Ramon Fonkoue - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Ramon Fonkoue
*This book is part of the Cambria African Studies Series, headed by headed by Professor Toyin Fal... more *This book is part of the Cambria African Studies Series, headed by headed by Professor Toyin Falola (University of Texas at Austin) and Professor Moses Ochonu (Vanderbilt University). Includes black-and-white images. The 2010 decade marked the 50th anniversary of decolonization and independence across the African continent. Cameroonians celebrated in chorus and pomp the historical threshold, but the memory of Cameroon’s historical resistance to colonial rule continues to remain unsettled. The silence on its troubled recent past and the lack of reflection on the role of collective memory and history in nation building are puzzling. Moreover, no rigorous assessment of the road traveled since independence has taken place. The nation-state on the continent emerged in a particular context, which saw the euphoria of independence dashed by “developmentalism,” a conception of nation building that was repressive, both in the intellectual and the political sense. As a result, the elites of independent Cameroon negated the legacy of the struggles that led to the end of colonial occupation, setting the country on a forced march toward progress and modernity. The discourse, praxis and outcomes of this approach to nation building are the focus of this study. This book traces the roots of the current turmoil and sheds light on overlooked factors impacting nation building in post-colonial Cameroon. It demonstrates the urgency of cross-disciplinary work on African societies and the continued relevance of postcolonial criticism as a theoretical framework. It extends the postcolonial critique inaugurated by Homi Bhabha’s Nation and Narration into twenty-first-century sub-Saharan Africa. It also reframes the question of modernity and development in this context, suggesting an approach with bearing on people’s lived experience. This study draws from a diversity of fields—political science, literature, history, cultural studies, and postcolonial studies—to demonstrate the limitations of a philosophy of nation building that turned into state consolidation. It is a timely study on Cameroon’s currently volatile situation that is applicable to other postcolonial contexts, in Africa and elsewhere. Nation Without Narration is an important book for students and scholars in African studies and history, as well as governmental and nongovernmental organizations involved with Africa
Every year African countries commemorate in pomp their accession to independence in the middle of... more Every year African countries commemorate in pomp their accession to independence in the middle of the twentieth century. At the same time, Africa has never appeared as irrelevant on the international stage as it is today. 1 Moreover, it has never been as economically marginalized. Despite the phenomenal increase in global trade, and the recent growth miracles and transformations in parts of Southeast Asia, African states remain largely characterized by the same old narratives of weak institutions, underdevelopment, poverty and misery. One of the consequences of Africa's development failures has been the continent's inability to effectively appropriate some of the benefits of globalization through increased production and export. Instead of expanding industrial production and creating jobs for its citizens, Africa is increasingly becoming a dumping ground for goods manufactured elsewhere. As developing countries in other regions of the world embark on aggressive programs of economic
Forms of thought, from what Lévi-Strauss called the “systematization [of] what is immediately pre... more Forms of thought, from what Lévi-Strauss called the “systematization [of] what is immediately presented to the senses,” to the causal theories studied by Evans-Pritchard in witchcraft, have generally been interpreted as an expression of a specific language or “culture.” In this paper, I discuss this way of defining thought. Three classic objections are examined: (1) societies sharing the same “system of thought” may speak different languages, and vice versa; (2) if a relation between language and thought exists, it is an indirect and controversial one, and we should never take it for granted (or infer qualities of thought from language structures) without further investigation; (3) the languages that we use to qualify different kinds of thought are constantly translated. Through a discussion of the context of translation, I argue that instead of seeing the possibility of translation as a theoretical difficulty for defining thought, we could, on the contrary, consider the ethnography...
Nouvelles Études Francophones, 2010
Nouvelles Études Francophones, 2013
Aux Antilles, l'exploration de la condition de l'Antillais se fait solidairement avec une... more Aux Antilles, l'exploration de la condition de l'Antillais se fait solidairement avec une réflexion sur le sens de genres porteurs d'histoire tels que l'épopée ou la tragédie, surenchérissant ainsi la figure héroïque. Quel écho la mise en garde de Mireille Rosello contre "un héroïsme entaché de pensée occidentale", ou encore la postulation par Edouard Glissant d'un "roman du nous" trouvent-elles auprès des écrivains ? Cet article analyse le défi qui interpelle ces derniers: articuler un héroïsme endogène en phase avec une histoire frappée de la "carence héroïque". La rupture idéologique qu'opère l'écrit antillais initie en même temps le procès de l'Histoire. La présente réflexion se penche sur la contribution de l'écriture antillaise à la théorie littéraire et au discours sur la subjectivité en littérature postcoloniale.
