Cultural Policy of Cameroon

,/ Cultural policy

in the United Republic of Cameroon, J. C. Bahoken and Engelbert Atangana

1 \

The Unesco Press Paris 1976

Studies and documents on cultural policies

In this series:

Cultural policy: a preliminary study Cultural policy in the United States, by Charles C. Mark Cultural rights a human rights Cultural policy in Japan, by Nobuya Shikaumi Some aspects of French cultural policy, by the Studies and Research Department of

Cultural policy in Tunisia, by Ra6k Said Cultural policy in Great Britain, by Michael Green and Michael Wilding, in comulta-

Cultural policy in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, by A. A. Zvorykin with the

Cultural policy in Czechoslovakia, by Miroslav Marek, Milan Hromádka and Josef

Cultural policy in Italy, a survey prepared under the auspices of the Italian National

Cultural policy in Yugoslavia, by Stevan MajstoroviC Cultural policy in Bulgaria, by Kostadine Popov Some aspects of cultural policies in India, by Kapila Malik Vatsyayan Cultural policy in Cuba, by Lisandro Otero with the assistance of Francisco Martínez

Cultural policy in Egypt, by Magdi Wahba Cultural policy in Filpland, a study prepared under the auspices of the Finnish

Cultural policy in Sri Lanka, by H. H. Bandara Cultural policy in Nigeria, by T. A. Fasuyi Cultural policy in Iran, by Djamchid Behnam Cultural policy in Poland, by Stanislaw Witold Balicki, Jerzy Kossak and Miroslaw

The role of culture in leisure time in Nau Zealand, by Bernard W. Smyth Cultural policy in Israel, by Jozeph Michman Cultural policy in Senegal, by Mamadou Seyni M’Bengue Cultural policy in the Federal Republic of G e m n y , a study prepared under the

auapices of the German Commission for Unesco Cultural policy in Indonesia, a study prepared by the staff of the Directorate-General

of Culture, Ministry of Education and Culture of the Republic of Indonesia Cultural policy in the Philippines, a study prepared under the auapices of the Unesco

National Commission of the Philippines Cultural policy in Liberia, by Kenneth Y. Best Cultural policy in Hungary, a survey prepared under the auspices of the Hungarian

The cultural policy of the United Republic of Tanzania, by L. A. Mbughuni Cultural policy in Kenya, by Kivuto Ndeti Cultural policy in Romania, by Ion Dodu Balan with the co-operation of the Directo-

Cultural policy in the German Democratic Republic, by Hans Koch Cultural policy in Afghanistan, by Shafie Rahe1 Cultural policy in the United Republic of Cameroon, by J. C. Bahoken and Engelbert

The serial numbering of titles in this series, the presentation of which has been modified, was discontinued with the volume Cultural policy in Italy

the French Ministry of Culture

tion with Richard Hoggart

assistance of N. I. Golubtsova and E. I. Rabinovitch

Chroust

Commission for Unesco

Hinojosa

National Commission for Unesco

Zulawski

National Commission for Unesco

rate of the Council of Socialist Culture and Education

Atangana

Published by The Unesco Press, 7 Place de Fontenoy, 75700 Paris Printed by Oberthur, Rennes

ISBN 92-3-101316-5 La Politique Culturelle en République Unie du Cameroun

92-3-201316-9

0 Unesco 1976 Printed in France

Preface

The purpose of this series is to show h o w various Member States plan and apply their cultural policy.

Cultural policies are as diverse as cultures themselves; it behoves each Member State to determine and apply its own, taking into account its conception of culture, its socio-economic system, its political ideology and its technological development. Nevertheless, methods of cultural policy (like those of general development policy) pose universal problems-chiefly of an institutional, administrative and financial nature- and the need for exchanges of experience and data concerning them is increasingly recognized. T h e publications in the present series-whose presentation it has been attempted to m a k e as uniform as possible in order to facilitate comparisons-bear mainly on these technical aspects of cultural policy.

As a general rule, the studies deal with the following questions: principles and methods of cultural policy, evaluation of cultural requirements, administrative structures and management, planning and financing, organization of resources, legislation, budget, public and private institutions, the cultural content of education, cultural autonomy and decentralization, training of personnel, institutional infrastructure corresponding to special cultural requirements, preserving the cultural heritage, institutions for cultural dissemination, international cultural co-operation and related questions.

T h e studies bear on countries representing dissimilar social and economic systems, geographic areas and levels of development. They accordingly reflect a wide variety of conceptions and methods of cultural policy. In the aggregate, they m a y provide models useful to countries which have not yet elaborated a cultural policy. They enable any country, and particularly those seeking n e w formulas for their cultural policy, to take advantage of the experience acquired elsewhere.

The present study was prepared for Unesco by Professor J. C. Bahoken,

Doctor of African Studies, research worker at the Faculty of Arts and H u m a n Sciences, University of Yaoundé, and at the National Office for Scientific and Technical Research (ONAREST), and by Mr Engelbert Atangana, Secretary-General of the National Commission for Unesco, Professor of Philosophy.

The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of Unesco.

Contents

9 The ethno-cultural framework 19 The institutional framework of cultural devel-

opment

The cultural policy of Cameroon today 25 58 Cameroonian artists and writers

78 Public and private cultural activity

The ethno-cultural framework

Any effective cultural activity is fundamentally ‘if not a political, at least a civic, undertakin.g’.- El Hadj A h m a d o u Ahidjo, opening address to the National Council of the Cameroon National Union, November 1973

The population of Cameroon

A multitude of factors, some natural and some due to the migrations of h u m a n communities, account for the population of the United Republic of Cameroon.

N A T U R A L FACTORS

T h e configuration of the land in Cameroon gives the country great variety. As regards relief w e find, from the south-west to the north, a chain of mountains varying in height, mountain groups and volcanic tablelands, the A d a m a w a plateau, and the plains surrounding Lake Chad and along the Atlantic coast.

T h e diversity of Cameroon also derives from its network of rivers and streams, distributed as follows: Lake Chad basin (principal river, the Shari) ; Niger basin (principal river, the Benue) ; the Ogoue-Congo basin (principal rivers, the Sanaga, the Nyong, the Wuri (or Cameroon River) and the Mungo).

The same variety exists as regards flora: to the north, the Sahara Desert followed by a zone of steppes; in the centre, the savannah with tall grasses; to the south, the luxuriant forest with m a n y species. T h e m o d e of living of the populations is determined by their ecological environment.

In Cameroon there are different h u m a n types corresponding to the relief, certain elements of which have contributed to the settling of peoples in their natural site. They have moulded the spirit of these peoples and endowed them with particular character traits.

In the mountainous area, for instance, w e find communities which have chosen to settle on the lower slopes, where their dwellings are

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perched like eagles’ nests. These peoples have an independent spirit and a dour, tenacious nature, owing to their enforced struggles against the elements, wild beasts and sickness.

MIGRATIONS

The inhabitants of present-day Cameroon spring from the migrations which have taken place in Africa throughout the centuries.

According to historical and anthropological tradition, a proportion of the so-called ‘Bantu’ peoples came from beyond the hollow which produced Lake Chad, and the remainder from the forest stretching along the near side of the great Zaire River, better k n o w n as the Congo River.

Certain scholars think that different peoples migrated from the distant valley of the Nile, where living conditions were favourable. S o m e of them travelled from east to west across the Sudan to reach the Sahel region.

Principal centres of population

The principal centres of population are the following: 1. The Chad centre, encompassing the lake of the same n a m e and its

surroundings. W e shall call it the Lake Chad basin. It is the country of the Sao.

2. The Bawutshi plateau centre, on the crescent formed by the Niger and Benue Rivers. It is the country of the Noko.

3. The A d a m a w a plateau centre, or country of the Niger and Sanaga Rivers. It is inhabited by the Bantu peoples.

4. The Ubangi-Shari plateau centre, also inhabited by the Bantu. 5. The woodland centre, country of the forest Bantu. It is customary to divide the population of Cameroon into Sudanese and Bantu. It should be pointed out here that the word ‘Sudanese’, in Arabic, means simply Negro, or country of the Negroes. As for the word ‘Bantu’, it appears to mean, in the languages of that ethnic group, the h u m a n phenomenon, i.e. m e n as opposed to animals or plants. Hence the two terms cannot be considered as correct, anthropologically speaking, to describe the peoples of the United Republic of Cameroon. A thorough study of these peoples shows that they are the same everywhere, despite minor differences stemming from ecological conditions.

The Chad centre. Here w e find Saharans, the last survivors of a group of peoples w h o once lived a life of great plenty in that region, which later became a sand desert. They were driven from it by the seventy of the climate and sought refuge in the areas to the south, more propitious for their activities, on the edge of the developing desert. They

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cultivate sorghum and millet and go in for fishing; on the plateau they raise cattle. This region is a point of confluence of an extraordinary mixture of peoples, and is a big centre of civilization. It is there that the great Sao and Sari families meet.

The Bawutshi plateau centre. T o the west of Lake Chad live the Hausa and, to the east, the Fulani or Peul. T h e Bawutshi plateau, between Nigeria and northern Cameroon, is the centre of Nok0 civilization, with extensions towards the Benue.

This area situated between the Chad basin and the Benue-Niger is a centre of intense demographic pressure which must have been at the origin of a so-called Bantu nucleus, a set of social or ethnic groups having c o m m o n traits, a c o m m o n linguistic background, w h o knew h o w to work iron, wood and earth, practised hunting and fishing, and cultivated the soil when they became sedentary.

F r o m the Chad basin, the starting-point of m a n y mutations and migrations, the Benue opens a westward passage that has contributed to the spread of N o k 0 civilization towards the east.

The Adamawa plateau centre. F r o m the north-east slope of the A d a m a w a plateau flow the Logone and the Shari and, from its western slope, the Benue, which waters the high plateau, whilst several streams flow from its southern slope, the most important being the Sanaga, enlarged down- stream by the L o m , the Djerem and the M b a m .

T h e Adamawa, a real water tower whence the large rivers of Came- roon branch out, serves as a watershed and, consequently, as a divider of populations. Running in an oblique line from south-west to east, the enormous plateau divides the United Republic of Cameroon into two distinct regions.

T o the north lies the country of the Lake Chad basin, a grassy inland plain, its undulations bristling here and there with outcroppings of rock. It is streaked with rivers whose régime follows the seasons-the mayos.

The Shari and Logone Rivers have opened natural migration routes through this plain, leading from the Lake Chad basin towards the Ubangi and Shari plateaux. And so, on the one hand, the Benue-Chad-Shari triangle is a zone enabling m a n to penetrate into Central Africa, and on the other, the plains of the Sanaga and the Sanga prolong the north- south axes of circulation.

The A d a m a w a forms a h u m a n region full of people with chocolate- coloured skins, tall and thin, or of medium height. The families k n o w n through genealogical history are the Babute, the Tikar, the Kaka, the B a m u m (Bamun), the Bamileke and the Fulani (or Peul), making up such large social groups that each forms a nation. Living in the midst of these peoples, w h o constitute political societies with an organized economy, a political and administrative structure, are the Bororo, per-

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petually on the m o v e between the lowlands and the mountain pastures, in the wake of their herds of cattle.

All these social groups or h u m a n communities intermarry, live in the same tropical climate, trade with each other thanks to the markets, and freely exchange ideas and cultural patterns.

T h e Mandara mountains are inhabited by families of true mountain people with fine ebony complexions, of medium height and well built. The Fali are remarkable for their architectural style, their conception of the universe, their religion and their anthropological and cosmological philosophy. Alongside the Fali are the Massa and Matakam families, m a n y of w h o m are very tall, rivalling their cousins, the Sari. They love beauty, and they tattoo their faces, particularly their cheeks, to show that they are brave. Throughout this region of Cameroon, history books mention the Sao (Saho /Sawa) w h o once formed empires which migrated in the direction of the Bawutshi plateau, enabling them to ally themselves to the N o k 0 families, w h o also formed empires which have n o w vani- shed, leaving only a few thousand people and a flourishing art in the north of Nigeria.

T h e Chad basin has been, and still is, a sort of centre from which several currents of migrations flow, as well as successive waves of varied cultural iduences which, in merging, have provided firm bases for a communal m o d e of life, a code of ethics, and a developed social organization.

The mountain range extends towards the west and south-west with the chains of Bambuto, M b o (Mounts Maneguba and Nlonako), Bakosi (Mounts K u p e and Fako, commonly k n o w n as Mount Cameroon). The peoples of the region are mountain folk and, as such, have c o m m o n cultural traits, despite variations due to the local ecology.

In the foothills of the Bambuto chain, where the towns of Dschang, M b u d a and Bafussam are situated, the climate is mild, the population dense, and life is pleasant. The Bamileke live in this area.

Beyond the N o u n and towards the north-west lies B a m u m country, inhabited by a large homogeneous family whose language, social ethics and political structure have been gradually elaborated under the authority of successive and outstanding chiefs-the Mfon B a m u m . This family is related to the Tikar.

In this region a civilization developed whose artistic, economic and political aspects still arouse admiration. At the foot of the M b o (Mounts Manenguba, Nlonako and Kupe) and Fako chains, and in the rich valleys sloping d o w n towards the coast, live the Mbo, Bakaka, M w a m e n a m , Bakwiri, Mungo, Nidian, M a n y and Bakosi families. Large towns are developing today in this area, which is a zone of cultural symbiosis. Marriages with families in the Bamileke group, trade, and the spread of Christianity have created here an agricultural society which chooses forest materials (wood, leaves), and particularly ebony and raffia, for

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its works of art. The people commonly speak Duala, Bali and even English in their daily relations, in addition to their own languages.

The Ubangi-Shari plateau centre. This is the region of the so-called Bantu families, which include the Baya, who married Bene women, the Kare or Kali, the Mbum and the Kaka. It is among the Baya that w e find the Wantho literary cycle.

The cultural relations are intense between the peoples of this plateau and the Mundang, the Tupuri-Kera of Lake Fianga, the Massa of Yagua- Bongor and the Musgum-Guelegdeng.

The woodland centre. This part is the Bantu domain of the equatorial forest. The population consists mainly of Fang/Bete and Ngala. In the basin of the huge Congo (Zaire) River, into which the Sanga flows, live the Essel and Bakwele families of the Djem. Here, very small people, known as Pygmies, are to be found. The Sanga Valley forms a frontier between the People’s Republic of the Congo and Cameroon. This is the home of the Bakota families. Living i- the forests which cover northern Gabon and southern Cameroon are the Fang/Bilii, the Pongoue, the Mabea, the Kombe, the Bayasa and certain Bete families.

The Batanga, Duala and Malimba peoples live on the coastal plain of the Atlantic Ocean and along the shores of the major rivers such as the Wuri, the Dibamba, the Sanaga, the Lower Nyong, and especially in the delta formed by the Sanaga and the Wuri. Mangrove trees, raffia palms and aquatic plants are characteristic features of the landscape.

Living along the Sanaga are the Bokoko, the Mbene or Bassa, side by side with the Banen (or Bane) families, the Yangben, Bunyunguluk, Pakwak, Kiki and Lemande; these peoples are spread over the great valley bounded on the one side by the N k a m and on the other by the Sanaga.

The Fang/Bete peoples, of which the chief families are the Ewondo, the Eton and the Ngumba, live on the plateaux of the interior, from the edge of the great equatorial forest to the inland savannah. The forest region was progressively populated through migrations of the Bantu and Saharan peoples. Owing to exogamic marriages, hardly any of the inhabitants of this region are ethnically pure. However, through genealogies, family descents are easily traceable.

Community life is one of the basic characteristics of the civilization of the peoples of this region. Artistic and all other activities in the community are undertaken by the group as a whole. For instance, one refers to Loloko, Musgum, Fulani, Fali, Tikar or B a m u m art, as one refers to Kaya, Duala, Bassa or Ewondo thought, or again to the Banen system of the drummed coded message, or the Bamileke, Eton or Bete style of architecture.

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General features of Cameroon civilizations

It is difficult to speak of a Cameroon culture and therefore of a Cameroon civilization.

In the preceding section, the great ethnic variety of the country has been pointed out. Yet it is obvious that if it were desired to establish an authentic ‘identity card’ of the Cameroonian, it would be a mistake to dwell on this apparent diversity. T h e two main h u m a n groups of the Cameroon population are defined by the geographical environment in which they have lived since time immemorial, namely the Sahara Desert and the neighbouring steppes on the one hand, and the equatorial forest and nearby ocean on the other. T h e question then is to discover through what obscure processes these two h u m a n groups joined together, intermingling biologically and spiritually, and produced the cultural mosaic that w e observe today. It seems to us that the best w a y to conduct such an investigation successfully is to study the languages of Cameroon, for not only is language the instrument in and through which the spirit of the community is forged, but it is also one of its specific manifestations. Through it, the group organizes its means of exchanging ideas. Every community can be defined as a set of structures in which language enables rational use to be m a d e of the cultural heritage of h u m a n society as a whole.

Members of the same linguistic family share the same culture. They adhere to the same system of values. Language is the paramount instrument of education, since it is the vehicle of culture. T h e study of Cameroon languages will therefore reveal the cultural unity of the peoples of Came- roon, for it will show the c o m m o n origins and motivations of the linguistic and social structures.

T h e cultures of Cameroon are primarily oral ones. They therefore consist in the main of narrations, stories, proverbs, songs and their m a n y different variations and combinations.

T h e various Cameroonian peoples have an oral literature interpreting daily life and its vicissitudes, the history of the nation and the valiant deeds of its men, the dreams and concerns of all and sundry, the teachings of the wise, and the joys and sorrows of individuals or of the community.

The h u m a n voice and gestures constantly interpret the culture of the people as a whole. T o express themselves, Cameroonians have invented simple instruments such as the tamtam and the parchment drum, but also simple and evocative dances. T h e most significant aspects of the art of speech are the muet of the Bete/Fang, the ngosso of the Ngala and the declaimings of the griot (wandering minstrel and sorcerer) of the Saharan peoples. T h e artist declaims his text to an appropriate rhythm, accompanying himself on an instrument whose music adds beauty to the narrative and supports the action. And when words no long express

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the perfect communion between body and creative spirit, between the visible and the intangible worlds, the artist dances.

Although it has, of course, its o w n specific meaning, the dance can nevertheless only give artistic support to an event whose significance and magnitude are deeply and intensely felt by the individual or the group. It is a secret language requiring initiation. T h e very objects which it uses assume m a n y different meanings that reveal the metaphysics of the Cameroonian societies.

In addition to languages, therefore, the metaphysics of the Came- roonian peoples is a second constant of Cameroonian culture.

T h e religious ideas of the peoples on the southern slopes of the A d a m a w a centre around the concept of a supreme being called N y a m b e or Zamba, w h o created all things and engendered Man, and is both male and female.

Around this basic conception of the power of Nature, religions peculiar to each people have evolved. Each of them describes m a n as an ambivalent being, at once material and immaterial, and assigns to bis various mental and physical components destinations which determine h o w he will fare during his lifetime and after his death, as well as the attitude of his survivors towards him. But above all, these religions all agree that the sovereign Creator acts upon his creatures by means of a fluid, an aggregate of psychic material forces whose movement in creation gives rise to important events. This fluid is in Nyambe. By means of a number of rites and cultural practices, m e n can acquire it either directly, ox through the medium of some object. That is the justification for initiation rites, incantations and the faith in what are k n o w n as the ‘strong elements’.

In this philosophical and religious context, the organization of society, and more specifically the fundamental docial cell constituted by the family, assume particular importance.

As for political organization, all the social communities in Cameroon have points in common. T h e family in the broad sense of the termis the basic political structure. It stands for a community freely accepted among different individuals. T h e nikul (‘family’ in Tunen) is a compo- nent of the forces making up the community. T h e nikul is composed of several households, moo1 m a nikul, which are collective forces communicating harmoniously with each other. T h e conjugal household, or family in the narrow sense, is the starting-point of the political order. In the former typology, the dzal (village) of the Bete is the geopolitical unit, comprising several lineages, within which a multitude of relation- ships exist between villagers. Within each dzal is the basic cell, nda (house), a family with a head w h o exercises his authority over the entire household (nda- bot).

A m o n g the Duala, the dzal is k n o w n as the ndab, or better sta, ukon or mundi. The Banen form a group in a concession consisting of

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several houses; it is known as an ombel and is headed by a chief, the mwitombel. H e is the sango a mboa among the Duala, or the nti of the Bete, the nobleman, the lord, the one w h o commands.

Several concessions m a k e up a large village, the bonon of the Banen, where one finds tutik (village centres), small rural communes with a higher-ranking chiefdom. In Bamileke countries, the communities m a d e up of several villages are headed by a chief, the Fo, a m a n vested with powers which he exercises with the assistance of the nkam, dignitaries and notables of the country. T h e Fo owes his exceptional status to the fact that he represents the founder of the chiefdom, whose person he perpetuates.

The old Bamileke power system, owing to its hereditary character, is an African autocratic political organization with m a n y advantages, such as the following: Stability of the system. T h e future Fo is gradually initiated and prepared

over a long period for the responsibilities of government that will be entrusted to him by the people when he has demonstrated his ability to command.

The facility of succession. Future governors are trained for power and rule by their education.

Nkam-veuh. This political institution, which assists the Fo in his duties, a council of nine notables to which the Meuh-Feuh, the queen mother, is added. The n e w Fo is appointed by the council. The role of the Nkanveuh is that of a mediator between the people and the chief.

The Pah-ngop. This is a council composed of dignitaries w h o wear fashioned panther skins over their ritual costume. It is responsible for organizing the dances and various ceremonies accompanying the fune- rals of chiefs. Its members dance to the sound of musical instruments, dressed in the batik, the Bamileke loin-cloth. They see to it that the ethics of the community are respected.

