Language
Society & Culture
Part III: Things Only a Cameroonian Will Understand
The writer catalogs seventeen Cameroonian phrases and behavioral codes that reveal a society structured on navigational intelligence, relational networks, and pragmatic acceptance rather than formal rules or individual achievement. Each phrase is glossed as evidence of how Cameroonians move through contradiction, manage social hierarchy, and survive by knowing when to speak, when to bend, and when to defer.
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 Cameroonian Will Understand: Part II
The writer examines ten Cameroonian social expressions and proverbs—from comparative optimism to bureaucratic circumspection—as coded languages that govern ambition, patience, and survival within hierarchical systems. These phrases reveal how Cameroonians navigate constraint through linguistic sophistication rather than direct confrontation.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
Is Lamnso Going to Create the Next Big Cameroonian Music Wave?
The writer surveys five emerging genres of Lamnso-language music—Afropop, Traditional, Hip-Hop, Afro-Folk, and Afro-Alternative—and argues that the musicality and tonality of Lamnso, combined with growing public reception, suggests the North-West region may be on the verge of a significant cultural moment in Cameroonian music.
Chili Wawaye: A Nso Heritage to Be Celebrated
A reflection on the musician Chili Wawaye and her role as a custodian of Nso cultural heritage through music deeply rooted in Lamnso language and traditional Grassfields instrumentation. The writer celebrates her artistry while lamenting the marginalization of traditional ethnic musicians in favor of pop and urban genres.
Cameroonians and the Subtle Art of Not Reading
The writer argues that Cameroon's cultural resistance to reading—rationalized as preference for brevity or entertainment—amounts to self-imposed marginalization that blocks access to the knowledge that drives individual and collective progress. Drawing on examples from billionaire entrepreneurs and historical figures, the piece insists that reading is not optional but foundational to human development.
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.
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.
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.
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.