Dibussi Tande: Scribbles from the Den

BOOK REVIEW: Scribbles from the den: essays on politics and collective memory in Cameroon

Review of African Political Economy Vol. 37, No. 124, June 2010, 239–240

Scribbles from the den: essays on politics and collective memory in Cameroon, by Dibussi Tande, Bamenda, Cameroon, Langaa Publishers, 2009, 212 pp., £19.95, ISBN 978-9956558919

Dibussi Tande’s Scribbles from the den: essays on politics and collective memory in Cameroon definitely contains no ‘scribbles’. It is a collection of well articulated essays capturing the socio-cultural and political fabric of the nation state of Cameroon and of Africa in general. The 49 selected essays in this volume first appeared on ‘Scribbles from the den,’ Dibussi Tande’s award-winning blog, www.dibussi.com, between 2006 and 2009, a fact which has implications for the tone and texture of these essays. Tande is not oblivious to these implications. As he explains: 

For Haiti: Palapala Magazine #9 Now Available Online

Palapala Magazine #9 is now available online. This first issue for 2010 opens with three tribute poems by Kenyan poet JKS Makokha dedicated to Haiti and to Mbella Sonne Dipoko and Dennis Brutus, two literary giants who passed away in 2009.

The issue also includes Rosemary Ekosso’s review of John Buchan’s Prester John and William Boyd's A Good Man in Africa, which serve as a backdrop for an in-depth discussion on European demeaning, paternalistic and racist discourse towards Africa; a discourse that is not just limited to colonial literature but also extends to other areas as well:

Book Review: Youth and Nation-Building in Cameroon by Churchill Ewumbue-Monono

Reviewed by Dibussi Tande

Churchill Ewumbue-Monono. Youth and Nation-Building in Cameroon: A Study of National Youth Day Messages and Leadership Discourse (1949-2009). Bamenda: Langaa, 2009. 188 pages.

At first glance, Churchill Ewumbue-Monono's Youth and Nation-Building in Cameroon, which is primarily a collection of Youth Day speeches going back to the colonial era, seems deceptively unexciting. However, a closer reading of the book shows that the author has compiled a valuable document which is more than just a walk down memory lane for history buffs. It is a compelling insight into how various colonial and post colonial governments in Southern Cameroons/West Cameroon and then bilingual Cameroon Republic attempted to use the Youth Day as a tool for political advocacy and youth mobilization around key political and ideological goals; adherence to the ideal of the British commonwealth, unification of British and French Cameroons, creation of the single-party state, the dissolution of the federation, etc. In fact, the book is a history of post-independent Cameroon, albeit from the perspective of the political class.

(Book Review) Political Power Without Development: The Paradox of the South Province

Reviewed by Dibussi Tande

Quel est ce pays organisateur qui ne peut pas s’organiser?

Ateba-Eyene, C. (2008). Les paradoxes du "pays organisateur": Élites productrices ou prédatrices : le cas de la province du sud-Cameroun à l'ère Biya (1982-2007). [Yaoundé́]: Editions Saint-Paul.

One of  the most controversial books published in Cameroon in recent years is Ateba Eyene’s “les Paradoxes du pays organisateur” (The Paradox of the “host country”: Productive or Predatory elite: The Case of the Southern Province during the Biya Era, 1982-2007) which seeks to understand why the South province is lagging behind in all development indicators in spite of its “numerous and wealthy elite”.

Preface to "Scribbles from the Den" the Book

Dibussi Tande

The last decade has witnessed a dramatic surge in “citizen journalism” which has effectively asserted itself as a legitimate alternative voice to the mainstream media. Bowman and Willis describe citizen journalism as:

The act of a citizen, or group of citizens, playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing and disseminating news and information. The intent of this participation is to provide independent, reliable, accurate, wide-ranging and relevant information that a democracy requires.

Available Soon... "Scribbles from the Den" the Book!

Dibussi Tande: Scribbles from the Den: Essays on Politics and Collective Memory in Cameroon. Langaa publishers. Available in June 2009. 212 pages. Distributed in Europe by African Books Collective and in North America by Michigan State University Press.