In B a m u m country, it is the Mfon, or king, w h o administers justice. His powers are hereditary. A m o n g the B a m u m , there are seven advisers to the throne, the Nji or Nzu, influential notables and faithful compa- nions of the Mfon. T h e B a m u m political model is similar to that of the Bamileke, except that the Mfon, on his conversion to Islam, adopted a syncretic attitude in politics as well as in religious matters. For the Mfon is both king and sdtan of the B a m u m . Among the Bamileke, the title of Fo persists, but more and more often the chiefs become deputies and ministers.

In Duala country, there are certain authorities, the Manea, high- ranking chiefs who bore the n a m e of King Bell, King Akwa, etc. In the woodland centre, political life is more democratic than on the plateau. The forest peoples have councils, village assemblies: the m’boko in Duala, mbog in Bassa, nekot in Tunen. On the A d a m a w a plateau, the chiefs

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are both lamido and sultans; the old régime was autocratic, as among the B a m u m and the Bamileke.

M o d e m ethno-cultural elements

T h e contacts maintained willy-nilly with the European peoples installed in Cameroon since the eighteenth century have led the Cameroonians to introduce n e w standards into their social, political and psychic universe. Thus foreign contributions have resulted in the introduction of n e w food plants (plantain, banana, macabo, yam, manioc), n e w modes of dress, n e w cosmogonies and n e w social organizations.

Relations within the various peoples have been affected by these m a n y different innovations.

Christianity, for example, introduced a certain concept of the individual which had repercussions on institutions such as marriage, the chiefdom, and parental lineage. Of course, the fact will be stressed that the abolition of slavery is an undeniable advance, but it must be remem- bered that among most Cameroonian peoples, the notion of imprisonment for an offence did not exist; punishment consisted either of muti- lation or of slavery-temporary or for life. It m a y legitimately be won- dered whether imprisonment is not a reduction of the individual to slavery, and under conditions more inhuman than those to which slaves were formerly subjected among our peoples.

Therefore, today w e can speak of a n e w ethno-cultural framework in Cameroon, constituted by the languages of the former colonizing countries and by the cultural apparatus they imply.

Our peoples and their components did not remain untouched by the cultural symbiosis that is typical of contemporary societies. It should be noted, however, that the desire to recover a certain cultural authenticity has today led individuals or groups to remodel foreign cultural elements into original patterns. Christianity has been stormed by the creative forces of the peoples of Cameroon. Though the basic theology has not changed, the liturgy is developing towards something closer to the religious sentiment peculiar to each people. T h e ministers and priests of Cameroon’s churches are transforming Christian manifestations and ceremonies by making them conform, if not entirely (for that would be impossible), at least ever more closely to ancestral forms of worship. For example, w e n o w hear of the Bantu mass, the Massa mass, and so forth.

All forms of art undergo the same process, whether literary or pic- torial, theatrical or choreographic. T h e creative drive of poets, actors, painters, sculptors and musicians is developing a n e w cultural universe thanks to modern means, both intellectual and material. This movement is too well known throughout the contemporary world for us to waste time on describing it here. Let us mention, incidentally, that Cameroon

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has given the world a musical and dance rhythm known as makossa, a word derived from the verb kosa, which means to remove suddenly and roughly (the verb is commonly used in speaking of tearing off someone’s clothes-or one’s own-roughly and suddenly).

In the dance called makossa, a shortened form of the expression kosa la ngando (literally, undressing of the dance), the gestures and movements actually give the impression of a gradual strip-tease, not of the dancers, but of the action of the dance itself.

T h e Cameroonian peoples, open to the manifold influences of the cultures of other peoples and having accumulated, in the course of their age-long migrations, disparate elements whose exact origins or precise meaning can no longer be ascertained, have forged cultural micro- universes whose spheres are overlapping more and more closely. This phenomenon is noticeable in the spoken languages, in attire and in eating habits. Words derived from French, Spanish or English terms have crept into several Cameroonian languages. T h e people are learning to eat the foods of other peoples and to dress as they do. T h e phenomenon of social mimesis, or a deeper desire to dissolve distinctions in a national mould, is a very important factor in the elaboration of the future culture of Cameroon.

In conclusion, the Cameroonian ethno-cultural framework is very complex and its conceptual structure is still loosely defined. Bio-psychic elements continue to be of very great importance. Thus it is that feeling plays a preponderant part in cultural expression, in the broadest sense. It is our impression that the victory of the mind over the heart will follow here the same discursive paths as elsewhere.

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The institutional framework of cultural development

T h e institutional framework of Cameroon cultural policy was defined for the first time by the Congress of the Cameroonian National Union held at Garua in March 1969. It was on that occasion that the President of the Party of the Cameroon National Union stated in his report on general policy that the culture of the Cameroonian people is visualized in the dual perspective of preserving its roots in the past and adopting a progressive attitude towards the future. Following these lines, the national culture will give Cameroon its identity card among the other peoples of the world. Cultural development, encompassing the whole range of traditional values (political, social, religious, artistic, literary and economic), must give them a ‘new look’, so as not to petrify our m o d e of living in the past, however rich it m a y be, but to create a Came- roonian cultural personality capable of making history, whilst at the same time remaining true to the authenticity of the solutions that its own genius will find to the manifold problems of its future development.

Thus defined, this philosophy faces us with specific objectives, the first of which is to arouse a national awareness aimed at fulfilling the destiny of the nation.

National awareness is forged with the elemeEts found in the depths of the psychism of all members of the population. Thanks to the diverse operations aimed at giving each citizen a clear picture of the necessary cultural tasks involved in constructing a modern nation, the gradual forming of this awareness simultaneously follows the successive national education stages in the cultural environment created by the institutional framework.

In a country as ecologically varied as Cameroon, the first duty is to inject into the regional cultural entities the vigour which they, as the living cells of a body with manifold functions, must have. And so, without at all overlooking the psychological importance of ethno-cultural realities, bilingualism offers the people an initial means of unification, faci-

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litating relations among subgroups and relations with the outside world. This choice of language reflects the government’s realistic political attitude. But, although national public relations are, for the moment, being conducted in French and English, the spirit of the people is jealously preserved in its original matrices, the mother tongues of the national territory, intensely used in expressing Cameroon’s cultural personality.

O n e of the goals of our cultural policy is to safeguard the individual’s creative powers, i.e. to restore to each citizen his o w n personality. This recovery of dignity is what will bring about the national integration from which a Cameroonian cultural personality will emerge, capable of contributing to universal civilization vigorous and authentic elements derived from its original vision of the world, free from all foreign influence. This was the principle behind the establishment of the institutions responsible for cultural promotion.

The cultural centres

The cultural centres are the oldest Cameroonian institutions of the colonial administration. Their mission is to preserve and develop certain aspects of our culture.

Organized as centres of post-school and out-of-school activities, these institutions were at once museums, libraries, theatres and cinemas, lecture-rooms, etc. Their architecture was in the same style as that of local dwellings. Technical improvements enabled them meanwhile to serve as models in the chief towns of administrative units. They were usually located near the district school and were directed by members of the teaching profession.

With the creation of specialized adult-education services differing increasingly from those of the national education system, the cultural centres will come under the Ministry of Youth and Sports.

The Federal Linguistic and Cultural Centre

Established by Decree No. 62 /DF/108 dated 31 March 1962, this institution serves as a centre for research on Cameroonian national cultures and for their inventorying, conservation and dissemination. Before the foundation of the Department of Cultural Affairs in the Ministry of Education, Youth and Culture, the centre was the chief State institution for cultural promotion. As such, it was assigned responsibility in 1966 for arranging the first Festival of Negro Arts in Dakar.

With the assistance of its research staff, the Federal Linguistic and Cultural Centre has carried out several field missions, to collect oral traditions and to m a k e an inventory of cultural assets.

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In view of the extension of bilingualism in Cameroon, the linguistic section of the centre, in whose educational activities there is constantly growing participation, has been strengthened. The centre is installed at Yaoundé. Hence its impact is less in the provinces where English is more commonly used. These provinces have requested the setting-up of similar centres at Buea or Victoria.

The Ministry of Education, Youth and Culture

In August 1965, a decree established a Service of Cultural Development (Decree No. 65 /DF /350 of 5 August 1965).

Decree No. 68 /DF 1268 of 12 July 1968, on the reorganization of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Culture, transformed the said service into a Department of Cultural Affairs consisting of two services: the Cultural Research, Education and Protection Service and the Cultural Promotion Service.

The Department of Cultural Affairs, since that date, has become the government’s instrument for cultural promotion. At its prompting, the El Hadj A h m a d o u Ahidjo Prize was instituted, and Cameroon cultural weeks and tours in foreign countries were organized.

It was also by the Department of Cultural Affairs that the Biennial Festival of African Books was organized as an international manifestation of the culture of the negro world (1968). Th e festival was the starting-point for the publication of the Bibliography of the Negro World.

The Ministry of Information and Culture

By Decree N o 721425, dated 28 August, the Ministry of Information and Culture was provided with a Department of Cultural Affairs, which is therefore today the State’s chief instrument for cultural promotion. W e shall therefore quote in extenso Section V of the above-mentioned decree.

Article 31. Under the authority of a Director, assisted by a Deputy-Director, the Department of Cultural Affairs shall be responsible for implementing and promoting the national cultural policy.

In this capacity, its duties shall be: to prepare an inventory of our cultural, artistic and literary heritage, and

to ensure its protection, conservation, enrichment, promotion and dissemination ;

to promote research in all the fields in which the national culture finds expression, either by setting up audio-visual archives, or by organizing surveys and studies likely to facilitate the understanding, dissemination and integration into modern life of the elements of our cultural heritage;

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to encourage the urge to create in the artistic, literary and technical fields; to provide for the illustration, by appropriate means, of the national cultural

values, and for cultural promotion among the peoples at all levels; to promote the artistic and literary influence of Cameroon in foreign countries

(exhibitions, lectures, tours, theatrical and folklore companies, festivals and cultural weeks, etc.) ;

to maintain liaison with other cultural organizations-foreign or international ; to supervise, throughout the national territory, all cultural centres and any

organizations of a cultural nature-public or private, national or non- national.

Article 32. The Department of Cultural Affairs shall comprise five services: the Cultural Promotion and Dissemination Service ; the Research Service; the Conser- vation Service; the Technical Service; and the Training Bureau.

Article 33. The Deputy-Director s h d as~ist the Director of Cultural Affairs by discharging the various duties entrusted to him.

Article 34. The Cultural Promotion and Dissemination Service, placed under the authority of a Chief of Service, possibly with the assistance of a Deputy Chief, s h d be responsible for: cultural promotion throughout the national territory, by organizing or encou-

raging shows of all sorts and by disseminating artistic and literary works, particularly through the cultural centres ;

encouraging creative work in the fields of art, literature and audio-visual media; disseminating our cultural heritage abroad and implementing the national policy

of cultural exchanges at all levels; art education for adults and in SC~OO~S, particularly through the production

and dissemination, in conjunction with the Minister of National Education, of artistic and cultural documents, and programmes for the popularization of culture.

The Cultural Promotion and Dissemination Service shd comprise three bureaux: the Bureau of Arts, Literature and Music; the Bureau of Theatrical and Choreographic Activities ; the Bureau for the Organization of Leisure and Cultural Tourism.

Article 35. The Research Service, placed under the authority of a Chief of Service, possibly assisted by a Deputy Chief, shall be responsible, in order to further knowledge of the national culture and to foster its development: for preparing an inventory of our cultural heritage by means of surveys and of

collections of oral traditions, and for setting up cultural archives, in sound or written;

for directing and supervising the research activities of the cultural centres; for promoting the studies deemed necessary in every field and for supervising

for co-ordinating within Cameroon the research of foreign experts or organizations

The Research Service comprises two bureaux: the Bureau of Written and Audio- visual Documentation and the Research Bureau.

the execution of the various research projects undertaken;

under the national policy of cultural exchanges.

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Article 36. The Conservation Service, placed under the authority of a Chief of Service, possibly assisted by a Deputy Chief, is responsible: for the organization and administration of public museums ; for the supervision of museums and of public and private collections and galleries ; for the protection and conservation of sites, vestiges, monuments, objects and

for organizing, co-ordinating and supervising archaeological and prehistoric

for classifying the cultural assets belonging to the national heritage, and providing

The Conservation Service comprises two bureaux: the Technical Equipment Management and Control Bureau and the Technical Equipment Maintenance Bureau.

works of artistic or historical interest;

excavations and work-sites ;

for their protection by appropriate legislation.

The National Council for Cultural Affairs

This body was set up in 1973 by the Head of State. Placed under his direct authority, its purpose is to inspire and stimulate national cultural life by fostering all aspects of artistic creation.

The Ministry of Youth and Sports and the National Committee on Youth and Adult Education

In the address he delivered to the first Congress of the Cameroon Natio- nal Union held at Garoua in March 1969, the President of the Republic pointed out the emotional importance, the ‘affective and spiritual reality’ of the tribal communities, psychic movements which ‘are nourished by traditional cultural values’. H e concluded that the Cameroonian nation could not be ‘a sociologically more complete reality, at once objective and subjective, rational and affective, formal and concrete’ if it were not endowed ‘with a richer cultural content, but one fertilized by those traditional values in which the most authentic life of the Cameroonian people is rooted‘.

Such were the motives for the establishment, under the direct authority of the President of the Republic, of the National Committee on Youth and Adult Education, whose Chairman is the Minister of Youth, Sports and Adult Education. Its purpose is to co-ordinate all the activities affecting youth. It is accordingly responsible for cultural promotion work among the young, but also and above all, for adult education activities.

T h e structures for cultural promotion among the young include the cultural centres and youth centres which were founded at a later date.

T h e cultural centres were, and still are, in certain localities, meeting

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The institutional framework 06 cultural development

places where the people gather to read and learn, thanks to the materials accumulated. Films are shown, where facilities permit, recorded music is listened to and, in some cases, all sorts of artistic activities are carried on. Here, too, traditional art has its place-handicrafts, vocal and instrumental music, dancing, theatre, etc. Subsequently, Decree No. 67 /DF /SO3 of 21 November 1967, reorganizing activities involving youth and adult education at the national level, led the public authorities to establish national federations of youth movements. O n e of these, the Federation of Arts and Letters, set up to co-ordinate the activities of theatre companies and dance groups, was placed under the dual supervision of the Ministry of Youth and Sports (Department of Youth) and the Ministry of Information and Culture (Department of Cultural Affairs).

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Wooden mask representing a flutist at the Royal Court of Mfon Bamun.

Painting (on canvas) by the artist Tchangam.

Carved wood statuette of a seated man eating a succulent fruit.

The throne of Fo Bamileke. It is entirely covered with pearls. A panther, symbol of power, supports the seat.

Carved wood statuette representing a woman with several children.

Statuette representing a father holding his twins.

Pottery: calabash resting on a cushion and a terra cotta urn.

Redele bafia dance. In each hand the dancers hold a fly-whisk, emblem of power.

Photas : National Commission of the United Republic of Cameroon for Unesco.

The cultural policy of Cameroon today

Address by the President of the Republic

T w o events of paramount importance took place recently: the concurrent sessions of the Council for Higher Education and Scientific and Tech- nical Research, and of the National Council for Cultural Affairs (18-22 December 1974), and the Second Ordinary Congress of the Cameroon National Union (10-15 February 1975).

The opening address of the President of the Republic at the first meeting of the Council for Higher Education and Scientific and Tech- nical Research forms an important document, because it defines the main principles of cultural policy. The text of the speech is as follows:

I have pleasure in presiding today over the first session of the Council for Higher Education and Scientific and Technical Research and of the National Council for Cultural Affairs, two new institutions designed, as you know, to render the national policy fully effective in the fields of culture in general, and of education and scientific research in particular.

In so doing, I wish not only to stress the importance I attach to the role of these councils in the process of the country’s development and of the nation’s construction, but also and above all to emphasize the fundamentally innovative nature of this dual event, made more remarkable by the fact that the sessions of these two councils are being held concurrently, as if to signify their profound unity, in the sense of the wise m a n of antiquity who affirmed that ‘all creative activities designed to give expression to human feelings have, as it were, a com- m o n bond and are united as though by ties of blood’.

Adopting this point of view, our chief concern is therefore to delimit the sphere of this common bond, within the framework of our national cultural unity, of the requirements of national construction and particularly of the peaceful revolution of 20 May which I described at the Youth Festival as a three-dimensional revohtion.

I said at the time that our country is engaged in a threefold revolution: a political revolution through which it is building an independent State, strong

25


and efficient ; an economic revolution, through the Green Revolution, whose purpose is to promote the progress of every one in a balanced and just manner; a cultural renewal which aims at restoring to the Cameroonian people their sense of dignity and creative power, i.e. to make them, and them alone, the subject of their own history.

I further stated that these three basic revolutions, which w e are bringing about peacefully, but with method, realism and efficiency, have but a single purpose, namely to promote Cameroon to the rank of an authentic nation in the concert of nations of the world.

Awareness of the triple dimension of the peaceful revolution of 20 May preserves us from a restricted view of culture, from regarding it as an element isolated from all the other components of national life.

It forces us to take a bird’s-eye view of culture, seeing it in relation to national life as a whole, and thus keeping closely to the original significance of culture which, it must be recalled in a developing country such as ours, first of all means ‘the art of cultivating the soil, that is, the transformation of the natural environment which is essential to man’s subsistence and to his mastery over Nature’.

It obliges us also to devise suitable measures for the complete integration of men, as well as of principles and cultural activities, into the threefold movement of the national revolution with a view to the country’s progress and development.

Awareness of the goals of the national peaceful revolution should therefore lead your two councils to highlight, from an over-all and not a restricted point of view, the particularly important role that culture should play as an essential means of cementing and consolidating national unity as an instrument of development and progress. It should also lead you to stress, in the final analysis, its decisive impact in affirming the national personality, for culture is, so to speak, the identity card of a nation.

Awareness of our national identity, which informs our entire policy of national construction, shows that w e refuse any cultural alienation, that w e have enough creative power to give that identity a concrete content in all fields, and that we are forever determined to forge our own destiny ourselves.

What we must do, therefore, is to organize the kinetic energies available, especially among the young, who are destined to assume the tasks of cultural promotion, teaching and research.

For its part, the government has neither shrunk from any sacrifice nor spared any effort to enable men of culture capable of awareness of the goals of the peaceful revolution to play their part fully in developing the country, whether the sacrifice was the constantly increasing financial one entailed by the University of Yaoundé, currently at its most flourishing stage, or that entailed by certain special measures or institutions established.

There is no further need to dwell on the more and more complete Camerooniza- tion of the University, which, without terminating co-operation with friendly countries, is regarded, as I have already said, as a factor essential to the affirmation of national sovereignty, through which w e intend, remaining true to ourselves, to create our national culture and to invent the means of €erging our own destiny.

This also presupposes, however, the Cameroonization of responsible posts, the discontinuance of foundations foreign to the university, and the handing

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over to Cameroon of all foreign research institutes which were operating on the national territory, because scientific and technical research are in future to be carried out exclusively by our national institutions.

The principles governing co-operative relations in this field are thus based increasingly on the cultural values and personality of each State, and, by the same token, on respect for the particular character of the Cameroonian people who, always anxious for dialogue and freedom, really intend to make co-operation a dynamic force in endeavours to achieve international understanding and solidarity, with a view to promoting the civilization of the universal.

In this context, we established the National Office of ScientSc and Technical Research, responsible for carrying out, co-ordinating and supervising research activities throughout the national territory. As you know, this office consists of nine institutes specializing in the priority fields of national activity and called upon to maintain, with the university establishments, special relations which should enable scientific research to contribute, in all spheres and directly, to the nation’s progress in terms of the requirements of our country’s economic, social and cultural development plan.

With the establishment of the National Council for Cultural Affairs, primarily designed as a body for over-all reflection on the definition and orientation of our national cultural policy, we can say that Cameroon now possesses efficient instruments capable of giving concrete content to the cultural renewal implied by the peaceful revolution of 20 May.

As I have already said, that renewal, which is to coincide with the approaching period when the State will reach full maturity, makes it imperative for men of culture, and particularly those destined to take part in the work of the two councils here assembled, to become thoroughly aware of their responsibilities and to give thought to the fundamental role which culture is to fulfil, at every level, in strengthening national unity and in developing the country.

I wish today, at this decisive turning-point in government policy, to draw attention to two matters in particular, on which I should like you to focus your work-namely participation and creative thinking. What I mean is practical participation in the process of genuine integration into the threefold movement of the national revolution, and putting forward ideas on appropriate means of achieving such integration.

This dual requirement of practical participation and creative thinking should lead you to determine the principles and goals of all our activities in the cultural sphere, the specific, priority tasks on which we should concentrate our efforts, and the regponsibilities which, at different levels, are incumbent upon men of culture, teachers, research workers and students.

For no cultural activity, no training or research project or institution can, or should, be alien to the history o€ our nation and the requirements of national development ; every cultural activity should make a dynamic, practical contribution to the progressive movement of the nation.

Participation must be understood, not as mere sentimental, passive attach- ment to national realities, but as a direct and active contribution to national construction, as actual integration in the national revolution, that authentic revolution which, as I have said, ‘concerned with transforming the environment, has no utopian dreams, but knows only the hard everyday labour and effort to find out what changes are required for the country’s development’.

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Every genuine cultural activity implies that the entire nation must be involved in it, and not merely certain individuals or special groups; if it takes the form of practical, dynamic participation and is truly integrated in national realities, cultural activity can restore to creative initiative the drive needed to speed up national progress.

On the other hand, the urge to create something new is the essential thing, without which participation would mean inertia, degrading routine, tiresome repetitions, often disguising mere assimilation of foreign ideas-in short, cultural alienation.

Artists, for example, should no longer simply learn to reproduce village scenes or imported songs; they should learn to use their imagination, re-creating the village scenes in an original fashion, drawing on their talent and producing by creative work something new, significant of the strength of the spirit of the Cameroonian people.

