alongside claims that such shaming might encourage healthier behaviors.
Chili Wawaye: A Nso Heritage to Be Celebrated and Treasured
A meditation on Chili Wawaye, a Nso musician who sings almost exclusively in Lamnso and preserves traditional grassfield music through contemporary composition. The writer laments that such custodians of cultural heritage receive far less attention and airplay than urban musicians, despite their essential role in bridging ancestral and modern worlds.
Feminism Shaming
The writer responds to widespread social ridicule of feminism in Cameroon by reclaiming the term's basic definition—the advocacy of gender equality—and tracing concrete historical wins it has secured for women. Against caricatures of feminists as bitter or man-hating, the piece insists that feminism has been and remains advocacy, not ideology.
The Mboko Question: Movement or Mirage?
The writer examines the claim that 'Mboko' constitutes a coherent cultural movement, finding instead a set of aesthetics and behaviors untethered to substantive ideology or historical grounding. Through comparison to Hip Hop's documented origins and structure, the piece interrogates what Mboko actually stands for—and concludes it stands for little beyond consumption and online performance.
Pardon My French: Language, Identity, and Cameroon's Linguistic Divide
The writer reflects on what it means to speak French as an Anglophone Cameroonian, prompted by a controversy around musician Daphne's acceptance speech at the Canal d'Or Awards. Rather than seeing French fluency as erasing Anglophone identity, the writer argues that speaking French—learned late and deliberately—is itself an expression of that identity, a conscious act of navigating a Francophone-dominated society.
The Soma Simon Case: On Scams, Service Providers, and Civic Accountability
A Cameroon-based writer recounts a near-miss with a mobile money scam and uses it to indict Orange Cameroun and law enforcement for failing to police fraud conducted on their networks. The piece calls for transparent prosecution of identified perpetrators and systematic safeguards—arguing that the burden of prevention lies not with individual vigilance but with institutional responsibility.
The Paradox of Nyangono Du Sud: Why We Need Our Jesters
A reflection on the sudden viral celebrity of Nyangono Du Sud, a Cameroonian musician whose work the writer dismisses as musically poor, yet whose presence in public life raises deeper questions about collective catharsis, social media's role in fame-making, and what our appetite for his art reveals about ourselves.
Miracle Myths: Why Cameroonians Mistake Opportunity for Divine Intervention
A Cameroonian artist's viral success after a Nigerian pencil artist caught Kevin Hart's attention sparked a wave of comments framing the outcome as luck or divine blessing. Poise examines the deeper pattern: how we consistently misread preparation, skill, and strategic self-presentation as miracles, and how that misreading perpetuates imitative mediocrity.
White Worship at the Airport Gate: On Courage and Collective Silence
A traveler at Douala International Airport confronts a customs officer who places white foreign passengers ahead of waiting Cameroonians, and reflects on why the act of speaking up—against both the officer and the passengers themselves—revealed the complicity of silent witnesses and the deeper problem of deference based on race.
The Right Questions: On Innovation, Recognition, and What We Actually Celebrate
The writer reflects on Cédric Simen's celebrated concept car and a childhood memory of a neighbor's homemade aircraft, arguing that both reveal a deeper problem: Cameroon celebrates innovation for its spectacle rather than its potential. The real issue is not the innovation itself, but the absence of serious inquiry into its applications, scaling, and genuine value.
We Have No Cameroonian Identity
A Cameroonian writer reflects on her experience of linguistic and ethnic divisiveness in daily life and contemporary politics, arguing that Cameroonians have failed to build a shared national identity beyond ethnic and language-based allegiances. She contends that only by transcending tribal and colonial-linguistic boundaries can the nation address its deeper problems of governance and collective wellbeing.
The Curious Case of Mr. Leo's Dressing
A reflection on public criticism of a prominent Cameroonian musician's fashion choices, prompted by a media personality's remarks and an inflammatory PR response. The piece uses this incident to examine three broader cultural issues: the equation of success with money, the inability to receive constructive criticism, and the proliferation of unqualified professionals in creative industries.
No Hear You Notin: A Poem on Ambition, Gossip, and the Courage to Act
Written in Cameroonian Pidgin English, this poem catalogs the hollow counsel and baseless gossip that surrounds ordinary people trying to improve their lives. Using vivid character sketches and repeated refrain, it argues that success demands selective deafness to the noise of judgment and envy.
On Being Called a Tontinard: Pride, Social Cohesion, and Economic Self-Determination
The writer responds to being labeled 'Tontinard' as a casual insult by reframing it as a badge of honor, celebrating the njangi (tontine) system not as mere financial instrument but as a model of social cohesion that has generated measurable economic prosperity. The piece argues that what outsiders dismiss or fear—organized mutual aid and community reinvestment—is precisely what has enabled certain groups in Cameroon to build generational wealth and institutional power.