Francophonies d'Amérique, 2012
La trajectoire intellectuelle d’Édouard Glissant aura été le reflet d’un engagement qui, à l’orig... more La trajectoire intellectuelle d’Édouard Glissant aura été le reflet d’un engagement qui, à l’origine insulaire, dépassa vite les confins de sa Martinique natale, débouchant sur un projet humaniste original. Si les premiers écrits de Glissant prennent un accent fanonien dans l’urgence du sujet colonial de s’affirmer, la maturation de sa pensée dénote cependant une réévaluation du discours de Fanon, de même qu’un rejet de l’humanisme rationaliste de la Modernité auquel Aimé Césaire adhéra. Progressivement, le « lieu » (terre natale) devient la matrice à partir de laquelle s’élabore la « poétique de la relation » qui ouvre sur le monde, porteuse d’un nouvel humanisme.
Art In Translation, 2012
Abstract The article addresses the subject of primitivism in twentieth-century Western art from M... more Abstract The article addresses the subject of primitivism in twentieth-century Western art from Matisse to Frans Kline. Writing from an anthropological perspective, the author starts with a critical discussion of received notions of primitivism as proposed by the art historians Goldwater(1938) and Rubin (1984). Arguing that primitivism goes beyond the issue of formal or iconographic borrowing, Severi proposes that primitivism be understood as a “morphology of cultural exchange.” Drawing on a range of theoretical writings, such as Carl Einstein on African art, Pavel Florensky on icon painting, and Barnett Newman on abstract art, the author examines primitivism in relation to complex issues of space and visual perception. In conclusion, the relationship between Western and non-Western art is a dialectic between what is given in the image and that which is marked as its invisible part. It is through visual plays with “empathy” as a means for intensifying the image that the primitive becomes, in the eye of the avant-gardes, the ancestor of the modern.
*This book is part of the Cambria African Studies Series, headed by headed by Professor Toyin Fal... more *This book is part of the Cambria African Studies Series, headed by headed by Professor Toyin Falola (University of Texas at Austin) and Professor Moses Ochonu (Vanderbilt University). Includes black-and-white images. The 2010 decade marked the 50th anniversary of decolonization and independence across the African continent. Cameroonians celebrated in chorus and pomp the historical threshold, but the memory of Cameroon’s historical resistance to colonial rule continues to remain unsettled. The silence on its troubled recent past and the lack of reflection on the role of collective memory and history in nation building are puzzling. Moreover, no rigorous assessment of the road traveled since independence has taken place. The nation-state on the continent emerged in a particular context, which saw the euphoria of independence dashed by “developmentalism,” a conception of nation building that was repressive, both in the intellectual and the political sense. As a result, the elites of independent Cameroon negated the legacy of the struggles that led to the end of colonial occupation, setting the country on a forced march toward progress and modernity. The discourse, praxis and outcomes of this approach to nation building are the focus of this study. This book traces the roots of the current turmoil and sheds light on overlooked factors impacting nation building in post-colonial Cameroon. It demonstrates the urgency of cross-disciplinary work on African societies and the continued relevance of postcolonial criticism as a theoretical framework. It extends the postcolonial critique inaugurated by Homi Bhabha’s Nation and Narration into twenty-first-century sub-Saharan Africa. It also reframes the question of modernity and development in this context, suggesting an approach with bearing on people’s lived experience. This study draws from a diversity of fields—political science, literature, history, cultural studies, and postcolonial studies—to demonstrate the limitations of a philosophy of nation building that turned into state consolidation. It is a timely study on Cameroon’s currently volatile situation that is applicable to other postcolonial contexts, in Africa and elsewhere. Nation Without Narration is an important book for students and scholars in African studies and history, as well as governmental and nongovernmental organizations involved with Africa