Hence cultural activity must rely, first and foremost, on the training of men; this involves not only identifying the priority sectors in which training is necessary, but also and especially imagining and creating original systems of training, which will prepare those concerned for practical participation, for actual integration in national activities and the national culture ; on all occasions, such training will foster the creative faculties whereby the nation can forge ahead in its indom- itable march towards progress.

But it is evident that this training of m e n is not possible unless the instructors themselves are fully aware of the magnitude of the task and of the imperative duties that devolve upon them. For it is precisely those responsible for bringing about, through their daily activities, this continuous mental revolution who must be the first to set an example by their own practical participation in the country’s development and their real integration in the threefold movement of the national revolution, for, as I have already stated at the last Youth Festival, ‘every revolution becomes imaginary and deteriorates into senseless dreams, if not into cultural alienation, when, instead of recognizing the particular sphere to which it belongs, namely the actual conditions of the country’s soil which must be transformed, it settles for empty, selfish demands and claims rights that do not correspond to real, practical duties’.

Teachers must become fully conscious of the fundamentally revolutionary goals of their teaching duties which have a basic civic dimension. Only such awareness can enable them to avoid the greatest pitfall ahead of them-that of being thinking individuals divorced from the realities of national life, and ready to place themselves at the service of special interests.

The University, for which the government is making enormous moral and financial sacrifices, cannot and must not be an ivory tower of cultural alienation, which would be only a source of disorder and contrary to our will to achieve independence and to affirm our national personality. ‘The University’, as I said at the Ebolowa Congress, ‘must be a centre for the mobilization of minds, a national rallying point and source of pride, a means of cultural development contributing to the creation and consolidation of our young State.’

I declare here and now that the State cannot allow the normal functioning of this most propitious instrument for the nation’s development to be jeopardized by the selfish activities of citizens oblivious of their responsibilities at this vital turning-point in our history.

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For education, as I said to the Higher Council of Education in 1965, ‘is the hub of national life. And because its effects spread into every sphere, from economic expansion to civic spirit, it involves our national future individually and collectively’. I further said that ‘the goal to attain through education in our country is to make every Cameroonian a well-trained citizen, able to participate more effectively in the management of the State, a producer who can contribute to national prosperity by an increased output’.

It follows that every teacher worthy of the name, by educating, and not merely instructing, is fundamentally a teacher of good citizenship. H e must be so, not only in respect of the subject he teaches or the material advantages he thereby gains, but also and above all by his living example, which is often better followed by the pupil or student than the lessons on the subject he teaches.

I therefore stated in the past that w e must have teachers ‘who are not only grammarians or mathematicians but who are also trainers of men’, who must be first and foremost models of living for their students. Those who, by virtue of their experience and knowledge, are called upon to give lessons in objectivity, cannot and should not be prompted by negative, selfish or particularist motives, whether in their relations with their colleagues or in the daily exercise of their training duties: teaching must, in particular, be free of any spirit of tribalism, which can but warp it and betray its mission.

Teachers, research workers and m e n of culture consequently have no real place other than in the vanguard of the struggle to consolidate national unity with a view to the development and well-being of all Cameroonians. On this condition alone will the University, as I have said, be a true ‘school of moral rectitude, justice, adult responsibility, and not a means of evading the demands o€ duty and the requirements of society and of the State’.

Hence there are fundamental changes to be made, not only in the current curricula, which are too classical and need to be better adapted to the actual conditions in a developing country, but in the systems of training and of integration in national life, which must all aim at inducing students, teachers and research workers to commit themselves energetically to participation in the movement of general mobilization for the nation’s progress and development, and particularly for the Green Revolution.

The relations between the University and the National Office for Scientific and Technical Research should probably be envisaged in this context, the former finding directly in the latter’s institutes of applied research a direct means of avoiding intellectual isolation and of participating in the continuing promotion of development, as w e had already foreseen at the meeting of the Higher Educa- tion Council in 1967.

The unity of action of the two organizations will inevitably exert an influence on the courses of instruction themselves which, instead of seeking thereby to inculcate knowledge of a culture foreign to our situation, will gradually take in new subjects directly related to national realities: our soil and subsoil, our crops and our fauna, our marine and river reserves, our thought and our history.

‘Knowledge for us’, I have also said, ‘is not the pointless, bookish pedantry of nebulous or memorized theories. Knowledge, in our country, must be rooted in daily life’. That is why scientific and technical research must be above all the methodical application of creative initiative to the real, practical potentialities of the national soil, with a view to consolidating our economy, reinforcing

29


our independence and improving the living conditions of our citizens. Scientific and technical research must, in short, be an essential factor making for direct integration in every field of the national construction movement.

At this point, I should like to reiterate that culture must be viewed from the angle of total participation in the life of the people, whose creative initiative must be aroused, and not merely from that of certain particular sectors.

The National Council for Cultural Affairs should study the different ways of life of our people, and consider how to restore-starting at once with our children’s education-their rightful value to our tales, legends, games and languages, but without prejudice to the government’s principle of preserving our age-old pluriculturalism, founded on the wealth of our cultural diversity.

M a y w e always find everywhere this energetic participation and urge to create which are essential to cultural promotion, understood, according to m y definition of it, as ‘any activity which inspires men to do creative work, restores their sense of initiative and increases their capacity to participate in community life not as sleeping, but as full partners. Thus every effective cultural activity is basically if not a political, at least a civic, undertaking’.

‘The purpose of cultural activity’, I have also said, ‘must be to provide men with the maximum means of inventing their ends; in the final analysis, it must be to trigger off in the heart of our cities the civilizing process, whereby the simplest inhabitant of our villages may become a full-fledged citizen, capable of contributing, through his personal capacity for initiative, to the life of the nation and to the creation of its values’.

These, then, are the guidelines that I hope you will follow in your proceedings, which should make an important contribution to the task of national construction unremittingly pursued by our great National Party and the government.

The principles governing our action are based on our refusal to believe that there is no more knowledge to acquire and that all w e need to do now is to adopt passively the solutions which other nations have invented, through their innate abilities, in order to solve the problems facing them in their own particular situation at a given point in history.

Such a refusal does not mean that w e do not wish to benefit by the experience of others or by successful achievements throughout the world; on the contrary, it implies the need for energetic participation which is impossible without the urge and power to create. That is why the party and the government consider that planned liberalism, which, while recognizing the value of private initiative, directs it to serve the general interest, is based on a concept of energetic participation in development and on the necessity to devise a method suited to our own particular character and adapted to our historical situations.

To declare that Cameroon must not be a mere consumer of other peoples’ ideas is to appeal to the spirit of the people of Cameroon; basically, it is to believe that the power of that spirit is capable of enabling our people to be masters of their fate in every sphere; it is to advocate research as the principal method whereby all our actions can be directed more effectively towards national development.

Cameroon maintains that it has, undeniably, like all the peoples of Africa, which was the cradle of civilizations, its share to contribute to the general store of human knowledge, to the quest for the well-being of mankind within

30


the framework of the international solidarity which is essential if we are to found the civilization of the universal.

This is the context in which the government is prepared to recognize the part which scientific research workers, teachers and artists, who are all seeking to develop their creative powers, deserve to play in the task of national construction.

The State will not shrink from any sacrifice to support those who, despising vain and selfish ends, make it their constant endeavour to find means of defining more satisfactorily the principles and objectives of our activities and the ways and means of making them contribute more directly to the country’s progress, of making research one of the expressions of the revolution, peaceful and without upheavals, but sure and efficient, which the government and the party intend to bring about in every sector of national life.

The mission of the artist, the teacher, and every research worker conscious of his responsibilities forms part of the destiny of all the people of Cameroon who are called upon to enlist in the cause of development on the work-site of national construction.

This task requires sustained national solidarity with a view to greater efficiency at every level; it calls for unity of action to which every citizen should contribute in the daily battle for the nation’s progress.

Conscious of the basic requirements for the cultural renewal that should enable us to build a civilization worthy of modern Africa, we are all called upon, through energetic participation and creative endeavours, to follow up the peaceful revolution of 20 May with increasingly fruitful and practical achievements.

Henceforth, therefore, we must feel more committed than ever to this struggle, shoulder to shoulder with OUT fellow Cameroonians, to make our nation, constantly growing in strength, unity and prosperity, a beacon for Africa’s new civilization.

Education and training (report of the Minister of Education)

HIGHER EDUCATION

The last meeting of what was, until the Decree of 17 April last, the Higher Education Council took place back in M a y 1967. That decree replaced the council by an institution with broader responsibilities, namely the Council for Higher Education and Scientific Research.

Since M a y 1967, our higher education system has expanded in a remarkable fashion, in terms of both quantity and quality; so m u c h so that this expansion is itself becoming a source of problems, which make it imperative for the nation as a whole to be as much concerned with higher education as with primary education and general or technical secondary education, with which higher education is inseparably linked.

In other words, higher education must henceforth be considered as

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closely geared to the other sectors of the national education system and, generally speaking, to the other poles of interest connected with the over-all policy of organizing and using the h u m a n resources of the nation.

F r o m this point of view, the nature of the other types of education and the foreseeable characteristics or constants of the national labour market called for a critical re-examination and readjustment of our higher education in the light of its evolution since 1967. T o lay d o w n the guidelines for such a readjustment is the duty of the Council for Higher Education and Scientific and Technical Research.

T h e development of higher education since 1967 has been marked first of all by a constant increase in the number of establishments at that level regrouped within the University of Yaoundé. That increase was, of course, accompanied by a gradual diversification of the types of higher education, themselves corresponding to the basic needs in respect of key personnel of a nation called upon to be responsible for its o w n survival and development.

T h e year 1969 witnessed the beginning of medical training, at higher and middle levels, with the establishment of the University Centre of Health Sciences (CUSS). That institution is training-or is destined to train-not only doctors, but also health service technicians and auxi- liary personnel.

T h e same year also saw the establishment of the Industrial Manage- ment Training Centre, which has since become the Industrial Adminis- tration Institute (IAE).

In 1970, the Yaoundé International College of Journalism (ESIJY) was founded. It was the outcome of inter-African co-operation in the field of higher education and today admits, in addition to Cameroonian nationals, young people from other Central African States and Togo.

In 1971, the Cameroon Institute of International Relations (IRIC) was set up.

Finally, also in 1971, the National Polytechnic College (ENSP) was inaugurated; this establishment has introduced into Cameroon advanced technological instruction destined to play a vital part in development strategy.

F r o m the point of view of educational structures, it m a y be said that the main feature of the period concerned was the embryonic development of a higher vocational and technical education system whose graduates could immediately obtain employment in high-level posts in the civil service or in the public or semi-public sector (doctors, diplomats, engineers, journalists, etc.), whereas efforts during the preceding period (1962-67) had been focused more on the organization of education of a general nature provided by the faculties, all of which were founded during that period.

Therefore w e can n o w say that, since 1974, Cameroon has, at the

32


structural level, the two types of higher education commonest throughout the world, i.e. education of a utilitarian nature (technical and vocational), and general education of a pre-utilitarian type. And it is probably in the relationship between these two types of instruction that w e must look for the terms in which the problems of higher education are henceforth posed in our country. For it is impossible not to see that these two types of education, as they have thus far been developed in Cameroon, are quite different and even somewhat opposed: on the one hand, w e have training that is utilitarian and selective (i.e. reserved for a very small number) and, on the other, general education for large numbers of students who, on graduation, cannot be integrated at once in the production process.

This is what emerges from a study of changes in the number of students during the period under review. The total number of students enrolled in the establishments of the University of Yaoundé has steadily increased, whereas the number of students enrolled in the colleges or institutes (including the CUSS) has, on the contrary, constantly decrea- sed (cf. Tables 1 and 2). The trend is all the more remarkable in that the opening of the National Polytechnic College not only did not help to reverse it, but even coincided with the beginning (1971/72) of the quantitative decline in higher technical and vocational training (cf. Table 2).

And so, paradoxically, the efforts made during the period concerned to promote this type of education have so far yielded only poor results in practice; as for the development of higher technical and scientific education, apparently satisfactory despite a slight decline in 1970/71 (Table 3), this is solely due to the constant increase in the number of students enrolled at the Faculty of Science, which in fact provides only non- vocational education.

Hence it would appear that, in order both to cope with the constant increase in the number of candidates for higher education and to make the latter more functional, the introduction of radical changes in the relationship between technical training and general pre-vocational education must be contemplated. Such changes should be aimed at developing, very quickly, a type of higher and semi-higher technical education which, in the near future, could accommodate at least as many students as higher education in the social sciences and humanities can do.

In other words, technical and vocational education, described above as utilitarian, must, like general education, be able to cater for large numbers of students. At the same time, general education curricula should also be radically revised so as to establish a close link between theory and the concepts of general subjects, on the one hand, and the objectives to be pursued in transforming our national society, on the other.

This policy depends on the progress of the other levels of education

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TABLE 2. The two major types of education (expressed in percentages)

Type of education 1967168 1968169 1969170 1970171 1971/72 1972173 1973174

Higher general instruction (faculties) 87.65 77.50 77.94 76.7 77.11 78.28 79.16

Higher technical and vocational education (grandes &o.les, institutes, including the CUSS) 12.35 22.50 22.06 23.3 22.89 21.72 20.84

TOTAL 100 100 100 100 100 100 100

TABLE 3. Higher scientific and technical education as compared with the rest of higher education (percentages)

Definition 1967168 1968169 1969/70 1970171 1971172 1972173 1973174

Higher scientific and technical education (Faculty of Science, ENSA, Polytech- nie College) 10.2 14.46 17.68 14.46 19.70 23.92 25.49

The rest of higher education 89.8 85.54 82.32 85.54 80.30 76.08 74.51

TOTAL 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 -------

whose growth sooner or later has repercussions on higher education. For instance, the number of pupils at those levels for the school year 1973/ 74 is as follows (provisional figures, April 1974, compiled by the statistical and planning services of the Ministry of Education, Planning Divi- sion, School Statistics Service, appearing in .the brochure Aperçu sur la Scolarisation en République Unie du Cameroun): Pre-school and primary education levels, 1,012,778 pupils; domestic science and rural handicrafts sections, 3,009 ; technical education, 23,737 ; teacher training, 1,452 ; general secondary education, 83,236. Nearly 25,000 pupils thus attend technical schools and approximately 90,000 attend general secondary schools. Unfortunately, w e do not yet have any mobility studies relating to school drop-outs and the rates of promotion from one class to the other, which would enable us to foresee approximately the potential demand for higher education in the years ahead. However, studies currently under w a y at the Ministry of Education and bearing on the comparative growth of the

35


TABLE 4. Indexed growth of the n u m b e r of pupils and students in terminal classes or in their first year of higher studies

School year - Terminal classes

N u m b e r of Index pupils

First year of higher studies

Index N u m b e r of studentsz

1969/702 1970/71 1971/72 1972/73 1973174

1,290 100 1,602 124 2,149 167 2,588 201 3,137 243

947 100 1,209 128 1,418 150 1,960 207 2,468 261

1. Not including capacitaires, i.e candidates for the capacit8 en Droit (see note 2 to table 1). 2. Base = 100.

number of students in the terminal classes or in their first year of studies in the establishments of the University of Yaoundé (since 1969) g' ive us some idea (Table 4).

R E P O R T OF C O M M I T T E E NO. 1

The work of Committee No. 1, on the general orientations and development of higher education and of scientific research, took place under the chairmanship of Mr F. Tonye Mbog, Minister of Youth and Sports, with the active participation of: the President Moussa Yaya, deputy; Messrs Keutcha, Minister of Agriculture; Kwayeb, Minister of Labour and Welfare; R. Mbella Mbappe, Chancellor of the University; G. Bwelle, Technical Adviser on Cultural Affairs to the Presidency of the Republic; G. Ngango, Dean of the Faculty of L a w and Economics; R. Wandji, Vice- Dean of the Faculty of Science; Soppo Ndongo, Director of the Teacher Training College ; N y a Ngatchou, Deputy Director-General of ONAREST; Niat Njifenji, Director-General of the National Electricity Company of Cameroon (SONEL); J. A. Ndongo, Chief of the School Planning and Guidance Division of the Ministry of Education; N d o u m b e Manga, Chief of the Mines and Energy Documentation Division; A d a m o u N d a m Njoya, Director of the Cameroon Institute of International Relations.

As part of the task assigned to it, the committee deemed it desirable to discuss the problems involved in defining the general orientation of higher education and scientific research, and the practical aspects which they necessarily implied, with a view to the participation by teachers, research workers and students in development.

T h e committee endorsed the main guidelines traced by the President of the Republic in his opening address, i.e. that the requirements of the

36


National Commission and particularly of the peaceful revolution of 20 M a y involved the country in a threefold revolution: a political revolution, an economic revolution, and cultural renewal.

T o define the place of university education in the life of the nation, the committee singled out four aspects: the University as a political instrument ; the University as an instrument for development; the Uni- versity as an instrument for the promotion of scientific research; and the University as an instrument for the training of key personnel.

The University as a political instrument

The basic conclusion reached by the committee was that the University, in so far as it was destined to form part of national political life, which was governed by principles defined by the party, must be politically committed by fitting into the party’s structures.

For the University must not, as in the past, be an ivory tower or, as the Head of State had said, ‘a centre for thinking individuals divorced from the realities of national life’; it must emerge from its ivory tower and serve as an instrument for the construction and strengthening of national awareness and unity.

As those responsible for arousing national awareness, which was the first duty of the University at the political level, professors and research workers must develop their civic sense and transmit it to their students; in other words, the university professor should be a teacher of good citizenship, to repeat what the Head of State had said.

It was the duty of research workers and professors, as it was that of students, to militate in the Cameroon National Union and to contribute in a practical w a y to the creation of national awareness.

While recognizing that the search for ways and means of making the University a true political instrument was a matter for specialists, the committee considered that the commitment of the University should be assured from the threefold angle of its structures, curricula, and professors and students, in order that it might produce citizens speaking the language of the country and reasoning like Cameroonians concerned with the development and prestige of their country.

The University as an instrument for development

The committee noted in this respect that the University had so far merely fulíilled its traditional role of training key personnel, a role all the more inadequate in terms of our development requirements in that university education had to a large extent failed to adjust to national realities and to the imperatives of national development.

The committee considered that a change of policy was necessary to give the University more drive as an instrument for development.

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Curricula and syllabuses should henceforth be adapted to national needs and objectives. T o play its rightful part as a magnet and a beacon, the University must be more practical; it must draw its inspiration from contact with real national conditions by joining in basic training and development campaigns, by combining the education it provided with practical instruction, with training courses in the field.

It was precisely by adapting itself to these real national conditions, by aiming at the attainment of national objectives, that university education would contribute to national development.

The committee, in order to conduct this analysis of the dynamic relationship which ought in future to be established between the Uni- versity and national development, gave thought to possible n e w training systems and to actual participation by the University in the Green Revolution, held to be the most decisive factor in our economic revolution.

New training systems. It seemed to the committee that to introduce n e w and original training systems would perforce entail reorganizing and adapting the university curricula, which were ineffective partly because they bore no relation to actual national conditions.

University education must consequently be reformed and adjusted as far as possible to those conditions. W h e n the system that teachers were obliged to follow, for want of any better one, did not entirely conform to the national ideal, they should do their utmost to adapt it.

T h e University, in order to fulfil its role as an instrument for development, should not only provide extramural practical training, but should also recruit professionals from outside. The examples might here be cited of the IRIC, ESIJY, CUSS and the Pan-African Development Institute (IPD).

The University and the Green Revolution. As regards participation by the University in the Green Revolution (meaning the land reform decided upon by the President of the Republic), three possible lines of action were explored.

First of all, the committee considered that the University should contribute to the Green Revolution by taking part in research designed to free agriculture from its manifold technical, sociological and psychological constraints.

Such research should be directed towards the priority sectors, be multidisciplinary as far as possible, and lead to the popularization of its findings through cultural promotion programmes and the sending of cultural organizers to work among the peoples in rural areas.

Second, the University could contribute to the Green Revolution by training key personnel in agriculture at specialized schools which should henceforth be more widely accessible to candidates.

Third, the University could participate in the Green Revolution by

38


enabling students to help their families in the productive activities of agricultural life. T o that end, schools and the University should follow the rhythm of agricultural production, the vacation periods coinciding with sowing and harvesting times. An effort should be m a d e to readjust the vacation periods accordingly.

Fourth, the University could contribute to development by taking an active part in the experimental work projects of the National Office for Development Participation.

The University as an instrument for the promotion of scientijìc research

T h e committee preferred to speak of oriented research, not finding it necessary to distinguish between basic and applied research. T h e orientation must depend on the ability of such research, considered as a whole, to promote development. Consequently, priority, but not exclusive preference, must be given to research oriented towards development.

The committee noted that, at the present stage of our University’s development, no structure existed for the training of research workers and that a n e w policy should be proposed, i.e. to introduce a third cycle specifically designed to train students in theoretical and practical research.

Such research training, however, would not be profitable for development unless there was a connexion between it and the ONAREST research institutes. But that connexion being on the agenda of C o m - mittee No. 3, Committee No. 1 did not go into the matter.

The University as an instrument for training key personnel

The role of the University in training key personnel supplemented its political role, for such training should contribute to the affirmation of the national personality, since a country could not be really independent unless the management of its affairs was in the hands of its nationals. Hence the importance of the Cameroonization of the University.

T h e committee recognized, however, that it was not possible, with the system or the present structure of our University to turn out key personnel w h o could be used at once. T h e causes of this state of affairs were as follows: the very great population growth m a d e any attempt to predict enrolments difficult; the rate of failures (50-60 per cent) was too high during the first two years of study in law and economics, certain types of instruction being unsuitable.