This collection consists of 49 insightful essays by leading Cameroonian blogger Dibussi Tande, which originally appeared on his award-winning blog Scribbles from the Den. These essays tackle some of the most pressing and complex issues facing Cameroon today such as the stalled democratization process, the perennial Anglophone problem, the crisis of higher education, the absence of the rule of law, the lack of leadership renewal, a stifled collective memory, and a continued inability to harness technology for purposes of national development, among others. Scribbles from the Den goes beyond the news headlines to dispassionately analyze and unravel the complexities of Cameroonian politics and society.

Book Review - "No Turning Back" by Dibussi Tande

Reviewed by Lyombe Eko

Dibussi Tande. No Turning Back: Poems of Freedom 1990-1993. Langaa Research and Publishing (Bamenda, 2007).

   Writing is an existential act. To write is to proclaim loudly and clearly that one exists. From an historical perspective, those who would not have written something, anything, would not have existed!  However, writing is more than a mere proclamation of existence. Writers who have made their mark in life, whose proverbial pens have left strokes on the body politic of humanity are those who are engaged in the eternal struggles of human existence, ­the fight for justice, fairness, human dignity, as well as the right to appreciate the sacred and the aesthetically pleasing things of life.

(Book Review) Landscaping Postcoloniality: The Dissemination of Anglophone Cameroon Literature

Joyce B. Ashuntantang. Landscaping Postcoloniality: The Dissemination of Anglophone Cameroon Literature. Langaa Publishers, 2009. 188 pages. Available on amazon.com and African Books Collective.

 Synopsis
This a foundational text on the production and dissemination of Anglophone Cameroon literature. The Republic of Cameroon is a bilingual country with English and French as the official languages.

Ashuntantang shows that the pattern of production and dissemination of Anglophone Cameroon literature is not only framed by the minority status of English and English-speaking Cameroonians within the Republic of Cameroon, but is also a refl ection of a postcolonial reality in Africa where mostly African literary texts published by western multi-national corporations are assured wide international accessibility and readership.

Book Review: The Travail of Dieudonné by Francis B. Nyamnjoh

Reviewer: Peter Wuteh Vakunta, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA.

The Travail of Dieudonné is the tale of a triple estrangement. Nyamnjoh’s protagonist is physically separated from his homeland (Warzone), beloved wife (Tsanga) and opulence associated with materialism. The writer adumbrates: “Dieudonné misses his home village to the point of tears…” (153). Mimboland, his country of choice, is a dichotomized world where the haves and have-nots cohabitate. While Beverly Hills swims in the niceties of life, Swine Quarter—home to the underprivileged—is likened to a “bleeding ghetto” reputed for its “muddy meanders of footpaths and shacks whose walls were delicately sustained by ant-infested wood, human excrement, dog shit…multitudes of rats and cockroaches that celebrated impunity.”(149)

Book Review - “This is Bonamoussadi”: A Poetic Foray into the Valley of Despair

By Dibussi Tande (Originally published in Palapala Magazine)

Oscar Chenyi Labang. This is Bonamoussadi. Lulu.com, 2008, 60 pages.

What is it that we did
Mother of the earth
That we have remained this cursed (56)

It is still not clear how Bonamoussadi, the popular student residential area on the outskirts of the University of Yaounde campus in Ngoa-Ekele came into being. When students returned in September 1987 for the beginning of a new academic year, they discovered that houses had sprung up ex nihilo on the vast wasteland between Regional Centre for Labor Administration (CRADAT), the University Restaurant no. 2 and the football field. It was rumored that university lecturers whose trade in dog-eared polycopies had become less profitable with the proliferation of photocopy machines on campus had decided to grab state-owned land on which they constructed mini cités (student housing) for rent. Before long, high ranking government officials, the military top brass, friends and relatives of the well connected, and other hangers-on joined in for a piece of the action.

(Book Review) "Under The Broken Scale of Justice" by Justice Nyo' Wakai

Justice Nyo' Wakai. Under The Broken Scale of Justice: The Law and My Times. Langaa Publishers, 2008. 204 pp.