Anglophone Cameroonians and the Trap of the Superfluous
The writer examines a cultural tendency—particularly visible on social media—to prematurely celebrate and oversell cultural products before they have earned genuine recognition. Drawing from personal observation of music, film, and design, the piece argues that insincere praise and aesthetic window-dressing have replaced substantive work and honest criticism.
The Audacity of Stupidity: When Icons Endorse the Indefensible
A sharp critique of two celebrated Cameroonian footballers—Samuel Eto'o and Rigobert Song—for publicly endorsing the incumbent president in the lead-up to elections, examining the disconnect between their stated reasons (national unity, personal gratitude) and the institutional realities that shaped their own careers and departures.
After Colonization: The Question of Unity Over Return
A reflection on colonialism's lasting structural effects in Cameroon and Africa, questioning whether nostalgic appeals to precolonial identity serve contemporary political interests. The writer argues that forward-looking continental unity is more strategically sound than fragmentation into ethnic or regional micro-states.
Celebrity, Craft, and the Confusion of Packaging: A Cameroonian Reckoning
On the occasion of the editor's first year, Poise examines how Cameroonian youth confuse celebrity with image—mistaking fashion, scarcity, and aesthetic performance for the work ethic, integrity, and genuine audience-building that produce real fame. The piece argues that social media's democratization of fame has paradoxically made young talent chase a manufactured ideal, often to the detriment of their actual craft.
Proverbs and Idioms in Fufulde: A Griot's Wisdom
This piece presents a curated selection of proverbs and idioms from Fufulde, the language of the Fulani people of West and Central Africa, organized with their English translations. Drawing on the griot tradition—where historians and storytellers preserve cultural knowledge through language and performance—the collection illustrates how Fufulde speakers encode practical and philosophical wisdom into memorable linguistic forms.
Am I My Sister's Keeper? On Women, Success, and Social Suspicion
The writer reflects on a moment of casual misogyny—overhearing men attribute a young woman's Mercedes to sexual favours—and traces the deeper, more troubling pattern: that women themselves are often the harshest judges of other women's success, reflexively assuming corruption rather than competence.
The Scammer's Brand: How Fraud Damages Cameroon's International Standing
The writer examines how Cameroonian nationals engaged in international financial fraud are reshaping global perceptions of Cameroonians abroad, creating systemic barriers for honest citizens trying to conduct legitimate financial transactions. The piece situates this criminal activity within larger histories of colonial extraction and contemporary economic desperation, while critiquing both the moral failures of individual scammers and the systemic inequalities that drive migration and crime.
Personalities of the Struggle: Social Taxonomies of a Moment in Crisis
Poise examines the variety of voices that emerged online during an acute phase of the Anglophone crisis, categorizing them by their logic and rhetoric—from those invoking traditional or religious frameworks to those offering military fantasies or dismissive skepticism. The piece treats these categories not as moral judgment but as a sociological map of how a fractured population under stress expresses itself.
The Backfire Effect and the Anglophone Question in Cameroon
This analytical essay diagnoses the reluctance of francophone Cameroonians to acknowledge systemic discrimination against anglophones through the lens of cognitive neuroscience, specifically the 'backfire effect'—the psychological tendency to cling more tightly to core beliefs when presented with contradictory evidence.
On Graphic Imagery and Our Fear of Death
Following a fatal accident in Muyuka, the writer reflects on social media's role in circulating graphic imagery of disasters, arguing that the impulse to suppress such content often masks discomfort with mortality itself rather than genuine respect for the deceased.
The Stories Fathers Never Tell
A reflection on the hierarchical, high-context nature of parent-child relationships in Cameroon, where emotional distance and one-way communication prevent children from learning through their parents' lived experience. The writer argues that fathers who withhold their failures and vulnerabilities rob their children of the stories that actually stick—and offers forty-one questions to bridge that gap.
The Story We Tell About Africa: Beyond Branding
Following the Youth Connekt Africa Summit in Kigali, the writer examines Akon's keynote on African nations controlling their own narratives, arguing that branding is deeper than marketing optics. The piece contends that Africa's story must be one of authentic growth and dignity, not imitation of Western self-mythologizing.
The Logic of Uncertainty: Inheritance, Kinship, and the Absence of Proof
A writer from Wum in Cameroon's North West Region examines a matrilineal inheritance practice—where a man's property passes to his sister's son rather than his own—and traces its logic to a pre-scientific world where paternity could not be verified. The piece questions whether the tradition survives in a modern era of law, choice, and DNA testing.