All these observations led to consideration of the relationship between the training profile and possibilities of employment; beside the key personnel training system, it appeared necessary to establish a plan for

39


placing such personnel in the various sectors, both in those corresponding to other sectors, such as agriculture, handicrafts, small- and medium- sized industries, and in those in the public or private domain, so that the actual training could be geared to the requirements of the jobs for which the graduates concerned might wish to apply. Hence the need for the following: to supervise vocational guidance and to select students for University entrance, since the secondary-school leaving certificate (baccalauréat) no longer qualified them automatically for admission; to cease regarding the University as the sole means of getting into the training circuit, and to think in terms of guidance towards other types of training institutions, particularly those providing technical and vocational training; to explore the possibility of establishing the plan for placing personnel in employment on the basis of the country’s actual needs and available resources (so as to k n o w in what direction to guide students) ; to set up machinery for permanent co-operation between user sectors and training institutions; to think of this training as part of the educational system in general and to devote special attention tothe penultimate secondary-school class, in which the various sections to be taken for the baccalauréat were introduced, and this inevitably meant reconsidering the educational network as a whole.

T h e committee recommended improvement of the selection and guidance of candidates for university entrance, a long-term process which in practice would entail reorganization of the educational system on the basis of the country’s fundamental objective of development focused on transforming the rural environment in the near future, systematic vocational guidance at the upper secondary-school level towards technical institutions, and increased facilities for entrance to specialized establishments.

RECOMMENDATION NO. 1 CONCERNING THE UNIVERSITY AS A POLITICAL INSTRUMENT

The Council for Higher Education and Scientific and Technical Research, meeting at Yaoundé from 18 to 20 December 1974, Considering that the foreign inspiration which has hitherto prevailed at the

University has not been conducive to making it a powerful instrument in the service of national awareness and political action;

Considering that the University has so far had a tendency to be a sort of ivory tower and consequently was failing to contribute as it should to the creation of national unity and awareness;

Persuaded that our University must fit into the national revolution of 20 May, particularly in respect of the political realities the principles of which are laid down by the Cameroon National Union Party;

Conscious of the political and civic dimensions which all teaching and research in Cameroon must include, as a means of building up national awareness;

40


Recognizing that all attempts to make the University a truly political instru-

Recommends That the university be politically committed to the political principles laid down

by the Cameroon Party of National Union, so as to serve ever more effectively as an instrument for forming and strengthening national awareness and unity ;

That professors and research workers should be true teachers of good citizenship and take their place in the vanguard of national construction, both through their teaching or research and through their energetic participation in party activities ;

That this commitment of the University should be manifest at the threefold level of its structures, its curricula and its professors and students, so as to turn out citizens speaking the language of the country and reasoning like Cameroonians concerned with the development and prestige of their country.

ment must perforce be made through the structures of the party;

RECOMMENDATION NO. 2 CONCERNING T H E UNIVERSITY AS A N INSTRUMENT FOR DEVELOPMENT

The Council for Higher Education and Scientific and Technical Research, meeting at Yaoundé from 18 to 20 December 1974, Considering that the particular mission of the University, broadly speaking,

is to reflect the nation’s objectives by adapting its teaching to them and thereby becoming practical and involved in the struggle for development;

Considering that our University, for historical reasons and due to the influences to which it has been subjected, has not so far been able to fulfd its role completely;

Considering that one of the causes of this comparative ineffectiveness is the unsuitability of the training system, particularly as regards curricula and syllabuses ;

Considering that reorganization of the University on lines more propitious for development must perforce be done through internal and extramural practical training, and consequently through close collaboration between the teachers of theoretical knowledge and professionals working outside the University ;

Considering that, at the present stage of our national development, this role as an instrument for development must at all costs make allowance €or the imperatives of the Green Revolution;

Recommends 1. The planning and implementation of original training systems, drawing on

the national territory for their inspiration and for most of the content of their curricula.

2. A reorganization of the University on lines more propitious for development, i.e. providing a training that is at once both theoretical and practical, in collaboration with professionals working outside the University.

3. A more radical policy of consulting members of the University and including them in the machinery whereby national decisions are prepared or finalized.

4. In particular, increased participation by the University in agricultural or agronomic research intended to free agriculture from the manifold technical,

41


sociological and psychological constraints impeding the Green Revolution, which is the determining factor in our development.

4(a). Systematic popularization of the findings of such research, through programmes for the promotion of rural areas.

5. Stepping up of the training of key personnel in agriculture at the University’s specialized schools, which must henceforth be more widely accessible to those who have passed the baccalauréat.

6. Increased participation by students and professors in the Green Revolution, either by enabling them to help their families in the productive activities of agricultural life, or by their active participation in the experimental work projects of the National Civic Service for Participation in Development.

RECOMMENDATION NO. 3 CONCERNING THE UNIVERSITY AS A N INSTRUMENT FOR THE PROMOTION

OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH

The Council for Higher Education and Scientific and Technical Research, meeting at Yaoundé from 18 to 20 December 1974, Considering that it is one of the University’s main duties to conduct research,

in order not only to improve theoretical and practical knowledge, but also to ensure that national policy rests on scientific, and therefore reliable foundations ;

Considering that such research, in an underdeveloped country like ours, should be constantly geared to the requirements of national development and therefore strike a balance between fundamental and applied research;

considering that, to this end, the University must have an appropriate structure for research training which cannot be profitable to development unless there is a connexion between it and the various national institutes specializing in applied research;

Recommends 1. Introducing at the University a third cycle for the training of research

workers at the higher education level. 2. Taking account, in launching this third cycle, of the need to give priority,

but not exclusive preference to research oriented towards increased ability to cope with our specific national conditions and greater effectiveness in our development.

3. Establishing close collaboration between the University’s research departments and the new research institutes organized within ONAREST.

4. Providing the University with substantial resources in the matter of documentation and laboratories, so as to give substance and effectiveness to the third cycle and, more generally speaking, to national research at the university level.

RECOMMENDATION NO. 4 CONCERNING TEE UNIVERSITY AS A N INSTRUMENT FOR TRAINING K E Y PERSONNEL

The Council for Higher Education and Scientific and Technical Research, meeting at Yaoundé from 18 to 20 December 1974,

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Considering that, for the party and the government, the training of key personnel and particularly a qualified staff for senior executive posts is a prerequisite for any national development;

Considering, however, that unless the training of a country’s key personnel is properly directed and takes account of the country’s potentialities and the need to place such personnel in suitable jobs, development will inevitably be hindered ;

Considering that training which is not properly directed, particularly at university level, has serious disadvantages ;

Considering that, a developing country like ours, which, though devoted to humanistic ideals, should place the accent more particularly on the training of technical and scientific key personnel at all levels;

Recommends 1. Improved selection and guidance of students for university entrance, which,

in practice, would entail in the long run the remodelling of our country’s educational system with a view to our fundamental objective, i.e. development designed to transform the rural environment; in the near future, it would involve methodical vocational guidance, at the upper secondary- school level, towards technical training institutions, and increased opportunities to enter specialized educational establishments.

2. Establishing machinery for co-operation between the University and the sectors of activity, and updating the employment survey conducted by the government.

R E P O R T OF C O M M I T T E E NO. 2

Committee No. 2, or the Committee on Pedagogy, was called upon to examine two problems: the problem of the present unsuitability of higher education curricula (reform of curricula and of current training, and development of technological education) ; the problem of the status of teachers.

The committee’s Chairman was Mr Bernard Bidias Ngon, Minister of Education.

In addition, the following people took part in the work of the committee: Messrs Vroumsia Tchinaye, Minister of Public Administration ; P. F o k a m Kamga, Minister of Health and Public Welfare; Sadjo Ango- kay, Minister of Stock Farming and Animal Industries; C. Doumba, Minister of Information and Culture; J.-M. Bipoun-Woum, Director of Higher Education; J. Minlend Nyobe, Director of Scientific and Tech- nical Affairs in the Ministry of Planning and Territorial Development; Ngu Anomah, Vice-chancellor of the University of Yaoundé; E. Njoh Mouelle, Secretary General of the University of Yaoundé; F. Mbassi Manga, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and H u m a n Sciences; G. L. Mone- kosso, Director of CUSS; H. Bourges, Director of ESIJY; E. Soundjock, Director of the National Institute of Education; R. Owona, Chief of the Central Division of Rural Development in the Ministry of Agriculture;

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S. Nelle, Chief of the Scientific Division of ONAREST; G. Biwole, Director of Studies of ESIJY; J. K a m m K o m , Professor.

T h e discussions of the committee were frank and showed that all members were very clearly aware of the difficulties and distortions currently obtaining in our higher education.

For instance, most of the speakers on the first item on the agenda, having praised the clarity and relevance of the working papers sub- mitted by the Minister of Education, resolutely embarked on objective and dispassionate criticism of the present system of higher education, and more particularly of the system of faculty studies. For, as everyone admitted, what was involved was the faculties, with their impressive array of degrees (licences) which were not altogether in keeping with the nation’s real needs, the conception and organization of studies at the other institutions of higher learning (grandes écoles) having been deemed satisfactory in that respect.

Several committee members pointed to the imperative necessity of reorganizing the training provided by the faculties and giving it a professional slant, so that students could be fitted smoothly and effectively into the production circuit.

It was likewise emphasized that one of the causes of failure of the present system was that the teachers themselves, or at least most of them, had been trained abroad, and consequently could not contribute properly to the inculcation of the knowledge they imparted in a manner useful to students. Hence, the Committee members unanimously recommended the speedy establishment of a doctorate course in Cameroon, so as to interest research workers in national problems and to provide a better training for professors in higher education.

T h e committee members stressed, too, the need to devise a w a y of enabling the university to help towards the relaunching of cultural activity in Cameroon, not only by training cultural organizers, but also by participating in the development of cultural information. That would be but one of the aspects of the university’s contribution to the task of national construction, requiring even greater participation by professors and research workers in all sorts of projects usually entrusted to foreign experts, and to the civic training which was essential if students were to understand the ultimate reasons for all the efforts they were called upon to m a k e while up at the university.

Members of the committee also deplored the lack of middle-grade and senior technical staff from which several sectors of national activity were suffering, and expressed the wish that a technological university should be founded.

In dealing with the second item on their agenda, members of the committee became aware of the difficulties created by the diversity of foreign university traditions when it came to recruiting and training teachers. They unanimously recommended the introduction of a uniform

44

The cultural poiicy of Cameroon today

method of recruiting teachers, and particularly stressed the advisability of distinguishing between diplomas on the one hand and teaching experience and scientific publications on the other.

All members of the committee thought it necessary to explore the possibilities of stimulating the desire to create so that university professors, who benefited by good material conditions, should not sit back and do nothing, thus slowing up research activities at the university. Discussions of this problem accordingly wound up with the suggestion that teaching assistants should be given a status which would oblige them to work towards their integration, i.e. to take an interest in scientific research.

AU these discussions resulted in the following recommendations:

The Council for Higher Education and Scientific and Technical Research, meeting at Yaoundé from 18 to 20 December 1974, Considering that higher education and scientific research must play their part

fully as instruments of development and progress geared to the goals of the peaceful revolution;

Considering that in order to fulfil that role effectively, professors, research workers and students must not shut themselves up in an ivory tower, but become part of the web of our multiform national life as full-fledged citizens instead of remaining a group apart;

Aware of the present disconnexion between the organization and conception of studies at the University of Yaoundé (at least as far as the faculties are concerned) on the one hand, and the real requirements of development in all its aspects, on the other;

Considering that any training, in order to be practical and effective, must be based on knowledge of the environment in which graduates will be called upon to work;

Aware of the fact that continued reference to foreign structures in the training of key personnel is a heavy handicap in trying to understand the problems involved in the strategy of the nation’s economic, social and cultural development ;

Considering, on the one hand, the great shortage of middle-grade and senior technical personnel needed by the national economy and, on the other, the almost permanent contempt for manual and technical occupations which has existed since the colonial period;

Considering that the diversity of the university backgrounds of candidates for teaching and research and the tenacious influence of certain traditions inherited from the past are not conducive to facilitating the discovery of original and genuinely Cameroonian solutions in the matter of recruiting and classifying university professors and research workers ;

Considering that the conditions required of candidates for teaching posts in higher education would be inadequate if they did not call for experience and the publication of scientific works as well as a diploma;

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RESOLUTION I Recommends that faculty studies be reorganized as soon as possible along lines permitting maximum and judicious utilization of the disciplines, both socio- humanist as well as scientific and technical, with a view to adapting them to the real needs of the nation and making it possible for the knowledge acquired to be used immediately.

This reorganization must perforce be based on a precise description of the profile of the various key posts which must sooner or later be íUed in order to meet national development requirements.

RESOLUTION II Recommends that every possible means be employed, both at the higher education level and throughout the various production circuits, to ensure the participation of professors, research workers and students in the activities of national development.

RESOLUTION III Recommends the establishment at the University of Yaoundé, within the shortest time possible, of a selective course of studies leading to the doctorate and capable of developing the interest of students and other research workers in national problems and of providing more firmly rooted, and therefore more adequate, training for professors and research workers.

RESOLUTION IV Recommends that, with a view to giving students a more thorough knowledge of the facts of national life, and to promoting more active teaching methods, every training circuit at the higher education level should consist of alternate periods of theoretical instruction and practical training, and that, at all events, the reform of teaching methods, in order to give them a more practical bias, should be studied.

In this connexion, the council, anxious for students to be integrated harmoniously in the State’s areas of concern, recommends the introduction of citizenship training at the university.

RESOLUTION V Recommends that, as part of its general mission to teach and stimulate culture, the university should help to train key personnel for cultural promotion programmes in Cameroon and that, at the same time, it should be ready, in this field, to fit in with all the cultural activities of the nation.

RESOLUTION VI Requests the government to study the possibility of founding, within the near future, a technological university capable of providing the nation with the medium-grade and senior technical personnel required for the country’s economic progress.

RESOLUTION VI1 Recommends, as a parallel measure, the dropping of any method of recruiting or promoting university professors that is subject to foreign influence, and the

46


unification at the national level of methods of recruiting and promotion by the institution of national competitive examinations or lists of qualified candidates.

RESOLUTION YI11 Recommends that the conditions for recruiting the teaching staff of the university be so redefined that no diploma shall automatically entitle the holder to a given academic post.

RESOLUTION IX Recommends that the status of teaching staff be revised so as to consist of three grades: lecturer (chargé de cours) ; senior lecturer (maitre de conférence); professor (professeur) ; and that teaching assistants henceforth form a body of personnel under contract for fixed periods and required to prove themselves competent before being incorporated as lecturers.

REPORT OF COMMITTEE NO. 3

Committee No. 3 on Scientific and Technical Promotion was called upon to examine the role of technology in the nation. Under the chairmanship of Mr Youssoufa Daouda, Minister of Industrial and Commercial Devel- opment, its work was conducted with the active participation of Messrs Luma, Vice-Minister of Education; Onana Awana, Minister of Finance; S. Elangwe, Minister of Mines and Power; P. Tessa, Minister of Equip- ment, Housing and Estates; F. A. Gandji, Director-General of ONAREST; Menyonga, Director of the National Centre for Agronomic Research; J. Hentchoya Hemo, Deputy Director of Higher Education; S. M. Eno Belinga, Technical Adviser to the University of Yaoundé; Mathiew, Director of the National College of Agronomics; J. Tchund- jang, Director of the Industrial Administration Institute; Bonthoux, Director of the National Polytechnic College; Bol A b m a , Deputy Director of the National College of Agronomics; Tayou Simo, Deputy Director of the National Polytechnic College; J. P. Njoya, Attaché, Office of the President of the Republic; J. Mboui, professor.

The work assigned to this committee was to lay down the main guidelines for the promotion of science and technology.

After a brief summary of the report from the Minister of Planning and Territorial Development, followed by a rewarding discussion, the committee unanimously decided to deal with the various aspects of scientific and technical promotion through the following points: 1. Basic research. Take stock of the current situation as regards basic

research in Cameroon. W h a t action should be taken to improve the conditions and orientation of basic research?

2. Choice of technology. Which technology to choose and why? W h a t action should be taken to develop what is feasible locally? W h a t means should be employed to encourage a wise and effective choice of technologies suited to our needs?

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3. Problem of research personnel and their status. H o w to offer attractive career prospects to the research workers? W h a t place in the nation should be reserved for research workers? W h a t can be done to encourage the research worker? W h a t can be done for the continual renewal of the body of research personnel?

4. Selection of research programmes. Base the selection on our real conditions and priorities.

5. Means of implementing the programmes selected.

DRAFT RESOLUTION ON BASIC RESEARCH

RESOLUTION I The Council for Higher Education and Scientific and Technical Research, meeting at Yaoundé from 18 to 20 December 1974, Considering that basic research, viewed from the twofold angle of advancing

science and human knowledge and of afErming and promoting our national identity, is an essential task which our country must accomplish;

Noting that, to a large extent, research work has been of an academic and universal nature, and has not been followed by the applications which are nevertheless indispensable;

Noting that the choice of research themes or subjects has always been made by isolated research workers, generally without any common programmes and without any contacts among the research workers themselves or between them and the producers, who m a y use the findings of their research;

Noting that, hitherto, research workers have not had the benefit of any scientific documentation worthy of the name;

Noting finally that the result has been a certain scIerosis, after the academic work done by research workers who nevertheless showed definite promise;

Recommends That our country make optimum use of its scientific personnel in order to realize

That Cameroon participate on the same footing as other countries in the general

That the University make appropriate efforts in the domain of basic research; That the selection of research themes or subjects be the subject of permanent

That the formation of research teams be encouraged; That ONAREST undertake as soon as possible the compilation of a national

fully its objectives of economic, social and cultural development;

explosive growth of science and technology;

consultation between the University and ONAREST;

scientific card-index.

DRAFT RESOLUTION OF TECHNOLOGY

RESOLUTION II Considering that our country is still one a predominantly rural character; Considering that the basic aim of technology in Cameroon must therefore be to

promote rural development, particularly through the policy of the Green Revolution ;

48


Noting That the inventory of our resources and needs is still incomplete except, fortu-

nately, in regard to agriculture; That our technological development has hitherto taken the form of a mere

technological transfer, while traditional technology remained static; Recommends That work on the inventory of our national scientific potential, started a few

years ago, be energetically pursued and that the inventory be kept constantly up to date;

That our national resources be given priority in supplying the raw materials for scientific and technical research;

That prospective studies be undertaken to determine our needs. in preparation for the choices to be made in development strategy;

That the scientific results secured be used for technological innovations in the country’s economic system ;

That the improvement of traditional technology be given greater encouragement ; That our technological choices be compatible with our actual conditions and

That technological training at all levels of education be reinforced; That everything be done to make Cameroonians increasingly qualified to use

modern technology at the production stage; That our intellectual leaders, and particularly our civil servants, university

staff and research workers, resolutely commit themselves to serving the rural production sector.

potentialities ;

DRAFT RESOLUTION O N THE PROBLEM OF RESEARCH PERSONNEL A N D THEIR STATUS

RESOLUTIW III Considering that the shortage of competent scientific personnel is one of the

major handicaps for the effective application of science and technology to development ;

Considering that the lack of a research worker’s status has made this situation more serious ;

Considering that the exodus of high-level scientific personnel to foreign countries or to other Cameroon administrations nullifies the anticipated results of the government’s research training policy;

Considering that the task of the research worker is of a specific nature; Recommends The preparation, as soon as possible, of a research worker’s status, offering

improvements from the psychological, moral and material standpoints, and taking into account, not only diplomas, but also the following criteria for selection: experience, publications, technical skill, endurance and perse- verance at work;

The taking into account of the organizational and supervisory duties carried out by the research worker in research or instruction;

The working out of career prospects likely to attract the best key personnel; The establishment of permanent co-operation between ONAREST and the

49


University in the selection of research workers, exchanges of scientific personnel, and the execution of programmes.

DRAFT RESOLUTION O N TEE PRIORITY OF PROGRAMMES

RESOLUTION IV Considering that most of the work done by Cameroonians has consisted of

Considering that scientific research has been especially developed in agronomics ; Considering that scientific and technological research, owing to its present and

possible future impact on the country’s economic, social and cultural development, concerns all sectors of national life;

Considering that development of the nation’s scientific potential calls for the moral and physical efforts of all persons of goodwill;

Recommends That, while safeguarding the research worker’s freedom to choose his subject,

our procedure be such that the research theme will, as far as possible, fit into an individual or collective programme in accordance with the research priorities established by ONAREST;

That ONAREST promote programmed co-operative research, particularly in respect of applied research;

That our country’s scientific and technological production be developed and encouraged in every sphere ;

That the private sector participate more actively in the nation’s scientific development movement, particularly as regards: promoting scientific research within each firm; commissioning research from national laboratories ; contributing to the financing of scientific and technical research; applying the results of research conducted at the national level.

isolated research on subjects more or less freely chosen;

DRAFT RECOMMENDATION O N THE MEANS REQUIRED FOR SCIENTIFIC A N D TECHNICAL RESEARCH

RESOLUTION V Considering the necessity of providing the methodological, technical and financial

Recommends That, as regards methodological means, associations and clubs for the advance-

ment of science and technology be organized; That national prizes for meritorious work and a National Academy of Science be

founded ; That, as regards technical means and within the framework of duly approved

programmes, laboratories and all other items of equipment and data be placed at the disposal of O N A R E S T , the University, and those engaged in individual or collective research;

That, as regards financial means, adequate amounts, flexibly administered, be devoted to research for the accomplishment of its lofty mission;

That everything be done to arouse interest in science and technology among young people ;

means and the manpower for scientific and technical promotion;

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That the general training of these young people be supplemented by activities henceforth in permanent contact with the realities of everyday life;

That teachers and research workers (outside their professional duties) be included as often as possible in circles of professional activity, which will provide them with a source of technical and human enrichment and an additional means of participating in the development of the nation.