This book explores the latent and sometimes overt undercurrents that have shaped the judicial history of Cameroon since the United Nations Trusteeship period. It is an insightful account by a critical observer privileged to serve as Director of Public Prosecutions and a judge in a post-independence context characterized by dual and often conflictual legal systems inspired by French and English colonialism.

Justice Nyo'Wakai demonstrates how the conflict of judicial concepts, procedures and usages have led to the Francophone judicial system trying to impose itself on the Anglophone judicial system in Cameroon.

 

New Book Coming Out Soon - Imperialistic Politics in Cameroon by Carlson Anyangwe

Carlson Anyangwe. Imperialistic Politics in Cameroon: Resistance & the Inception of the Restoration of the Statehood of Southern Cameroons. Langaa publishers, 2008. Available soon on amazon.com and other online booksellers.

Book blurb

It always comes as a surprise to many that the British-administered UN Trust Territory of the Southern Cameroons was not granted independence like other colonial territories but was allowed to fall prey to the territorial expansionism of the contiguous state of Cameroun Republic, a former French-administered UN Trust Territory granted independence on 1 January 1960. Th is book focuses on the unresolved Southern Cameroons colonial predicament, giving insightful accounts of how Cameroun Republic hijacked the Southern Cameroons and is holding its citizens under colonial bondage.

Book Review: Times and Seasons by Dipita Kwa

From the Blog on Cameroon Literature in English

Dipita Kwa. Times and Seasons. Cook Communications, 2008. 275 pages. $15.98 Available at lulu.com.

How does it feel to live without an identity, without a deeper meaning of the word me because you know nothing about yourself? How can you measure the intensity of the pain you feel in your soul when you face the horrible prospect of totally losing the chance of eternal happiness in the loving arms of a man because of a dark past you don’t know?

Dipita Kwa invites you to take this thrilling ride with Ewande Tikky, a deeply distressed, honest and courageous young woman in love, into the heart of the village of Mukunda – the land of mysteries – to the home that holds the hideous memories of her birth.

Book Review: The 1961 Cameroon Plebiscite: Choice or Betrayal (An Eyewitness Account of a UN Plebiscite Officer)

John Percival. The 1961 Cameroon Plebiscite: Choice or Betrayal. Langaa Publishers, 2008. Available on Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, African Books Collective and Michigan State University Press.

The United Nations-organised plebiscite on 11 February 1961 was one of the most significant events in the history of the southern and northern parts of the British-administered trust territory in Cameroon. John Percival was sent by the then Colonial Office as part of the team to oversee the process.

This book captures the story of the plebiscite in all its dimensions and intricacies and celebrates the author’s admiration for things African through a series of reminiscences of what life was like in the 1960s, both for the Africans themselves and for John Percival as a very young man. The complex story is also a series of reflections about the effect of the modern world on Africa. It is a thorough, insightful, rich and enlightening first-hand source on a political landmark that has never been told before in this way.

Now Available! Their Champagne Party Will End! Poems in Honor of Bate Besong

Joyce Ashuntantang & Dibussi Tande (eds). Their Champagne Party Will End! Poems in Honor of Bate Besong. Langaa RPCIG, Cameroon, 2008. 76 pages. Paperback. Available from African Books Collective (UK) £12.95 and amazon.com and affiliates (international) $19.95

 

Indeed, they have sworn fealty to their masonic lodges
& to each other to bankrupt our national coffers
The curse on the heads of the corrupt banditti.
There is evidence that evil still survives absolutely
And the only good is a cripple, chained to the dungeon of
Mockery and dust.

But their champagne party will end…

(Bate Besong - Culled from “Their Champagne Party Will End” in The Grain of Bobe Ngom Jua, 1997)

Their Champagne Party Will End! Poems in Honor of Bate Besong

Coming soon to Amazon.com, Michigan State University Press and African Books Collective - The celebration in verse of the life and works of Bate Besong, Cameroon's most influential and controversial poet, playwright and scholar. Published by Langaa RPCIG.

