THE ANGLOPHONE CULTURAL IDENTITY IN CAMEROON 50 YEARS AFTER RE-UNIFICATION

This paper departs from the abundant literature on the political and socio-economic causes of the Anglophone problem in Cameroon to examine current threats (since the reintroduction of multiparty politics in 1990) to the cultural identity of a people who at several moments since the 1961 reunification with Francophone Cameroon, have threatened to secede from the Republic of Cameroon because of marginalization and in the interest of their cultural identity. An analysis of the data from both primary and secondary sources reveals that although ‘ethnic’ Anglophones are sentimentally attached to their cultural identity and geographical space, their cultural identity is highly threatened by political divisions, the ‘anglophonisation’ of the Francophones and the ‘francophonisation’ of the Anglophone educational system. Therefore the term Anglophone is becoming increasingly ambiguous especially as the term in the present context and as understood in Cameroon, is exclusive, at a time when it is emerging increasingly as one without borders.