RESOLUTION O N CULTURAL POLICY A N D ACTIVITIES

The National Council €or Cultural Affairs, at its first session held from 18 to 22 December 1974,

(a) As regards cultural policy Considering that a cultural policy can be formulated only in terms of the real

political, economic and social conditions of each country ; Considering that culture in a country under construction must have a civic and

didactic content; Considering that, since independence, the awakening and resurrection of our

culture, traumatized and long dominated, are factors making for individual and national liberation and promotion;

Considering that the principle of pluriculturalism and bilingualism, inscribed in our Constitution, should constitute the foundation of our country’s cultural policy, based essentially on unity in diversity;

Aware of the necessity for a cultural renewal, keynoted by the peaceful Revolu- tion of 20 May 1972 and forming an integral part of our planned liberalism whose objectives are the liberation of the Cameroonian people and the recovery of their dignity and personality;

Considering that this cultural renewal, in order to become a true political instrument in the service of the nation, must be consonant with the ideals of the Cameroon National Union Party;

Considering that culture and economic and social development are interdependent and complementary and must be directed against anything that slows up the development of knowledge;

Considering that religions, whether based on sacred writings or on Nature have an undeniable influence on the everyday life and behaviour of the people at large ;

Considering that Cameroonian artists and men of culture have hitherto worked without conviction as regards their contribution to the economic development of the nation;

Considering that traditional and modern communication media play a paramount role in the dissemination of culture, and that our national languages are the hallmark of our identity;

Recommends 1. That the Cameroonian cultural and artistic movement be politically committed

to the ideals defined by the Cameroon NationaI Union Party, so as to serve as an instrument for forming and consolidating national consciousness and unity, and as a factor making for individual and national liberation and promotion.

2. That plurículturalism and bilinguism be respected as factors both enriching and determinant OC national unity.

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3. That cultural policy and economic and social policy be brought into line in the five-year plans, with a view to a radical mobilization of the people at large for more efficient economic development.

4. That leaders of religions, whether based on sacred writings or on Nature, help believers to free themselves of all fetichistic, superstitious or retrograde attitudes or ideas about natural forces, so that beliefs are not used as a pretext or an excuse for evading the responsibilities imposed by our country’s social and economic development.

5. That a systematic inventory be compiled of our cultural and artistic heritage both within Cameroon and abroad, and that adequate means be provided for this purpose.

6. That the term ‘national languages’ be adopted to designate our so-called vernacular languages as opposed to the two official languages, and that these national languages be studied at our educational institutions, as well as the written literature in those languages.

7. That an institutional framework for artists and writers be established. Requests the Government to 1. B e doubly vigilant in regard to all modes of life or aspects of culture resulting

2. Introduce traditional culture into school and university circles. 3. Organize cultural and artistic events as often as possible. 4. Train special key personnel for cultural promotion. Appeals urgently to everyone, particularly individuals, groups, associations and

(b) As regards cultural activities Considering the fresh impetus given to cultural activities by the government,

and the privileged position of culture and the arts in building the Cameroon nation;

Considering that m e n are both the agents and the beneficiaries of cultural activities, whatever their ecological, social or technological environment, at the national as well as the provincial level;

Considering that the national movement for cultural and artistic promotion and development cannot be conducted efficiently unless it is supported by an appropriate infrastructure and unless the works and rights of artists are protected by the State;

Taking into account the advantages accruing to Cameroon as a result of its favourable geographical position and the wealth and diversity of its traditions, which justify the growing interest taken by the Cameroonian public in the various forms of culture and art;

Considering that the country’s cultural and artistic development cannot be efficiently led and can have no justification unless artists are integrated in the production circuit and their works considered as part and parcel of our national development ;

Considering the leading role by culture in international understanding and friendly relations between m e n and States ;

Encourages the government to persevere in its efforts to renew and develop a genuine Can-eroonian culture so as to increase the latter’s contribution to national con4tructions and to the enrichment of the universal cultural heritage;

in alienation.

bodies of all sorts, to assist in promoting mass culture.

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Recommends 1. The foundation of a National Institute of Culture and Art for training artists

and the necessary cultural key personnel, at all levels and in all branches, and for research on artistic matters.

2. The stepping up and systematization of adult education, in order to raise the cultural level of the people at large, so that they m a y be able to contribute to the diffusion of our cultural and artistic values-such education to be inculcated both at school and through national and provincial cultural and artistic as well as the mass communication media, particularly the radio, press and cinema.

3. The decentralization of cultural activities, so that all the provinces of the Republic m a y participate in the country’s cultural renewal.

4. The development of inter-provincial cultural exchanges. Recommends the promotion and recognition of the value of the various forms of

art and culture (painting, sculpture, architecture, theatre, music, choreo- graphy, cinema, etc.), particularly by: establishing art galleries ; introducing a form of architecture which is in harmony with the environment and reflects the esthetic taste and the aspirations of the Cameroonian community; creating a national theatre company and a national orchestra ; launching and developing the National Dance Company which has already been formed ; evolving a Cameroonian cinematographic industry that will endeavour primarily to reflect our real national conditions and aspirations.

Recommends that the Government take all necessary steps to encourage artists, particularly by: establishing a national directory in which every cultural work will be entered; encouraging the creative spirit in art and literature; promoting artists and placing them in the general production circuit by according priority, other things being equal, to their works in the construction and decoration of public and private buildings; the protection of artists’ rights by the State; creating special prizes ; awarding honorary distinctions.

Recommends the increasing of contacts between Cameroonian and foreign artists, as well as cultural exchanges, not only with other continents but also, and especially, with African States.

General policy report of the President of the Republic to the second ordinary congress of the Cameroon National Union (UNC)

A t the second congress of the Cameroon National Union, the President of the Republic outlined the over-all policy of Cameroon.

In regard to education and culture, the President made the following statement:

The work of reinforcing our transmitters and equipping the other provinces with broadcasting stations is under way. Studies are also being conducted to determine the conditions under which images, by television, am, magnetic-tape recordings and artificial satellites, can be disseminated at minimum cost and respecting national independence, taking account in particular of technical advances in telecommunications.

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In the process of our country’s development, w e have always considered that the educational system is one of the principal instruments for preparing the individual to participate in active life. Hence, efforts have always been made to adapt that system to our real national conditions and to make it more effective.

From 1969 to 1974, education in our country made great strides. Total investments, in this sector, amounted to nearly 7,000 million francs during that period. This has enabled us, at the primary educational level, to attain a rate of school attendance of over 70 per cent, one of the highest in Africa. At present, more than a million children are attending our primary schools. A special effort to encourage school attendance has been made in the less-favoured regions.

Furthermore, to improve the quality of instruction, a twofold effort has been made to train new teachers and retrain the older ones, and to adapt curricula to our development needs, thanks to the use of appropriate equipment and programmes. And so our policy is to foster technical education and adjust it to the conditions of our development, thus providing the latter with more skilful and better trained manpower.

The number of pupils rose from 17,400 in 1970/71 to 23,737 in 1973/74, or an increase of 36 per cent in two years. In 1972/73, over 1,000 teachers were instructing in approximately one hundred schools, as compared with 770 in 1970/71.

The policy of developing technical education, included in the third Five- Year Plan, will be strictly and realistically pursued; in the coming years, technical secondary schools will be established at Bafussam, Buea, G a m a and Bertua, and those at Yaoundé and Duala will be greatly expanded. In addition, the training of technical instructors will be actively pursued at the Teacher Training College annex in Duala and the Polytechnic College in Yaoundé.

An important task has been entrusted to higher education in our country: that of training highly qualified professors, research workers and key personnel.

Thus, in the past four years, the number of students engaged in higher studies has risen from 2,480 in 1969/70 to 4,632 in 1972/73 and to 5,533 in 1973/74, which represents more than a twofold increase. The Cameroonization of the University teaching staff has been satisfactorily accomplished (257 professors, of w h o m 170 are Cameroonians).

Since 1969, in addition to the traditional faculties, the following higher education establishments have been opened: the University Centre of Health Sciences (CUSS), the International College of Journalism (ESIJY), the Institute of Demographic Training (IFORD), the Polytechnic School, the Industrial Administration Institute and the Statistical Training Institute. Before the end of the Third Plan, the proposed College of Industrial and Business Management will come into being at Duala.

The University is also the centre where the new culture of Cameroon is being evolved. I have already spoken of the importance of culture in cementing national unity and in transforming mentalities; in short, in affirming thc national personality, one of whose characteristics is pluricdturalism and bilingualism.

As regards youth, the privileged position which w e recognize as its right explains the great attention w e devote to it and the efforts being made in all sectors to secure for young people the full development of their personality, a training which is adapted to the needs of our economy, and a better future.

Thus in 1970/71, two civic and vocational training centres were constructed, two young pioneers’ villages completed, eleven rural centres built by young

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people themselves, and seventeen cultural and community promotion zones established. At present, there are over a hundred youthcentres existing throughout the country, and the various youth movements comprise nearly 200,000 members.

Aware of the need for its participation in national construction, our youth, since its seventh festival, has instituted a ‘youth week’, during which young people of all ages take part in various development projects. Many holiday camps have given hundreds of young people an opportunity to take part in practice in national construction. In this way, watering points, health centres, classrooms, culverts, secondary roads, etc., have been produced at a low cost.

In view of this will to participate on the part of our youth, the government, after due study, devised an institutional framework for speeding up the training of young people and facilitating their inclusion in active life; I refer to the National Civic Service for Participation in Development which, as I have already said, has entered its experimental phase, and in which w e have placed great hopes.

To make medical services available to all Cameroonians, the government is sparing no effort, either setting up and equipping hospital units or training the necessary key personnel. In 1959, just before independence, the country had barely twelve hospitals, twenty-seven dispensaries and forty-one medical centres. Since then, over 6,000 million francs in investments have been devoted to public health, which is one of the government’s major concerns, and that figure does not take into account the efforts devoted throughout the country to health education, or the work done by religious missions, or even the efforts of certain private individuals.

But, over and above these problems of equipment, we must have enough control over the structure of our population to enable us to direct our development along the right lines. It is consequently becoming increasingly necessary to conduct a general population census. Therefore, before the end of 1975, our country, for the first time in its history, is going to undertake an exhaustive census of the Cameroonian population. It will involve drawing up a complete inventory of our manpower resources ; determining the number of inhabitants per territorial subdivision; setting out the structure of our population by sex, age, profession and educational level ; and understanding migratory movements.

To guarantee the total success of this nation-wide operation, every Cameroon- ian and every foreign resident must adopt an honest approach. The information to be furnished to the census takers must be strictly accurate. I appeal to everyone’s civic spirit and sense of responsibility. It is a national duty to answer without distorting the truth. The consequences of false information would be incalculable, and nothing could justify such an attitude on the part of a people whose maturity and civic spirit are unanimously recognized.

Apart from the population census, I wish to emphasize the importance of the studies and surveys that w e are conducting with a view to mastering the instruments of our development. For we are at a decisive turning-point in our history; it is imperative that our initiatives be based less on probability than on mastery of the instruments of action. It is therefore essential to possess fundamental data on structures. To this end, w e conducted last year our first agricultural census, covering all the primary production units throughout the country. Henceforth, it will be possible to ascertain our resources in various agricultural products, as well as the structure of our rural economy, whose impact on our development is apparent to all.

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With the same end in view, we shall proceed, immediately after the population census, with an exhaustive inventory of our production and distribution system. The industrial production sector will then be meticulously studied in order to discover its actual and potential capacity for contributing to national production. This will also afford an opportunity to test the effectiveness of the instrument w e have forged for compiling fundamental statistics on the physical and financial structure of our industrial and commercial firms-the general industrial account- ance plan.

These fundamental statistics on the population, agriculture, industry, handicrafts and trade, regularly updated, will enable us, I feel sure, to have a better knowledge of our economic and social development and, first and foremost, to work out our various five-year development plans on realistic bases.

For in matters of development, the government has chosen planning as the means of promoting our economic, social and cultural progress. B y this choice, it intends to provide itself with an appropriate instrument enabling the State to foresee, organize, co-ordinate and control all the activities contributing to the country’s development.

If we succeed in organizing ourselves in this manner and in taking over our own development, that is, in directing all the kinetic energy of the nation towards development, w e shall undoubtedly suceed, too, in attaining the immediate goal of our national revolution, namely the take-off o$ the nation’s economy.

In m y address to young people on 10 February 1974, I said that our country, through its national revolution, is engaged in a threefold revolution: a political one, through which it is building an independent State, strong and efficient; an economic one, through the Green Revolution, whose purpose is to promote the progress of every individual in a balanced and just manner; and a cultural renewal whose aim is to restore to the Cameroonian people the sense of their dignity and creative initiative, i.e. to make them fully the subject of their own history.

In the final analysis, the point is, in the present context, to pursue that necessary threefold revolution by applying the principles underlying it more and more rationally, with a view to raising Cameroon to the rank of an authentic nation. Internally centred development meets this requirement. It calls for a constant output of energy and increasingly efficient organization of our activity.

What we must do is to become more and more completely masters of our destiny by systematic and conscious action aimed at changing Cameroonian society and to improve it day by day, and not to upset everything overnight, as w e are bid to do by certain Cameroonians or foreigners who cannot see, or do not wish to see, our realities, and who call our realism conservatism.

T o be realistic is not to be conservative. We believe that it is not possible to do everything immediately; that true progress does not necessarily imply a denial of the past and the disruption of traditions which, on the contrary, guarantee the strength of a nation; that action, to be effective, must take account of realities, i.e. what is possible and what is not, within a given historical context. What counts for us is not slogans, the easier to swallow in that they are devoid of meaning, but results measured in terms of economic progress and social justice.

Our policy is constantly to compare our goals with our daily actions, so that the latter can be improved continually. Reformism, w e shall hear! Yes, but revolutionary reformism, in that, any revolution being the desire to change the

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existing order of things, we intend to change it through successive reforms, in order to remain faithful to the profound ethic of our society, which is the ethic of solidarity and balance.

It is in this spirit of continuity, which is at once revolution and the respect of values which have stood the test of time, that I bid you to address yourselves to the great tasks awaiting us in the coming years.

I feel sure that the Cameroonian people, led by our great National Party, will be able to summon up enough energy, determination and faith to accomplish those tasks with the same success that has crowned our efforts since the Garua Congress.

If such be the case, the future is full of promise and our generations-particularly those who are the Founding Fathers of the Republic-will have the signal honour of being recorded in history as having been responsible for laying the unshakable foundations of an authentic Cameroonian nation, a nation with a great destiny before it in Africa; in short, a nation worthy of our affection, devotion and sacrifices, deserving the fidelity of future generations who will find in our patriotism a source of communion and reasons for believing always in the noble calling of our beloved country.

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Cameroonian artists and writers

Literature

C A M E R O O N I A N L I T E R A T U R E IN T H E N A T I O N A L L A N G U A G E S

M a n y foreign authors, and even m a n y authors of Cameroonian nationality, claim that before the 1950s there was no Cameroonian literature. For the belief is held that the great writers of Cameroon became k n o w n in 1950, and two names are often mentioned, those of the novelists Ferdinand Oyona, author of Une vie de boy, and Alexandre Beyidi, known as Mongo Beti, w h o wrote Ezu boto (Cruel City).

‘This late appearance of Cameroon in African literature’, writes Jacques Rial, ‘may be due to the fact that the country, from 1885 to the First World War, was a German protectorate and was introduced to French culture long after Senegal and the other countries of the Gulf of Guinea’.l

But was Cameroonian literature not represented by authors writing in languages other than French? W e venture to think that J. Rial has not examined the whole matter seriously, for there were authors writing in Duala long before those w h o wrote in French. For example, Yoshua Dibundu wrote in 1896, in Duala, a poetical work entitled Besesedi bu Yehowa (The Praises of Jehovah) ; Martin Itondo published in Duala, in 1933, Nketi nu Mongo (Arrows and Spears) and, in 1954, Myenge na Yesuya (Psalms and Esafe); and Munz Dibundu, Martin Itondo and Paul Helmlinger published a work in Duala entitled Nimele bolo (Push the Pirogue).

As early as 1848, a history book was published in Duala: Kulat’s

1. J. Rial, Littérature Camerounaise de Langue Française, p. 12, Lausanne, Payot, 1972.

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Mateo (The Gospel according to St Matthew); then, in 1862, the whole of the N e w Testament in Duala, or twenty-seven different books; and, in 1872, Betiledi Kalati ya Loba M b u a koan (The Old Testament), or thirty-nine books. In short, Cameroon had a literature in Duala as early as 1848, and later in Bassaa, Bulu, Bali and Ewondo, languages into which the whole or part of the Bible (sixty-six books in all) was translated and read by nationals of the country.

In the field of history, the work by P. Scheibiler entitled Myango m a Islam na ma Reformation o Mbenge (History of Islam and of the Reformation in Europe (1926)) and that by Itondo, Nketi na Mongo (Arrows and Spears) (1933) are known.

As early as 1903, the periodical Elolombe ya Kamerun (Sun of Came- roon) was issued and, in 1928, the monthly, Dikalo (The Message), began to come out regularly in Duala. In 1930, M u m e Etia published Ikoli a buh iwo na bulu bo (The Arabian Nights). In 1938, M. Itondo published Kyango m a Mandesi Bell, a biography.

These few examples show that the literature of Cameroon was first written in Duala. There were texts in Duala and German for learning the language, and about customs, morals and aspects of cultural life. In 1892, T. Christaller published in Basle a Handbuch der Duala-Sprache (Duala Textbook). In 1904, H. Seidel published in Heidelberg Duala- Sprache in Kamerun. Systematisches Worterverzeichnis und Einführung in die Grammatik (The Duala Language in Cameroon. Systematic Voca- bulary and Introduction to the Grammar).

In 1860, A. Saker had published a work entitled Elements of Gram- mar and Vocabulary, Cameroon River.

In 1934, M. Itondo and P. Helmlinger published in Duala the work entitled Minia na bedèmo basu (Our Proverbs and Customs-a Reader). A newspaper containing political articles and published in Duala began appearing in Paris in 1932. A weekly entitled Jumwèlè la Bana ba Kame- run began publication in the city of Duala in 1934; an illustrated alma- nach, entitled Elangè M b u (Annals), was published in Buea in 1936. Cameroonian literature was therefore first written in Duala, then in Duala /German, Duala /English, and later in Bulu, Bali, Bassaa, Bamun, Fulfulde and Tunen.

In Fulfulde, w e have several texts, such as those relating the history of the peoples of the A d a m a w a plateau: Habarou lamorde Tchamba (History of the Lamidat of Tchamba) ; Habarou lamorde Tibati (History of the Lamidat of Tibati); N o Yola en windiri habarou Tibati (History of Tibati seen by Yola).l

In Tunen, w e have two initial books, one of which was due to the

1. M. Eldridge, ‘L’histoire des Lamidats Foulbé de Tchamba et Tibati’, Abbia (Yaoundé), NO. 6, 1965, p. 15-158.

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work of the Reverend Wilhelm Koelle Sigidmung, published in 1852 in Freetown (Sierra Leone). It is a Tunen vocabulary communicated by a group of seven Banen residing in the small town of Regent (Sierra Leone). T h e other work is by Hoesemann, an army doctor, w h o took part in the January 1901 expedition to the Banen country. T h e author compiled a Tunen vocabulary dealing with techniques and the neces- sities of everyday life.

Mrs I. Dugast published a Lexique de la Langue Tunen (Paris, 1967) and a Grammaire de Tunen (Paris, 1971).

C A M E R O O N I A N L I T E R A T U R E IN F O R E I G N L A N G U A G E S

Before mentioning a few authors of Cameroonian nationality w h o write in foreign languages such as French and English, w e should perhaps consider whether literature in foreign languages can properly be regarded as Cameroonian or African literature.

At an important meeting held in Kampala (Uganda) in June 1962, the question of determining what constitutes African literature was rai- sed. ‘The majority opinion among the members of the conference’, says Professor B. Fonlon, ‘was that a writer has an absolute right to approach his work without having to submit to any sort of conditions, concerning either ideas or form. T h e only requirement m a d e of him is that bis work be honest and frank.’ However, once this principle of freedom has been established, w e are still justified in asking what it is that makes a work African (or Cameroonian). Is it the personality of the author, or the theme dealt with, since language, as the original criterion, has already been mentioned?

Christopher Okigbo, the Nigerian poet, has stated that in his opinion, in order to be African, a work must be deeply rooted in African soil, be born of a truly African experience, and follow the rhythm of African emotivity. Professor Fonlon continues:

Then, in order to convince m y audience even more, I recalled an experience of mine one evening in Paris. I was attending an artistic evening organized by Unesco, when there appeared on the stage a group of dancers and musicians with calypso tomtoms and dressed in West Indian costumes. Among the musicians was a guitarist whose playing struck me right away. It was not that the tune he was playing was in the least familiar to me, but as I went on listening to him, I became increasingly sure of one thing: the musician was a Cameroonian. Once the performance was over, I learned that m y guitarist was indeed no West Indian, being a native of Duala.

All this is to point out that Negro writers have adopted the English or French language as our musician had the guitar, and that if they have truly sprung from

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the soil of Africa, their mode of expression can but reflect the African spirit, no matter what the theme chosen. 1

Thus the fact must be recognized that the authors of Cameroon w h o have written in French or English are indeed Cameroonian writers. For, in the very words of Fonlon: ‘These young m e n and w o m e n w h o are endeavouring to endow Africa with a n e w literature, fashioned out of its o w n substance, modelled in accordance with its o w n image, deserve our praise, They are destined to contribute in a remarkable w a y to restoring the intrinsic personality of the Negro.’2

Cameroonian authors writing in French

Cameroonian literature of the beginning of the 1950s first consisted of scientific studies and research done by students and trainees of our country in France w h o wrote in their bulletin entitled L’xtudiant du Kamerun, the information and cultural organ of the Cameroon National Union of Students. It covered all the country’s problems and published m a n y essays in prose, and poems.