With Contributions from 27 poets from Cameroon and Africa and a forward by Ba'bila Mutia

"Dance of Scorpions" – Lloney Monono’s Dazzling Poetic Waltz

Reviewed by Dibussi Tande

Lloney E. Monono. Dance of Scorpions. Lulu Enterprises, UK. September 2007. Available on lulu.com and amazon.com

In an article on Cameroon literature in English published in 2004 in the French language literary journal Africultures, Pierre Fandio of the University of Buea noted that while Francophone Cameroon literature has been generally militant in nature, with many of its first generation writers having faced exile or imprisonment, Anglophone Cameroon literature, until very recently, largely focused on romance (“A few nights and days”, “Because of women”, “Taboo love”, etc.) and on “omnibus themes” which “interest everyone but don’t discuss anything of substance” (Sov Mbang the Soothsayer, Lukong and the Leopard, The Good Foot, etc.).

Book Review: The Disillusioned African (A Novel)

Reviewed by Louise Cuming - Catholic University of Central Africa, Yaounde, Cameroon

Francis Nyamnjoh. The Disillusioned African. Bamenda, Cameroon: Langaa Publishers, 2007. 264 pages. Available on Amazon.com & Michigan State University Press

Some time ago, in 1993, a forum of anglophone Cameroon writers held under the auspices of the Goethe Institute of Yaounde produced, among many excellent articles, a reflection by Tatah H. Mbuy on “The Moral Responsibility of the Writer in a Pluralist Society”.  Every such writer, says Mbuy, is to see himself as a spokesman for his society.  He must seek the truth, propagate it and defend it.  He is to be the prophet and soothsayer of his society, pricking the consciences of all and trying to correct faults where these are to be found. Elsewhere in this forum other participants described present-day anglophone writing as concerned with “deconstructing victimhood”, through a discourse revolving around shared values or reference points.

Book Review: “No Turning Back” - Dibussi Tande’s Vision for a Better World

A Review by Joyce Ashutantang, Ph.D. (Department of English, University of Connecticut, Greater Hartford, USA). Published in Pambazuka news.

Dibussi Tande. No Turning Back: Poems of Freedom, 1990 – 1993. Bamenda, Cameroon: Langaa Publishers. 2007. Available from amazon.com and Michigan State University Press.

Dibussi Tande is an Anglophone Cameroonian. At least this is the threshold on which he stands in this collection of poetry titled No turning back. Yet Dibussi forces us to turn back and look at the pivotal volcanic moments in Cameroon’s history between 1990- 1993. During this time the wind of change which brought down the Berlin Wall and fueled the Perestroika train reached Cameroon. The result was not only the launching of the Social Democratic front by Ni John Fru Ndi in 1990, an event which ushered in multi-party politics in Cameroon, but a renaissance of Anglophone Cameroon Nationalism or what became known as “the Anglophone Cameroon question”.

Book Review: "No Turning Back: Poems of Freedom" By Dibussi Tande

Dibussi Tande. No Turning Back: Poems of Freedom, 1990 – 1993. Bamenda, Cameroon: Langaa Publishers. 2007. 72 pages. [$19.95 (US), £14.95 (UK), CDN$ 21.14 (Canada) and EUR 17,94 (France/Europe), JPY 4,023 (Japan) CNY 149.835 (China)

About the Book
No Turning Back relives the tumultuous beginnings of Africa’s democratization experiment in the early 1990s. The main theme of the collection is an investment in hope and in the resilience of Africans. The poems are loud and clear in their castigation of dictatorship and its miseries. They celebrate the mass resolve and thirst for democracy by Africans for whom there is ‘No turning back’!

Editorial Reviews
"A lucid and truly memorable collection of poems. Dibussi forces us to turn back and look at the pivotal volcanic moments in Cameroon’s history between 1990- 1993... As a student activist and budding journalist during this historic period, Dibussi captures cadences of this struggle eloquently… The poems are very accessible and despite Dibussi’s admiration for the prolific playwright and poet, Bate Besong’s “Soyinka style” of poetry, Dibussi instead fits into the poetic school of another prolific poet, Niyi Osundare."
Joyce Ashuntantang – Ph.D. Department of English University of Connecticut, Greater Hartford, USA.