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Scholarship Production in Cameroon: Interrogating a Recession

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 May 2014

Nantang B. Jua  and
Francis B. Nyamnjoh
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Abstract:

Cameroonians saw a positive correlation between the enactment of the Liberty Laws in the early 1990s, the increase in the number of tertiary institutions, and the contribution of its universities to worldwide intellectual endeavors. Nevertheless, as the history of the University of Buea shows, the university space, instead of becoming free, became instead a space of domination. Universities discourage critical scholarship and collaboration, harass politically suspect instructors, and put barriers in the way of professional advancement. For most faculty members, energy in the university space has become focused on survival, with many individuals more concerned with promoting their upward mobility than with the production of knowledge. One particularly unfortunate result is the continued marginalization or silencing of the African voice on the global stage.

Résumé:

Résumé:

Les Camerounais ont remarqué une corrélation positive entre la promulgation des lois sur la liberté ou Liberty Laws au début des années 1990, l'accroissement du nombre d'institutions du secteur tertiaire, et la contribution de ses universités à l'entreprise intellectuelle dans le monde entier. Néanmoins, comme le montre l'histoire de l'université de Buea, l'espace universitaire, loin de se libérer, devint plutôt un espace de domination. Les universités y découragent les études et les collaborations d'ordre critique, harcèlent les enseignants politiquement suspects, et mettent des barrières sur le chemin de l'avancement professionnel. Pour la plupart des professeurs d'université, l'énergie de l'espace universitaire s'est maintenant concentrée sur la survie, un grand nombre de personnes étant plus préoccupé de la promotion de leur ascension sociale que de la production du savoir. Un résultat particulièrement malheureux de ce phénomène est la marginalisation continue ou la réduction au silence des voix africaines sur l'échelle globale.

Type
Research Article
Information
African Studies Review , Volume 45 , Issue 2: African Universities in Crisis and the Promotion of a Democratic Culture , September 2002 , pp. 49 - 71
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 2002

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