Besides L’xtudiant du Kamerun, the newspaper Kas0 was published in Paris, and students and intellectuals studying in France contributed articles to it. These two press publications spoke the language of truth and of the heart, of reason and of science, while the authors of articles dealt with matters of politics and economics, of literature and the philosophy of action. T h e Cameroonians residing in France are accustomed to forming a group so as to assert themselves as a national community. They form reading clubs, associations of sportsmen, actors, essayists, poets and prose writers. The articles published in L’lhdiant du Kame- run and in Kas0 were m u c h read, both in France and Cameroon, from 1947 onwards. They were of various types. For example, political articles appeared both in the bulletin L’Étudiant du Kamerun and in Kaso, of which the editors were Michel Doo Kingué, François Sengat-Kuo and Timothée Penda Mpanjo. Articles on law and history were written by Benjamin Matip ; short stories or serials were supplied by fiction-writers such as Ferdinand Oyono and Alexandre Beyidi.

Michel Doo Kingué is a great artist, a very good guitarist, and director of the first national company of Cameroon, which met with great success in France. H e has succeeded with remarkable skill in drawing on the wealth of our folklore.

Sengat-Kuo, former chief executive of the National Union of Came- roon Students in France, was one of the pillars of the journal Présence

1. B. Fonlon, ‘African Writers Meet in Uganda’, Abbia (Yaoundé), No. 1, 1963, p. 39-70. 2. B. Fonlon, ‘Les Écrivains Noirs à Kampala’, Abbia (Yaoundé), No. 6, 1965, p. 70.

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Africaine, of which he was a member of the editorial staff. M a n y of the leading articles in that journal, as well as in L’gtudiant du Kamerun and in Kaso, were written by him. Under the pseudonym of Francesco Ndint- souna, he published Les Fleurs de Late’rite.

Benjamin Matip published Afrique, Nous T’Ignorons, his &st story, and then L’Afrique aux Africains or Le Manifeste Négro-africain, a thought-provoking study of the current problems of the African-Negro world. In 1958, he took part in the first congress of Negro writers and artists at the Sorbonne and in the Tashkent Conference, where he secured the adoption of the famous Appel aux ecrivains du Monde Entier launched by Afro-Asian intellectuals. H e published a booklet on the history of Africa entitled Heurs and Malheurs des Rapports Europe-Afrique Noire in L’histoire Moderne du 15” au 18’ Siècle. The originality of the study lies in the fact that it is the first African version of that history, on which, u p till then, Europe alone had expressed its views; it is a book of great interest to politicians and to all those wishing to k n o w the history of Africa. In Afrique, Nous T’Ignorons, Matip stigmatizes the exploitation of the peasants by European traders, whereas in his short stories, published in A L o Belle &toile, he confines himself to the Africa of myths and legends. His Afrique M a Patrie was published by the editions du Peuple Africain in Yaoundé during the years 1960-62 and, finally, he wrote a play, Le Jugement Suprême, a criticism of contemporary life in Cameroon, with particular reference to the mastery by Cameroonians of the contributions of foreign cultures, the attitudes born of contacts between civilizations, the lack of understanding and the difficulties encountered by an intellectual wishing to intervene in the daily struggle against sickness, ignorance, beliefs and the lack of education. More than any other writer of his generation, Matip managed to set forth in his play the problem of the cultural personality of Africa in general and of Cameroon in particular. Whole passages of his work are written in his mother tongue, Basaa, whenever he is trying to bring out an essential aspect of the spirit of his people.

Cameroonians contribute to several periodicals:

L’ztudiant Noir, information bulletin of the Federation of African Negro Students in France, an association consisting of all Negro students following courses in France. A strong intellectual movement, whose chief demand is the independance of Africa in every sphere-political, economic and cultural-has been started by the &tudiant Noir group.

L’gtudìant Africain Protestant, a journal providing economic, political and religious information and instruction and issued by the Christian Association of Protestant African Students (ACEAP). W h e n the journal was founded, Marie-Clair N g o Matip, w h o had just been awarded aliterary prize for her booklet, Ngonda, m u c h appreciated by young people, ww

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appointed to edit it. She is a former president of the National Union of Cameroon Students (UNEK). The journal m a d e it possible for a great many Protestant intellectuals to write articles on a variety of subjects. In addition to theses for the degree in theology, or for doctorates in science, arts and philosophy, ACEAP published essays on philosophy and theological ethics.

O n e of the works on Nyambeist ideas, Clairières Métaphysiques Africaines, by J. C. Bahoken (Paris, editions Présence Africaine, 1961) laid the foundations of a n e w philosophical approach to Africa’s problems and created the movement of Nyambeist thinking. In 1968, J. C. Bahoken wrote a philosophical work entitled L a Notion de l’Ordre dans le Système de Pende Africain. T h e aim behind the notion of order is to found a theory of knowledge in the philosophical sense, but also a theory of knowledge of real facts explainable by actual experience. Bahoken has thus indirectly paved the w a y for African epistemology. H e has been President of A C E A P , Editor of the journal Parole (which replaced L’lhdiant Protestant Africain) and Editor of the journal Afrique- Univers, of the International Centre for African Research. E. Njoh-MoueUe was a member of the editorial staff of the former

L’lftudiant Protestant Africain and contributed several articles to it ; he wrote a philosophy thesis entitled L’Idée de Profondeur chez Bergson and has written a booklet on African philosophy entitled Jalons.

Le Tam-Tam, the information and cultural bulletin of the Association of Catholic African Students in France, edited by a go-ahead, discerning team. L e T a m - T a m has published m a n y articles on education, economics, philosophy and religious creeds.

Several writers emerged from the T a m - T a m group, including T. Melone, w h o has published, inter alia, De la Négritude dans la Littérature Négro-Africaine (aditions Présence Africaine, 1962), and Mongo Beti un Homme un Destin (Paris, 1972). H e is also the author of many articles published in Présence Africaine and in Abbia. H e is a full professor, and was head of the Department of Comparative African Literature at the Faculty of Arts and Humanistic Studies of the University of Yaoundé. In collaboration with a team of Cameroonian teachers and writers, Melone has just published a work entitled Melange, with a preface by Roger Caillois, a member of the French Academy.

G. Ngango has published a number of articles on economics in Présence Africaine and participated in editing the collective work entitled Personnalité Africaine et Catholicisme (Paris, Gditions Présence Africaine, 1968). A doctor of economics, Ngango also has an agrégation in economics and is D e a n of the Faculty of L a w and Economics of the University of Yaoundé.

F. Oyone, a novelist, is the author of Une Vie de Boy (1956) and of Le Vieux Nègre et la Médaille (1956), two works which immediately

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Cameroonian artista and writers

launched him and earned him a world-wide reputation. H e has also written Chemin d’Europe.

Alexandre Beyidi, k n o w n as Mongo Beti, has published several novels of outstanding quality: Ville Cruelle (Présence Africaine, 1956), Mission Terminée, Pauvre Christ de Bomba and Le Roi Miraculé.

Abbia (bilingual), a national periodical which leads a literary crusade in Cameroon. T h e Editor-in-Chief of Abbia is Dr Bernard Fonlon, and its editorial staff consists of Messrs Bryant Ako, J. C. Bahoken, B. Bilongo, P. Biya, M. Diwouta-Loth, R. Diziain, M. Doo-Kingué, G. Ebanga, E. Epanya Yondo, and P. Fokam. Contributors to this journal include, among others, S. Mairie, Moutongo Black, J. C. Ngally, J. N g o Mai, I. Njikam, L. Z. Nkwetta, T. Nyemp, A. Tefak, M. Towa, N. Atangana, J. A. Kisob, B. Matip, Mbassi-Manga, F. Loung and Eldridge Mohamadou. In the first issue, Dr Fonlon reviewed the Negro authors of Kampala w h o write in English. In the second issue, N. Atangana presented a study on African cultures and development, explaining that ‘to speak of culture to the people presupposes the existence of culture in a practical and living form’. In the same issue, C. Ngande wrote about Cameroonian poetry, and B. Matip presented his play entitled Le Jugement Suprême. Abbia is a serious publication, which deals with cultural policy courageously and forcefully and has influenced the writers of the first decade of Cameroon’s independence.

Cameroun Littéraire, the mouthpiece of the National Association of Cameroonian Poets and Writers (APEC), edited by Philombe R. Epagna Yondo. It published a novel depicting the colonial situation in Cameroon entitled Kamerun! Kamerun! (Éditions Présence Africaine, Paris, 1960). Its poetry is militant and nationalistic. J. P. Nyunai wrote for it Salut à la Nation Camerounaise, L a Nuit de M a Vie, Chansons pour Ngo-Lima, Pigments Sang. Other contributors to this periodical are C. Ngande, J. L. Dongmo, A. Okala, E. Alima and P. Kayo, whose works are well k n o w n to the national public.

Independently of any journal, mention should also be made of a dis- tinguished writer, F. Bebey, composer, guitarist and writer, author of Le Fils d’dgatha Moudio (Éditions Clé, 1967), Embarras et Compagnie (Édi- tions Clé, 1968), L a Poupée Ashanti (1972) and Trois Petits Cireurs (1972).

G. Oyono Mbia became famous with his play, Trois Prétendants . . . un mari (Éditions Clé, 1964). Another play by the same author is Jusqu’à Nouvel Avis. R. G. Medou M v o m o wrote Afrika ba’a, an autobiographical story. P. Ombede (known as Philombe) is the author of Lettres de m u Cambuse, Le Bouc Sanguinaire de Papa Mboya, Sola m a Chérie, Un Sorcier Blanc à Zangali.

Ikelle-Matiba w o n fame with his work, Cette Afrique-lh (Éditions Présence Africaine, 1963).

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M. Sop Nkamgang is the author of Les Contes et Légendes de Bamiléké (3 volumes, 1970), Trois Symboles et Chants d’Unité (Imprimerie St Paul), and L a Femme Prodigue, a play (Éditions Clé, 1968).

Cameroonian authors writing in English

It will be recalled that English was taught in all the schools of the former State of Western Cameroon, at the same time as Duala and Bali. The entire population of that region speaks English, or rather pidgin, the popular English of Cameroon.

Cultural journals help to acquaint us with a few names of authors writing in English: the journal Ozila, a bilingual publication, is the tribune of the young intellectuals of the University of Yaoundé and the journal Abbia, already mentioned, is also bilingual and has a wide circle of readers.

In the first issue of Abbia, J. A. Kisob wrote an article on pidgin English and mentioned works entitled Kurzes Handbuch für Neger- Englisch an der West Küste Afrikas unter besonderer Berücksichtigung von Kamerun, by G. V. Hagen (Berlin, Dungeldey & Werres, 1913), Anonymous, a small grammar of pidgin, followed by a French-pidgin dictionary (Mission Catholique, 1945), and Catéchisme en Français- Pidgin (1939). In its second issue, Abbia published Cameroon Poetry, by C. Ngande, I A m Vindicated, by S. Maimo, and in its fifth issue, Cameroon: a Marriage of Three Cultures, by F. Mbassi Manga.

T H E E V O L U T I O N OF C A M E R O O N I A N L I T E R A T U R E

A perusal of texts and books by Cameroonian authors reveals several essential facts.

First of all, there is a constant relationship in culture between literary expression and political action. Through oral or written literature, use is m a d e of a certain language that knows h o w to handle words, to m a k e them magic and persuasive. In their writings, the authors participate in exchanges of ideas and in great debates. A book carries greater or lesser weight, according to the author’s mastery of the subject and the energy with which he defends the essential aspects of the truth. It is militant literature.

Second, it is apparent that the emergence of a young literature in Cameroon was due solely to the trials imposed by the political circum- stances of the time. In the nineteenth century, European colonial policy imposed a culture whose literature served its interests and aimed at the cultural assimilation and alienation of the African personality. T h e Cameroonian authors writing before the 1960s waged a ruthless battle against cultural and political colonialism and for the affirmation of

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their identity, both cultural and political. Their works were combative in every field-ethical and religious, cultural and economic, linguistic and historical or poetical.

Mention has already been m a d e of the weekly published in Duala in 1934 under the title Jumele la bana bu Kamerun (The Awakening of the Children of Cameroon), and of Kaso, the bulletin of the Cameroonian students in France, edited by Sengat-Kuo, a great poet and an experi- enced politician. H e wrote Fleurs de Latérite (1959), depicting the colonial period, and of Heures Rouges, whose title alone is as good as a whole programme of cultural policy. His cousin, Elolongue Epanya-Yondo published, on the eve of independence, Kamerun! Kamerun!, a real battle plan for cultural liberation, written in the form of poems in which his ardent nationalism and anxiety to affirm the national cultural personality break through here and there.

Then come scientific works and studies which are the backbone of Cameroonian literature of world-wide significance. Thomas Melone, in 1962, published his booklet, De la Négritude dans la Littérature Négro- Africaine, and devoted a large part of his research to the novel prior to 1960; he wrote two State doctorate theses on two novelists, Mongo Beti and C. Achebe. T h o m a s Melone was the h s t defender of national cultural policy both within and without Cameroon. H e writes in French and in English with equal mastery, which gives his work an international dimension, and his eloquence has earned him a world-wide reputation.

E. Njoh-MoueUe, of w h o m w e have spoken above, advocates a life of action. In his work, De la Médiocrité h l’Excellence (1971), he tackles the problem of development. H e has also written Jalons (1971), a work in which he seeks to define the African mentality, two essays entitled La Réussite et Z’echec and Réjexion sur la Sagesse, and articles, particularly La Tentation de la Facilité (Abbia, No. 25), Littérature et Dévelop- pement and L’ Université et la Personnalité Africaine.

Let us again mention the n a m e of J. C. Bahoken and his philosophy thesis on La Notion de l’Ordre dans le Système de Pensée Africain.

At the d a w n of independence, our national authors, freed from foreign occupation, devoted themselves to the quest for national identity and to educating the public in matters of culture through clubs and associations which they founded. Thus came into being the Association of Cameroonian Poets and Writers, whose leader is Philippe-Louis O m b e d e (known as Philombe), and the Cameroon Federation of Youth Associations of Arts and Letters, headed by Charles-Henry Bebbe, former Secretary-General of the National Commission for Unesco. This organization comprises cultural groups and movements working among the people in urban and rural districts alike and thus forming a nucleus of leaders for the execution of a democratic cultural policy in the African sense of the term.

Before 1960, the failure of the cultural assimilation policy applied by the colonial administration had resulted in a spate of novels, denounc-

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ing the misdeeds of colonization, which frustrated the ‘colonized‘, exploited them and alienated them spiritually, economically and morally. With the advent of independence, zero year, the form of the struggle changed, though the policy of cultural assimilation by the West did not let up. For this is an age of cultural conventions and agreements which, in a subtle way, place even stronger fetters upon the soul of Africa. All institutions-constitutions, organizations and forms of cultural manifestation-are copied from the West. Cultural policy requires willy-nilly the technical advice of the West. And so French and English are used as official languages and therefore as the languages of culture and of the definition of cultural policy. Cultural neo-colonialism, armed with n e w weapons, has replaced the colonial administration. Writers continue to denounce and fight against this policy of cultural assimilation.

Music

Whereas in America or Europe jazz and pop music are the fashion, following on from the Negro spirituals which are cultural productions of the African emigrants, there was a return in Africa, and particularly in Cameroon, to genuine musical sources. T h e resolve of the Cameroon Government and of the entire population is clear: to give strong impd- sion to national musical works.

First, with the independence of the Christian churches of Cameroon, music took on a n e w lease of life. Before 1960, the Protestant parishes of the missions sang h y m n s in their mother tongues to European music, save in the case of the Cameroon Church of the Reverend Lotin Same, a great composer, a poet and a m a n of extraordinary religious eloquence. The Mwemba ma Bana b’Ekombo a Kamerun (the Native Baptist Church) was, indeed, the first institution to rehabilitate the religious and cultural personality of Cameroon. Its hymnological policy n o w prevails both among the choirs singing in Duala, Bamileke, Bulu and Basaa and at the masses conducted by Father N g o u m o u or by Father Endène Mbedi.

Second, there has been a flourishing of folk music, which enables social groups to sing in their mother tongues. The radio, records and magnetic tapes contribute effectively to the realization of this aspect of cultural policy. T h e list of composers and singers would be too long to include here, but the following, w h o are both singers and composers, deserve special mention: Francis Bebey, M a n u Dibango, Lotin Eboa, Bikoko, Tala, Marie Nzie.

With national independence came an outburst of Cameroonian popular songs, seeking to a 5 r m the nation’s identity and working for a national cultural unity which preserves the diversity of the sources. Our national anthem today is the former Cameroonian rallying song of the young choir of the Fulassi Teacher-Training School, the words

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being in Duala and Bulu, but there is another patriotic song composed by Nduma’a Bebe (who died in 1950) in memory of the martyrdom of Duala Manga. H e called it Tet Ekombo (Father of the Country). The following are its first verses:

Duala

Tet’ Ekombo YB! Sango Ekombo Di meya W a O! Jalèbè W a Binyo makom lo bi mongèlè m a m M a n na bana ba Kamerun nyèsè Embè tè, nde le si bobisè.. . Akwanè pè Loba Jongwanè Tonja nu timbisà momènè K a Yuda; su lao ja bè pè ka la Yuda

Timbisèlè Tet’ Ekombo Yb! Sango Ekombo! Di meya W a O! Jalèbè W a

Tet’ Ekombo YB! Sango Ekombo Di meya Wa! O! Jalèbè W a Bodu Bwaba n’esodisodi! A Ngoso ya, to dièlè mba! Di langueye Bambambè myango N é nika nde e timbine bè! Di somonè Mbongo o mika na Yahwe!

Dongo abino di bulabhlè

Bawenya na bawedi ba ni tusabè Masango mabu m a dumbabè Ne tè Kwala, o bawèlè ... N à ate ye nde na mène.. . Natena kwa n mbon a baba e dubabè

Timbisèlè Tet’ Ekombo YB! Sango Ekombo! Di meya W a ! O Jalèbè Wa! O sibanè Ekombo ango na boti

English

Father of our country Oh! Lord of our country For Thee our tears Our mourning! our lamentations! You, friends, know m y thoughts O n all Cameroonians Stand fast, do not weaken.. . Implore God’s help Whoever acts as Judas, his end shall be that of Judas

Refrain Father of our country Oh! Lord of our country For Thee our tears Our mourning! our lamentations!

Father of our country Oh! Lord of our country For Thee our tears Our mourning! our lamentations! Long journey alone! O brave Ngoso, be thy own company! Let us bear the tidings to our ancestors Of how it came to pass! Let us cite Mbongo before the

judgement seat of the Most High There is transgression in the division

of property The living and the dead are persecuted Their goods are seized with violence As I testified, thou art m y witness, Oh Lord, it all truly happened From time immemorial, the evidence

of two persons has been trustworthy

Refrain Father of our country Oh! Lord of our country For Thee our tears Our mourning! our lamentations! Thou who gladly died for Thy country

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Wamènè o tèno pè na dikoti! Po ango nya ngum son nin, Aba! nga nja so nu mapondè m o

T o Ekomb’ e si masawea Sango to muna buka njan

Misima mao mi pepi nde bèn bo bato

Mbako a Yahwe o buse ná:

Yin ndengè di makusano I timbe nde misima m a bana basu.

Giving Thyself as its ransom Behold! Thy hero’s sword, Alas! who besides Thee feels able to

The country does not pay The father and the son more than the

foreigner (The foreigner earns more than the

father and the son, natives of the country)

wield it?

Its fortunes are for the foreigners Let the sentence come from Jehovah

(the Most High)

M a y all these afflictions w e suffer Become the blessings of our children.l

These words denounce the manifold transgressions which the Cameroonians suffered from the time of the arrival of Mbongo in Africa, and they sustained the patriotic faith of those who sang them on each anniversary of the Hero’s death. They also herald the advent of independence, the era of improved conditions when national culture will flourish.

W e might further mention Kinshasa, O bia by Francis Bebey and Idiba i busi bwan, which are contemporary songs, to be sure, but which evoke the grievous history of our Africa that is gradually freeing itself from cultural colonization.

Painting and sculpture

The arts practised in Cameroon are intended for family or community use and are essentially functional and economical.

Painted or graven objects in the first place serve the extended community, which m a y comprise several households. In addition, plant extracts, macerated leaves, clay, tree-sap, and crushed barks are used to decorate the body or to treat ornamental or ritual objects.

Depending on the ecological zone, painters use straw, rasa, or fabrics of cotton or fibres. In the Chad basin, the engravings and paintings to be found on walls, stones or wood represent wild animals such as lions, buffaloes, rams, elephants, panthers, ostriches, giraffes, in combination with solar symbols. Fish, toads, monitors and tortoises are often taken, too, as motives for engraving.

1. J. C. Bahoken, Les Rapports des Missions Chrétiennes avec l’Administration au Cameroun, de 1841 à Nos Jours, p. 102-3, Paris, 1960.

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Cameroonian artists an¿ writers

On the A d a m a w a plateau, one finds gourds worked with red-hot iron by Fulani women, w h o compose simple designs and ingenious arabesques. Pretty painted cotton fabrics are beginning to be mass- produced. Formerly, indigo was used to dye fabrics. In B a m u m country, engravers work in wood, iron, copper and bronze. Attractive table-cloths and decorative lengths of material are painted in primary colours: red ochre, golden yellow, indigo or sky-blue. Drawings represent historical personages such as the Mfon B a m u m , with his dynastic symbols: the two-headed serpent, the trap-door spider (ngûme), the double bell (munjemndu) and the talking tomtom (ben). Hunting, peasant life, court, war, or trading scenes are characteristic of the painting and sculpture of the B a m u m country. Door lintels, sculptured wooden beds, magnificent thrones for the Mjons and the nganjis, Chiefs’ headdresses and terracotta pipes illustrate the B a m u m style. In B a m u m country, entire families work at wood carving, painting cotton and weaving raffia, from which they m a k e bags or table-cloths. Smiths work in gold, copper, silver and bronze, fashioning all sorts of feminine adornments.