Every year African countries commemorate in pomp their accession to independence in the middle of... more Every year African countries commemorate in pomp their accession to independence in the middle of the twentieth century. At the same time, Africa has never appeared as irrelevant on the international stage as it is today. 1 Moreover, it has never been as economically marginalized. Despite the phenomenal increase in global trade, and the recent growth miracles and transformations in parts of Southeast Asia, African states remain largely characterized by the same old narratives of weak institutions, underdevelopment, poverty and misery. One of the consequences of Africa's development failures has been the continent's inability to effectively appropriate some of the benefits of globalization through increased production and export. Instead of expanding industrial production and creating jobs for its citizens, Africa is increasingly becoming a dumping ground for goods manufactured elsewhere. As developing countries in other regions of the world embark on aggressive programs of economic
Forms of thought, from what Lévi-Strauss called the “systematization [of] what is immediately pre... more Forms of thought, from what Lévi-Strauss called the “systematization [of] what is immediately presented to the senses,” to the causal theories studied by Evans-Pritchard in witchcraft, have generally been interpreted as an expression of a specific language or “culture.” In this paper, I discuss this way of defining thought. Three classic objections are examined: (1) societies sharing the same “system of thought” may speak different languages, and vice versa; (2) if a relation between language and thought exists, it is an indirect and controversial one, and we should never take it for granted (or infer qualities of thought from language structures) without further investigation; (3) the languages that we use to qualify different kinds of thought are constantly translated. Through a discussion of the context of translation, I argue that instead of seeing the possibility of translation as a theoretical difficulty for defining thought, we could, on the contrary, consider the ethnography...
Nouvelles Études Francophones, 2010
Nouvelles Études Francophones, 2013
Aux Antilles, l'exploration de la condition de l'Antillais se fait solidairement avec une... more Aux Antilles, l'exploration de la condition de l'Antillais se fait solidairement avec une réflexion sur le sens de genres porteurs d'histoire tels que l'épopée ou la tragédie, surenchérissant ainsi la figure héroïque. Quel écho la mise en garde de Mireille Rosello contre "un héroïsme entaché de pensée occidentale", ou encore la postulation par Edouard Glissant d'un "roman du nous" trouvent-elles auprès des écrivains ? Cet article analyse le défi qui interpelle ces derniers: articuler un héroïsme endogène en phase avec une histoire frappée de la "carence héroïque". La rupture idéologique qu'opère l'écrit antillais initie en même temps le procès de l'Histoire. La présente réflexion se penche sur la contribution de l'écriture antillaise à la théorie littéraire et au discours sur la subjectivité en littérature postcoloniale.
Francophonies d'Amérique, 2012
La trajectoire intellectuelle d’Édouard Glissant aura été le reflet d’un engagement qui, à l’orig... more La trajectoire intellectuelle d’Édouard Glissant aura été le reflet d’un engagement qui, à l’origine insulaire, dépassa vite les confins de sa Martinique natale, débouchant sur un projet humaniste original. Si les premiers écrits de Glissant prennent un accent fanonien dans l’urgence du sujet colonial de s’affirmer, la maturation de sa pensée dénote cependant une réévaluation du discours de Fanon, de même qu’un rejet de l’humanisme rationaliste de la Modernité auquel Aimé Césaire adhéra. Progressivement, le « lieu » (terre natale) devient la matrice à partir de laquelle s’élabore la « poétique de la relation » qui ouvre sur le monde, porteuse d’un nouvel humanisme.
Art In Translation, 2012
Abstract The article addresses the subject of primitivism in twentieth-century Western art from M... more Abstract The article addresses the subject of primitivism in twentieth-century Western art from Matisse to Frans Kline. Writing from an anthropological perspective, the author starts with a critical discussion of received notions of primitivism as proposed by the art historians Goldwater(1938) and Rubin (1984). Arguing that primitivism goes beyond the issue of formal or iconographic borrowing, Severi proposes that primitivism be understood as a “morphology of cultural exchange.” Drawing on a range of theoretical writings, such as Carl Einstein on African art, Pavel Florensky on icon painting, and Barnett Newman on abstract art, the author examines primitivism in relation to complex issues of space and visual perception. In conclusion, the relationship between Western and non-Western art is a dialectic between what is given in the image and that which is marked as its invisible part. It is through visual plays with “empathy” as a means for intensifying the image that the primitive becomes, in the eye of the avant-gardes, the ancestor of the modern.