In Bamileke country, almost the same style obtains. Here are found paintings on cotton fabrics, raffia bags, chairs for chiefs, door-jambs decorated with carvings, reed baskets and palm-leaf mats. T h e artists draw their colours from plants, the soil, or resin. Gourds are covered with rows of multi-coloured beads.

In the forest zone, painters working on canvas are found. Young people w h o have attended school do water-colours, the others do oil paintings. T h e pictures represent landscapes, sunsets, river-side villages, wild and domestic animals. S o m e portrait-painters also work on canvas. Sculptors working in ebony carve fine-featured heads of women, m e n or children, whereas the figures in the domestic pictures of the B a m u m - Bamileke region have stylized features. Here, work is not done in series based on a standard model; the artist’s hand is guided by his creative imagination.

On the coast and in the south-central part of the country, carved chairs, pirogues and walking-sticks are produced, and the bark of trees is worked. Since the penetration of education into these regions, young painters have been putting their talents to profitable use and commer- cializing their art.

As regards sculpture, the production of the western regions is at present superior in quantity and quality to that of the eastern, southern and coastal zones. There are two reasons for this: first, the presence of imported religions (Islam in the north, Christianity in the south and on the coast) and the very advanced Westernization of almost all of southern Cameroon dried up the African inspiration of the great traditional art of masks and statuary; second, the peoples of southern, northern and eastern Cameroon have a greater leaning towards music and dancing than towards the plastic arts.

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At the first Festival of Negro Arts held at Dakar in 1966, Cameroon exhibited the following items from the western and eastern regions: Foumban: 14 items (pipes, sabres, masks, drums, bells, fine furniture,

Baleng: a beaded throne with figures forming a back; Bahouang: 40 items, including a polychrome throne, a chair, 2 masks; Bandoum: 10 items, including 2 hoods and 4 beaded gourds, a goblet

Dschang: the mask of a Foreke chief; M u s e u m of B a m u m Arts and Traditions: a large woodea mask and 2

carved panels depicting hunting episodes or the markets of Foumban. Bafut: 8 items, including a bed and stool carved in the Mfon Abumba

period (before 1895); a beaded buffalo of the Nare Society; portrait masks representing the Mfon Tchoko and his wife, the present Fon or father, A b u m a ;

Mankon: a mask and a beaded mask crest, representing the leopard of the royal mask of the N k u m g a n Society;

Bamui: a mask with mens’ heads and 3 ivory drinking horns; Bafreng: an elephant mask and a studded stool; Bansoa: in addition to 3 carved drums, a chair and a beaded mask, the

In the Bamum-Bamileke region, objects belonging to the cultural and ritual heritage abound, precisely because neither the imported religions (Islam, Christianity) nor Westernization have wrought the same havoc as in the rest of the country.

In the coastal area, around Duala, there is very little artistic production.

T h e modern sculpture of the south has been merged with the handi- craft products of the north and west. However, the portrait of Chief C. Atangana is to be found there; his statue in reinforced concrete, by the sculptor C. Mbarga, is at present on show at the National Tourist Office.

Father Mveng, in his doctor’s thesis entitled L a Sagesse du Masque Nègre, brings out the main lines of African thought underlying this art, dominated by the figuration of the Animal-Man-Spirit, a deified or canonised ancestor: (a) the universal material (beads, shells, feathers) becomes the symbol of wealth, of soil or conjugal fertility, of the ‘winged’ spirit; (b) the animal of the mask (reptile, bird or quadruped) is sacred- he is the guardian spirit of the group, its emblem and blazon; (c) the m a n - w o m a n is at the centre of this philosophy, dominated by the h u m a n being, whose ultimate purpose is to perpetuate the life of the group through conjugal fertility and economic gain (which partly explains

T h e ‘divine’ spirit (never represented otherwise than by cosmic oymbols on drums, thrones, masks or statues of ancestors) dispenses

beds, and drawings by Ibrahim Njoya);

and an ivory hunting-horn;

Bamileke portrait of Djuko, the first wife of the Fon Meme.

Poly g a m y 1.

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Cameroonian artieta and writers

life to the people through the intermediary of their chief, w h o is at once father, king and judge in the communities with a strictly hierarchical structure, whereas with the Duala, Basaa, Bane and Beti, the ancestor- chief fulfills the same socio-religious function, taking the other group chiefs of the same stock into consideration.

Thus, all Cameroonian art, sculpture and painting, whether it be of B a m u m and Bamileke royal origin, of southern Bantu (Beti, Bane) democratic origin, or even of quasi-theocratic origin (Lamibe of the north), is inspired by a socio-religious mystique alien to Western aesthetics.

Handicrafts

Cameroonian handicrafts are as plentiful as they are varied. The objects made of leather or cotton, the multi-coloured fabrics of the splendid martial cavalry of the Fulbe, the magnificently decorated vases and bowls of the north are matched in the south by wooden vases, clay jars (with hieroglyphic designs or parallel zigzags), rattan baskets, ebony walking-sticks, cross-bows, and statuettes of m e n and women. The south has a very refined stylistic art to be found in the set of drawings for the game of Abbia. Objects m a d e with the cotyledons of a wild fruit bear symbols of animals, plants or metals having a special meaning related to the philosophy and mythology of Africa. For example, the first ogival figure symbolizes reproduction; the ogival figures two and three evoke the vegetable kingdom, the forests which abound in southern Cameroon ; the figure four represents the m a n of “3, or the genealogical historian, and so forth.

Plants inspire the decoration, in the form of quite simple patterns such as palms, ferns and banana leaves. Great art lies in stylization, which consists in retaining only the essential line of a body, a gesture, an attitude or an idea. It is interesting to note the play of palm leaves, of braided fibres, in infinite combinations of geometric designs based on lozenges or ogives.

Animals signify life. They represent a source of abundant inspiration for the artist. Art in this instance is neither pure diversion, nor mere ornamentation, but has a philosophical meaning and wisdom. The trap- door spider with its web is useful for divination, whereby, with faith, one can listen to the invisible world which transcends humanity and to which m a n is linked by profound participation. T h e B a m u m two-headed serpent, a royal emblem, symbolizes strength, ability, caution and omniscience. Nothing is done haphazardly in the African world of art.

O n e of the characteristics of Cameroonian art is that it is communal. The artist does not sign his work-it is signed by the whole community. Kings and their subjects are closely commingled in the intimacy of an

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anonymous life imbued with humanity and love of one’s neighbour. T h e United Republic of Cameroon would have no meaning were it not for this philosophy based on the spirit of brotherhood which calls for the union of all its citizens, members of the same family, which is Cameroon, their h o m e country. Our art is the symbol of our faith in fraternal unity, and our cultural policy is a joint quest for a c o m m o n heritage. T h e arts, like thought, and ethics, like politics and social and cultural life, m a k e up a whole, because thought is one, be it symphony or harmony, reflection or meditation, be it seeking for beauty or for knowledge of the truth.

The Association of Cameroonian Poets and Writers

Poetry flourishes in Cameroon, both among the young and among those w h o are no longer young. The poet of Cameroon does not live by his poetry alone, nor by his novels in verse or prose; he sings, composes and writes freely during his hours of recreation or leisure.

Great poetry is written in the authors’ mother tongues. In Beti/Fangi country, mention should be m a d e of the mvèt genre, a chantefable of southern Cameroon. T h e author plays the mvèt, his instrument, and sings, impro- vises and composes tirelessly, mixing poetry and prose, hope and despair, laughter and tears, poverty and wealth, strength and weakness.

There is also the genre of the harp or lyre, the hilun. T h e author plays the hilun and composes verses or prose sequences. H e goes from vdlage to village, either by invitation or out of personal need. H e is reminiscent of the troubadour of mediaeval France. The nkot hilun occupies an important place in the community, which both loves and fears him. H e is neither jester nor beggar, but a m a n of culture w h o knows his history and is acquainted with the psychology of individuals and of crowds. In short, he is a chronicler of oral tradition.

In Banè(n), w e have the poetry k n o w n as imbey, which is sung without accompaniment. It is spontaneous poetry improvised for the occasion in honour of some important personage of the group, a type of funeral dirge in some ways similar to hiyin or hilun poetry. T h e only thing required for the imbey is to be able to sing it, and for the hiyin, to be able to play while speaking or singing.

In the Bamileke initiation societies, masculine poetry is the prero- gative of young boys or of those with knowledge of the societies’ dances. T h e actors sing while dancing and playing musical instruments. T h e women, too, are poets in this area.

In B a m u m country, the poetry is often that of the Mfon royal court. There still exist jesters or griots (wandering minstrels or sorcerers) w h o call to mind the Lamibe courts of the A d a m a w a plateau or the Chad centre.

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On the coast, poets are to be found among the bato bu ngoso. A m o n g the Duala, the mot’ a ngoso or mulongè ngoso is a composer of topical songs or hymns, or a lyric poet.

It is among the pirogue boatmen, canoe-paddlers, fishermen or river transport people that one finds the poets, m e n and women, w h o accompany their paddling with songs in rhyming verse. This is eminently functional poetry, for it helps the worker to resist fatigue and sadness. W h e n a w o m a n starts pounding millet with a long pestle, she will sing and begin a lithe dance.

T h e young people of yume (collective labour among the Banè(n)) sing in chorus the refrains whistled by a soloist. Each age group, mwemba m a yabè, has its songs.

The modern choirs of young people on the coast imitate the poetry of the old ngoso, mingled with borrowings from Western poetry.

T h e mob’elimbi, or talking tomtom player, is at once a poet, a composer of topical songs, and a prose writer. His poetry concerns every social stratum and all life’s events-birth, marriage, joy or sadness, victory or defeat, death or the end of mourning, poverty or wealth. Here the poet is an educator of the people, a m a n worthy of his profession, and m u c h respected within his community.

T h e artists of the Association of Contemporary Cameroonian Poets and Writers have built their art on this ancient fund of poetry, which they interpret or transpose, often merely translating it into French or English. Their works are familiar to everyone. But there are also poets w h o sing, compose and write in their mother tongues and w h o k n o w h o w to innovate, as, for example, Francis Bebey.

This ancient poetry testifies to familiarity with the skills of versifi- cation. Poets learn them during their period of initiation. Here is a local poem in Tunèn concerning the capture of a carnivore:

Esay y, èmal wundi Capture of a carnivore

Balèteseni’ nyinye esob’ èmboma

Banomato ba tèbakdna, alèba; Bokwa bo-bèya, inine mèna. Ititi èmboma ulumu’ na bwosè;

018 tomba, o18 sieline, Ano yèlèma; iyubeyube, Ndondongilo! Ndondongilo!

Ndondongilo!

He who is not called by his name, great civet-cat of the forest

W h o m little boys flee, is no more! Thing of misfortune, great taboo. The frightful one in the bush, the

ulumu of broad daylight; N o one passes, no one looks at The hanged, sinister beast, Refrain: Ndondongilo! Ndondongilo!

Ndondongilo!l

1. J. C. Bahoken, Histoire du Systhe Tambouriné de Message Codé, p. 44, Unesco, 1969.

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These few lines are couplets from the proclamation m a d e by a talking tomtom to inform the country that a wild beast has been trapped. For the panther loose in the forest is the terror of sheep-folds and cattle- sheds. Whenever such a beast is caught, the village and forest celebrate. T h e poetry composed for this occasion is improvised. It is easy to sing to the accompaniment of the hikind, the talking tomtom of local announcements and news.

The members of the Association of Cameroonian Poets and Writers w h o contribute to Abbia or whose works are published elsewhere, write in French or English to give expression to their African cultural heritage.

First of all, they resort to the style of the legend to relate the lives of heroes and outstanding figures in history. These legends also explain the devotion of certain m e n to their community and describe the m a n y struggles of ancestors during their migrations. Then the authors transcribe tales which are their sources of inspiration. It is from tales that proverbs- expressions of a simple philosophy-are forged. Each tale begins with a question: for example, Angingila ye? ( W h o is in this bone?) and a n answer: Ewese (true knowledge).

In the mboma, legend of Esow’a Djèki la Ndjambè Inono na kwa Mtolo, which recounts the battle of Gjèki of Ndjambè, the omniscient, and Kwa, the primeval boar, the officiants put the question and the audience answers.

Group of oficiants

Emonymony? A mapata m a Ngoso? Ekumbalan? Owoni e?

Audiencelassem bZy

Ohè Malong m a nkwa Esaka OWOO! Aye! Ayè. O dièle mba. . .? M d e m a m u si dolè.

Text translated into English

Oh Most High! (Oh sublime God!)

Oh Guide! to what harvest

Will there be a revolution? thou bid us?

But will such chaos reach us?

True, Thou, the Immortal Supra-regent of space (master of the universe)

(trouble-maker States) No, a mere warning, for a smoking

blade of grass m a y cause a great he. (Of course), the threat hovers here,

there, everywhere. Oh Mother, Oh Mother, what hast

thou bequeathed me? (To what hast thou made m e heir?)

dost To meet the powers


M y heart has lost its beauty

I have chosen (It is troubled, worried, grieved)

(I have just chosen). Well then, tell thy Soul to choose

Whenever one of the groups speak, the talking tomtom plays a few notes of accompaniment. It plays Lo kukulu logo lohulo! L o kukulu logo lohulo!, Nj’a Tusè? Nj’a Tusè? (Who gives you the strength and intelli- gence to be able to choose? W h o makes you vibrate inwardly so as to make your choice?) Answer of the interlocutor: Nyamb’a Dibenga! (The Supreme (One)-the Almighty-AU-Knowing).l

The civilization of Cameroon and its literature rests on a powerful oral tradition, on a communal society in which literature and civilization are not only the best-shared c o m m o n heritage, but also collective assets, in the sense that each succeeding generation must enrich the whole, so that future generations m a y re-inherit it as ancestral capital.

The oral literature is sometimes simply stylized in clear ideograms reminiscent of the very ancient hieroglyphic literature of the banks of the Nile, which has as its counterpart the manuscripts in Mum of the B a m u m , whose originality is the pride of the Republic.

All this has to be discovered, analysed, understood and developed by Cameroon’s internal dynamic forces: writers, thinkers, singers, poets, players of musical instruments, or narrators of legends, myths or history. It is a work of the future, requiring ardent faith, which w e shall be able to accomplish thanks to the cultural revolution, or rather, the cultural renewal, a process set in motion to eradicate all the manifestations of cultural neo-colonialism and to put a n end to the imitation of foreign cultural models.

Our civilization will be rediscovered and rehabilitated thanks to the work of our specialists, geographers, linguists, sociologists, anthropolo- gists, political scientists, lawyers, etc., w h o are already working within the cultural zones delimited by our provinces.

The implementation of a genuinely Cameroonian cultural policy first of all requires complete political sovereignty, the affirmation of our personality and the determination of the Cameroonian people to build a strong, prosperous and efficient nation in which citizens have the right to creative initiative in matters of culture.

Then there must be a desire for renewal in the field of education and civic training, which implies restoring respect for the values of our traditional humanism. W e must reject imported cultural models and consequently social patterns devised by others, particularly by anthro- pologists and ethnologists of other races.

1. J. C. Bahoken, Histoire du Système Tambouriné de Message Codé, op. cit., p. 91 et seq.

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Further, our cultural policy demands that thinkers and research workers should make an objective, critical analysis of the past and present, so as to decide upon the course that w e wish to take. Culture is the means whereby all the ultimate aims of the Cameroonian people can be seen more and more clearly and pursued through various programmes forming part of an over-all socio-economic development plan for the nation.

Finally, this cultural policy presupposes the participation of the entire population. Cultural activities are henceforth planned at the village level as well as at that of the nation as a whole. All the events, activities and achievements help towards the building up of a cultural economy which perforce involves bringing economic and social policy into line with the policy of educating and training the m e n called upon to put the plan for a genuinely Cameroonian society into practice.

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Public and private cultural activity

Premises for cultural activities

Thanks to its communal institutions, the United Republic of Cameroon is developing its culture within the natural framework of these family centres, which are communal establishments known as the nda-bot among the Fanpeti, kumba among the Mbene (Basaa), étanè among the Banen, and ndabo among the Duala.

In the past, the chiefdoms of the Bamileke, the courts of the B a m u m Mfon, the Bamileke Fo, and Bansoa Mfon or the concessions of the notables of southern Cameroon, the lamido of the A d a m a w a plateau and of other northern Cameroon sultanates were cultural centres.

All genuinely Cameroonian cultural life is found in these circles, with its local colour.

Associations such as the mwel of the Banen, the mungui of the Mbene, the nlak-sô of the Beti, the ngondo of the Duala, the panngop and thefufu of the Bamileke are organizations both social and cultural in nature, in that they disseminate the main cultural patterns.

Present-day Cameroon is gradually rediscovering its former cultural life thanks to the cultural renewal programme. There is no village, town or locality that does not vibrate with joy when the time comes for natural festivals or family gatherings.

T h e radio makes it possible to pick up musical programmes in the remotest villages and broadcast them throughout the republic. Thanks to the forthcoming installation of television, Cameroon will share its culture with the whole of Africa, or even the entire world. The fourth Five-Year Development Plan will lay d o w n the specific objectives of cultural activity, setting up community centres throughout the country.

A centre of this kind is a place for initiatory meetings, for the artistic and moral training of members of the community. Art in all its forms is first and foremost the expression of the nobility and generosity of spirit

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of the community as a whole. Each social group, each family, imparts culture to its members by informing them, instructing them through theatrical performances organized in the free and public forum of the community meeting centre in such manner as to arouse in them a fervent enthusiasm for their c o m m o n cultural heritage. Education comes through dialogue between h u m a n beings in this propitious environment, where everyone is free to speak, where aspirations are fulfilled through physical movement, where the spirit soars towards beauty and enables the individual to reach a state in which he understands things invisible to the eye but apprehensible by the mind. There are several patterns of cultural life in Cameroon, the outcome of a rich h u m a n diversity, of manifold trends of civilization and of philosophical and ethical concepts. Since our culture is the sum total of our spiritual values, our manner of thinking and learning, of living and acting, our peoples have discovered their o w n particular ways of expressing it. ‘ W e must have cultural initiative; by that I mean’, writes Professor Fonlon,l ‘the right or ability to introduce n e w methods of action in cultural matters based on the feeling of the people and not on the ideas of a Westernized minority.’

Colonialism, of course, seized this initiative from Africans (in this case the Cameroonians) and in so doing seriously weakened our cultural continuity. Village or regional cultural centres were more or less opposed by the colonial powers, w h o introduced the idea of the museum. For if ‘the word m u s e u m is not often used in the current vocabulary of Africa’,2 it is precisely because no African south of the Sahara originally thought of culture as m u s e u m material and because, for him, cultural objects such as masks, musical instruments, jewels and articles of apparel have no meaning save as accessories of some cultural event: a mask is part of a dance, a musical instrument is played, clothes serve to dress up actors, and the centre itself is viable only when used as a local meeting place for cultural exchanges.

THE MUSEUMS OF T O M O R R O W

T h e United Republic of Cameroon has not developed its m u s e u m infrastructure for reasons which it would take too long to explain here. Nevertheless, it should be emphasized that government policy paves the w a y for national unity at every level. In the words of the President of the Republic :

The new task which . . . lies ahead of us, is to inject feeling into this community, formed officially and objectively, and to make it the object of our affection,

1. B. Fonlon, ‘Construire et Détruire’, Abbia, (Yaoundé), No. 5, p. 35, 36. 2. I. Parb, ‘La Place et le Rôle dea Musées dans le Plan de Développement Economique

et Social de l’Afrique’, Abbia, No. 5, p. 49.

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fidelity and gratitude, in short, to make it our mother country. If we wish to make the Cameroonian nation a more complete sociological reality, both objective and subjective, rational and efficient, formal and concrete, we must give it a richer cultural content, but one fertilized by our traditional values in which the most authentic life of the Cameroonian people is rooted. To put it in a nutshell, the point is to assemble and transcend the tribal lands within the Cameroonian nation and thus to create a single mother country-Cameroon 1.

The cultural centre is a m u s e u m which has the advantage of providing the people with a place for self-communion and for meditation on past, present and future generations. In addition to stimulating patriotic feelings because of the ancestral relics, genealogical lists, ritual objects, works of art and literary texts to be seen there, it represents a sacred place for us w h o believe in our ancestors, invisible beings, spirits, the supreme being, briefly, in a divine entity, whatever w e m a y call him: Nyambe, Nyinyi, Zambe or Howel.

It is no exaggeration to say that a m u s e u m is, so to speak, a place of liturgy (literal meaning: public service) where an entire community is in spiritual communion through thought and physical presence. Let us not forget that the original meaning of the word m u s e u m was a temple or sanctuary dedicated to the Muses, or goddesses of the arts. On visiting a museum, one has the feeling of being in contact with visible and invisible beings symbolized by the various objects within it, which have a message for each visitor. There is always in a m u s e u m something solemn and strange which makes it a sacred place.

In addition to its liturgical function, a m u s e u m is a meeting place for artists, thinkers, poets and inventors. T o fulfil this function properly, museums must be scattered throughout the country and located in neighbourhoods inhabited by people plying a given trade. For example, there will be a m u s e u m of blacksmiths, another of basket-makers, of wood-carvers, sculptors and engravers in wood, another of those w h o work metal, raffia, ebony, ivory and animals’ horns. W h a t is interesting is not to see the objects exhibited, but to see the craftsmen creating their works. W h e n w e admire a finely wrought object, our esthetic sense is gratified, but if w e k n o w w h o makes it and h o w the master brings it alive, w e appreciate more fully the civilizing role of these geniuses w h o are our brothers and sisters. A mu s e u m becomes truly interesting and alive if it serves as a meeting place for m e n of genius and people athirst for culture. Then it is that the m u s e u m becomes a centre of education, because it introduces every generation to the craftsman’s skills. U p o n entering such a museum, w e shall not feel that w e are visiting a dead place.

1. El Hadj A. Ahidjo, ‘Nation et Développement dans l’Unité et la Justice’, Présence Africaine, 1969, p. 14-20.

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W h e n Cameroon builds its future cultural centres, or rather, palaces of civilizations, in Yaoundé and in the chief towns of the provinces, specialists from the various family groups can be invited there, to organize various events. For example, there will be performances of dancing, music and plays, as well as exhibitions of objects such as dance masks, society costumes and rare tools. Each exhibition will have as its subject a particular aspect of present, past or future life, so as to demonstrate the cultural unity of a multi-faceted country. T h e importance of such a cultural policy will be that it makes Cameroonians not merely consu- mers of culture, like the inhabitants of countries where an entrance fee must be paid to view objects accumulated in museums, but also creators, through their active participation in exchanges of models of civilization.

LIBRARIES A N D R E A D I N G - R O O M S

Culture is also promoted through the medium of libraries and documentation centres. A few large libraries exist in Yaoundé and in the towns where secondary schools are located. T o w n halls, museums and cultural centres do not have any public libraries. That entire sector has still to be developed.

T h e country’s principal libraries are listed below: T h e Library and National Archives Service of Yaoundé contains 5,000

volumes and a considerable number of documents, archives and periodicals.

The National Assembly Library contains 4,000 volumes and numerous periodicals.

T h e Central Library of the University contains 52,000 books, 620 periodicals, 17 maps, 207 lantern-slides, 12 sound tapes and 88 microflms.

T h e Library of African History has 4,000 books, 2,000 slides, 30 records, 10 films, 500 art objects and 1,000 photographs.

T h e Library of the African Research and Documentation Centre has 500 books and periodicals on Cameroonian jurisprudence.

T h e Dominican Socio-Cultural Centre has 5,000 books and 141 periodicals.

T h e University Centre of Health Sciences has 4,000 books and 184 periodicals.

T h e Library of the National School of Administration and Magistracy has 6,000 works, 48 periodicals, 60 slides, 1,200 training-course reports and 400 magnetic tapes.

T h e Nkolbisson Library of the National College of Agriculture has 3,950 works and 30 periodicals.

T h e Library of the Teacher Training College has 16,000 books, 150 periodicals and 50 slides.

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The Library of the Yaoundé International College of Journalism has 2,500 books, 102 periodicals and 150 press files.

T h e Library of the Faculty of Protestant Theology has 8,000 books, 100 periodicals and 50 microfilms.

The Library of the Great Seminary of Nkolbisson has 10,000 book8 and 30 periodicals.

The Library of the Cameroon Institute of International Relations has 8,500 works and 150 periodicals.

The Library of the Mount Febe Benedictine Monastery contains 10,000 volumes on philosophy and theology and 10 periodicals.

T h e Library of the African and Malagasy Bureau of Industrial Property has 1,000 books and 53 Periodicals.

The Library of the Bureau of Overseas Scientific and Technical Research has 10,000 books, 691 periodicals, 1,198 microfilms, a large photo library on Cameroon and Africa and manuscripts of the colonial period.

Public reading libraries. T h e British Council has 6,000 volumes and 16 periodicals; the American Cultural Centre has 8,500 books, 20 periodicals and 475 records and films; the French Cultural Centre has 18,643 books, 115 periodicals, 7,000 slides, 1,500 records and 1,150 films; the Goethe Institute has 3,500 books, 39 periodicals, 105 slides, 300 records and 280 magnetic tapes; the Documentation Centre of the Ministry of Information and Culture has 800 volumes, 74 periodicals and 200 press files; the Documentation Service of the Ministry of Planning has 2,700 volumes, 51 periodicals and 300 aerial photographs.

T h e opening of municipal libraries is beginning slowly and no exact information can be given on that subject before the fourth Five-Year Plan is out. With the proposed construction of popular cultural centres, it is hoped that library services and those of written, sound and filmed documentation will develop on a large scale.

C U L T U R A L A N D LIFE-LONG E D U C A T I O N C E N T R E S

T h e village cultural centre is the focal point of civilization of the community in miniature, the soil in which the values of our cultural heritage are rooted. T o quote further the President of the Republic :

A genuine culture must have its roots in the daily life of the people, in the values that give meaning to its existence. It is from that soil, and from that soil alone, that a vigorous plant can spring up, capable of assimilating external contributions and of secreting a new form of original culture, adapted to the requirements

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of the modern world, richer, but still reflecting the particular temperament of the Cameroonian people .1

T h e village unit is the nursery of genuinely national culture. As with the civic and political training of citizens, the Party has organized mili- tants by cells in the neighbourhoods and villages which form rural districts at the administrative level, and it would be desirable to expand this system by installing cultural centres in each village.

T h e cultural centre m a y also operate in a city district, which has a cultural unity in that its inhabitants speak the same language, have the same ethic and play games together. For example, the ballets of young B a m u m , the Mini-Bantu of the Beti, the ba$a dancers, the youth of Menua, the Mini-Magassa are directed by members of the Cameroon Federation of Youth Movements of Arts and Letters.

To be sure, cultural centres have already been established at various points in the country, in Duala, Yaoundé, Fumban, Bafussam, etc., but the direction and content of the events organized have not always been in keeping with the mission assigned to them by the President of the United Republic of Cameroon, i.e. to be the soil from which a vigorous plant can spring up, capable of assimilating external contributions and of secreting a n e w form of original culture. To achieve such a result, there must be an original cultural policy capable of creating n e w models- there must be a revolutionary stimulus. For, as the President of the Republic has said, ‘our country is engaged in a threefold revolution: an economic revolution, through the Green Revolution whose purpose is to promote the progress of everyone in a balanced and just manner; a cultural renewal which aims at restoring to the Cameroonian people their sense of dignity and creative power, i.e. to m a k e them, and them alone, the subject of their o w n history . . .’l

T h e cultural renewal, or rather the cultural rebirth, is the revolutionary stimulus that will restore to the people of Cameroon their sense of dignity and their power to create a n e w set of genuinely national values.

W h e n w e speak of a cultural centre, w e think not so m u c h of a building (public or private) as of a centre forming a whole network of the progressive elements of our civilization, a dynamic focal point where the models of civilization needed by the national community are devised.

CRAFTSMEN’S VILLAGES

T h e term ‘craftsmen’s village’, as used here, does not signify a site

1. El Hadj A. Ahidjo, op. cit., p. 17. 1. EI Hadj A. Ahidjo, Message of the Head of State to young people, in Bulletin Quotidien

d’Informations (Cameroon Press Agency), No. 34, 10 February 1974, p. 4.

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intended to accommodate a village community occupied solely with crafts. T h e idea is to organize villages in such a w a y as to foster in them at all times the need and taste for art and beauty, and to enable this need to be met freely. At Fumban, for example, in B a m u m country, there is a craftsmen’s quarter. In Duala, as in Yaoundé and several other localities, craftsmen are associated in corporations-cabinet- makers, ivory-carvers, painters, blacksmiths, jewellers and composer- singers.

Often, the life of a craftsman is no different from that of other citizens, but it deserves to be smoothly organized and the craftsman should have opportunities to spread his influence. Since art in Africa is the affair of the entire community, the life of craftsmen is an answer to the cultural needs of society as a whole.

Cultural events

C U L T U R A L A N D ARTISTIC FESTIVALS

Cameroon takes part in m a n y exhibitions in foreign countries. For example, it was represented at the Exhibition of Negro Arts organized in connexion with the World Festival in Dakar in 1966 and at the exhibition organized for the First Cultural Festival of Algiers in 1968.

Within the country, a book exhibition in which all nations are represented is held every two years. Regional exhibitions to promote culture are often held in the departments and in municipal districts.

In December 1973, an important musical festival was attended by Cameroon’s leading musicians of international standing, w h o gave concerts in Duala and Yaoundé.

Every Sunday, the entire country listens over the radio to a festival of national music in which are heard the various languages of the h u m a n communities who, inspired by the same patriotic fervour, share the wealth of their musical art.

THE EL H A D J A H M A D 0 U A H I D J O PRIZE

The El Hadj A h m a d o u Ahidjo Prize is a powerful stimulus to the intellectual élite of the United Republic of Cameroon. ‘Our young intellectuals’, President Ahidjo has said, ‘must redouble their efforts to be creative and to acquire a better knowledge of our traditional civilizations’ 1

1. El Hadj A. Ahidjo, ‘Nation et Développement dans l’Unité et la Justice’, op. cit., p. 12.

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Every initiative taken by the young intellectuals of our country forms part of an ethic of freedom. National liberation does not stop short at political independence; it involves individual freedoms and personal initiatives in matters of creation and research. It is a highly progressive policy, calling for real participation by each citizen in the taking of initiatives. The construction of a country depends on its sons feeling fully responsible and settling d o w n resolutely to the task of finding solutions to the problems facing the national community as a whole. Policy decisions are of no avail if the means to implement them do not exist, but even when policy decisions have been taken and the economic means provided, the desired development of a country cannot be achieved without men’s enthusiasm and faith. N o w true faith is not possible unless it inspires the believer with fervent hope in a better future.

Science, and particularly scientific research, progremes only through faith, and the school system in all its forms is the most propitious framework for the development of scientific research on interdisciplinary lines and with the participation of the entire nation. Since it is easier to make this effort, President Ahidjo has said, when working together, w e must provide for

the organization of seminars, symposia, public lectures and various exhibitions, so that the whole country may benefit from the resulting human and national enrichment. The recent establishment of a literary, artistic and scientific prize is designed, precisely, to encourage the work of creation and research which I urge young Cameroonians to undertake and which it is the noble mission of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Culture, and particularly its Directorate of Cultural Affairs, to promote and direct. 1

This prize was first awarded to the Faculty of Science for the discovery of a n e w vitamin, k n o w n as bokitamine, in 1970, then to a young writer for his novel entitled Trois Prétendants . . . Un Mari, and thereafter to a jurist-anthropologist.

Inventory of the cultural and natural heritage

‘Our country’, President Ahidjo has said, ‘is naturally rich and varied: there is geographical diversity, h u m a n diversity, diversity of traditional civilizations, diversity of dialects, diversity of religions . . .

I I f w e wish to m a k e the Cameroonian nation a more complete sociological reality, both objective and subjective, rational and efficient,

1. El Hadj A. Ahidjo, ‘Nation et Développement dans l’Unité et la Justice’, op. cit., p. 18.

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formal and concrete, w e must therefore endow it with a richer cultural content, but one fertilized by our traditional values in which the most authentic life of the Cameroonian people is rooted.’

T h e cultural heritage is m a d e u p of the objective and subjective elements, the feelings, beliefs and languages through which the Came- roonian people forms an entity.

T H E C O L L ECTION OF O R A L TRADITIONS

By Decree No. 741890 dated 31 October 1974, concerning the organization of the Institute of H u m a n Sciences (Article 9), the Regional Centre for Research and Documentation on Oral Traditions and the Develop- ment of African Languages for the States of Africa has been operating within the framework of Division I (history, languages, philosophy and civilizations).

N A T U R A L SITES

It is a matter of urgency to draw up an inventory of natural sites which are particularly beautiful and offer better living conditions for humans and animals.

Natural sites are to be found mostly in the western provinces. Dschang is a health-resort which has been called ‘the Auvergne of Came- roon’. T h e Bafussam, Bangwa, Bangangte and Ndikinimeki country forms an immense plateau where the altitude varies from 750 to 1,000 metres and where temperatures range from 60 to 320 C.

T h e B a m u m country is a magnificent natural site admirably suited to cultural tourism. There w e find the old palace of the B a m u m sultanate which has m a d e the reputation of F u m b a n and is the pride of Cameroon. The Fumbot and Kutaba hills are particularly pleasant places for excursions or holidays.

T h e M u n g o region, especially at Nkongsamba, Nlohe and L u m , with Mounts Manenguba, Nlonako and Kupe, is a mountainous site where it is agreeable to live and work. Buea, at the foot of Mount Cameroon, is an attractive, cool town where tourists are well received in hotels; the beaches of Bota, near Victoria, and Tiko, on the bay of the Gulf of Guinea, are also attractive. At Bota, the coast is indented, with cliffs rising straight from the water and mangroves with their roots in the sea. Tourists can go on excursions by rowing-boat or pirogue.

The beautiful E k o m Falls of the River N k a m are between Nkong- samba and Bafang.

In the northern province, the magnificent parks of W a z a and Bubandjidah are wild animal kingdoms-lions, elephants, buffaloes, baboons and hippopotami.

T h e village of Goudshoumi is remarkable for its original houses

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shaped like artillery shells and covered with skilfully plaited straw. W e might further mention the extraordinary sites of the Mandara Mountains, with the lunar setting of Gazawa, the situation of Nokula on the river, the peak of Mindif, rising vertically into a blue sky. In the distance are Lake Fianga and the village of Datsheka, where the Tupuri live. T h e Kapsiki, Rumsiki and the R u m z u live in hamlets, where awe-inspiring monoliths over 100 metres high rise from the ground.

HISTORIC A N D C U L T U R A L M O N U M E N T S

Cameroon is rich in historic and cultural monuments. By a decree of 1944, the first official museum was founded at the Cameroon Centre of the French Institute of Negro Africa. Since then, the number of monuments and museums has constantly increased. The principal museums are the following: T h e Museum/Public Monument of Duala contains art objects, old

weapons, adornments and various items from all over the national territory.

T h e M u s e u m of B a m u m Art and Traditions, in Fumban, contains a rich collection of examples of genuine B a m u m art of interest, not only to tourists, but especially from the cultural point of view.

T h e M u s e u m of the Royal Palace of Mfon B a m u m contains part of the royal treasure of art objects, clothing and jewellery, as well as m a n y manuscripts in Mum.

The M u s e u m of Bamenda contains items from the chiefdoms of the region.

T h e M u s e u m of Marua exhibits traditional and art objects from the northern province.

Besides these museums, mention should be m a d e of the historic monuments and buildings of a cultural nature. An inventory is at present being compiled at the request of the Ministry of Information and Culture. Pending the results of that project, only a few of such monuments will be mentioned.

T h e Royal Palace of Fumban, which belongs to the Mfon B a m u m dynasty, is an architectural work of exceptional value and one of the rare vestiges of the civilization of the B a m u m people. It is a treasure belonging to all the M u m people and forms an integral part of the cultural heritage of Cameroon as a whole. It contains a collection of works of art of the highest quality, and items which, with the passing of time, have acquired the value of cultural models. An outstanding example is the Mum lerva mfon writing, invented by Mfon Njoya Ibrahim, Sultan of the B a m u m .

This palace has aged considerably and requires restoration which will enable it to become a functional, historic monument capable of

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housing: a school for the study of the Mum language, the numerous palace manuscripts and texts relating to political life, B a m u m law, economic techniques, B a m u m medicine, and family arts and traditions; a large library to house the old manuscripts and various documents in the Mum language, as well as other works of scientific value; a centre for studies of African arts and techniques, containing the works of the great artists and thinkers of Central Africa; a medical research centre for the study of plants, methods of healing and treating illnesses and for research on mental illnesses; and a popular education centre for adults and young people interested in Mum thought.

The town of Fumban, in which the palace is located, is an example of complete urban civilization in the Cameroon style. Restoration of the sultan’s palace will give back to the M u m people the possibility of preserving a set of cultural models worthy of forming part of the national heritage of the United Republic of Cameroon.

In the north, the forts of Kusseri and Y o k o and the archaeological sites of the Sao country are well known.

In the south-central region, a noteworthy monument is the old residence of the High Chief Atangana, whose monument stands in the centre of Yaoundé, not far from the Presidency of the United Republic of Cameroon.

On the coast, there are m a n y historic monuments erected to the m e m o r y of the leading notables of Cameroon.

T o all that, w e should add the public buildings of cultural interest- the old railway stations, the family residences left behind by the Germans, French and English. Scattered about, w e come across Christian churches and Islamic mosques, but also minute temples, shrines and sanctuaries which are c o m m o n property to be included in the inventory of the cultural and natural heritage of historic value that should be protected.

Magnetic tapes, sound recordings and cultural fìlms

Magnetic tapes, sound recordings and films, owing to their value as instruments of culture, feature prominently in the projects for conserving Cameroon’s cultural heritage.

M A G N E T I C TAPES

In Cameroon-and this is equally true of most countries in Africa- magnetic tapes play an important part in the spread of culture. A mere glance at the broadcasting programme of any radio station is enough to m a k e one realize its importance in communities where speaking is

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more c o m m o n than writing and listening to a speech more usual than reading texts. Thanks to magnetic tapes, it is possible to disseminate information to a very wide audience and to establish direct and immediate contact with it.

S O U N D RECORDINGS

Records are destined to become an instrument of cultural development. With the progress in stereophony, it is even conceivable that records will gain absolute superiority over the other means of reproducing and disseminating works of the mind.

In the cultural policy of Cameroon, a special role is assigned to sound recordings in the training of citizens. Apart from the fact that records ensure the preservation of musical and literary works, they afford each person (like books, for that matter) the possibility of choos- ing freely the works he wants to know, by following his personal prefer- ences, free of any outside pressure. Thanks to them, everyone can exercise the right, set forth in Article 27 of the Universal Declaration of H u m a n Rights, ‘freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits’.

As a means of communicating with the peoples of the entire world, sound recordings m a k e a mighty contribution to recognition of the values of each culture and therefore to bringing closer together countries and civilizations separated by language and space.

Finally, records are a remarkable means of introducing culture into the homes of the national communities and thereby contributing effectively to the spiritual unification of the citizens of the United Republic of Cameroon. They are also a unifying factor for Africa as a whole, since they transcend the frail barriers of political thought. T h e development of sound recordings is one of the most important social and cultural phenomena in the history of mankind.

In music, especially, records play a unique part, because they facilitate mutual understanding of the musical expression of the different communities. For songs in the mother tongues express all the essential elements of the soul of each community, its life style, its w a y of thinking and visualizing the universe and the beings w h o people it, and its w a y of establishing relations with others. In addition, thanks to records, the whole of the younger generation of singers and composers taking part in the cultural revolution can exchange the results of their work with young people throughout the world.

Records are also ideal media for disseminating the plays and poetry, as well as the other forms of oral literature, of every province in Cameroon. For both young and old, records are like speaking books. They render unparalleled service in the collection and conservation of

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oral traditions, particularly those expressed in languages which are in danger of disappearing. It is important that the record industry be given substantial financial support, so that it can rescue from oblivion those languages which are the vehicle of the traditions, folklore and religious thought of whole communities.

Finally, records are teaching aids whose effectiveness cannot be overestimated. While visual techniques facilitate education in science, painting, architecture and the plastic arts, records are of inestimable value in teaching music and 1anguages.l

T h e radio has an important part to play in this respect. By broadcasting records and other sound recordings, it assists the government’s efforts to educate the public, to ensure the civic training of citizens, to keep them informed and, thereby, to increase the well-being of the entire nation.

FILMS

Like records and books, films are an educational, scientific and cultural instrument. They are a means of cultural communication and art education affording the film-maker the possibility of using his talents and his gift of creating and inventing cultural models. Anyone who has followed audio-visual courses, handled motion-picture cameras and their accessories, and participated in one w a y or another in producing a film can appreciate the enormous importance of films in the cultural policy of a country responsive to the magic of words and images. A film highlights the characters of a novel, a story, a legend or a historical event, bringing them to life again each time it is shown. Films enable us to keep the memories of our past intact and, in this sense, to m a k e our culture everlasting.

Coupled with sound recorded on discs or magnetic tape, films give cultural centres and communities the opportunity to participate at first hand in cultural events. T h e cinemas in Cameroon are always filled with people from all social walks of life.

Cameroon has not yet produced any films of international repute, except for the film entitled La Grande Case by Mr Jean-Paul Ngassa, at present Director of Cinematography at the Ministry of Information and Culture, but chiefly experimental documentaries and short films. However, young am-makers are beginning to m a k e themselves known, and the next Festival of African-Negro Arts in Lagos is certain to bring

1. In Cameroon, the study of languages is conducted at the Department of African Languages and Linguistica of the Faculty of Arts and Human Sciences of the University of Yaoundé, at the Federal Linguistic and Cultural Centre in Yaoundé, at schools, such as the Libermann Secondary School in Duala, for example, and finally at private religious schools and over the National Radio.

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the first important batch of Cameroonian cinematographers to the fore. It is to be hoped that with the proposed introduction of television in Cameroon, films will assume greater importance and a large number of them, either educational or inspired by the soul of Africa, will be produced.

By preserving in sound the memory of a great singer’s voice or an instrumentalist’s technique, and of cultural, political, economic or artistic events, the government of our country will give the people the opportunity to take part in the making of its history and in the nation’s social and cultural development. Whereas records instruct, images are an instrument for unifying the national community.

In relation to the cultural ‘take-off’ scheduled by the cultural revolution, the protection of records and films produced in Cameroon is a priority task. T h e proposed establishment of a Cameroonian film library, if not of an African one, will enable certain decisions concerning the presentation of our cultural heritage to be put into practice. This project must have priority owing to: the fact that our oral cultural traditions are in danger of disappearing; the impermanent nature of African musical instruments; and the scarcity of films produced by Cameroonians in a truly African spirit. The point at issue is, first, to rescue an imperilled cultural humanism and, second, to create conditions conducive to the preparation of a future humanism.

T h e project of a fdm library of African organology is well suited to Cameroon, a crossroads of cultures, civilizations and migrations. Teams of specialists and research workers WU be assigned responsibility for making inventories of records, films and magnetic tapes throughout the regions; collecting records and films ; encouraging n e w producers of films and records; and creating a communal artistic and cultural spirit, with a view to fostering national unity, preserving the Cameroonian cultural heritage, and facilitating the advent of a contemporary humanism, with the participation of Cameroon.

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[B.12] SHC.75/XIX-34/A

Documents

Cultural Policy of Cameroon