Black Skins, European Masks: Transforming the Collective Unconscious in Cameroon

Abstract

Over the last decade, Cameroon has been embroiled in a violent civil conflict. In 2016, protests within the minority Anglophone regions against the obligatory use of French in schools triggered a period of considerable unrest, in which hundreds of people have been incarcerated and killed. Following an increased security presence in the English-speaking regions, armed groups surfaced calling for secession—the creation of an independent nation of Ambazonia. The failure to resolve the crisis peacefully through dialogue has resulted in a spiral of violence between armed separatists and the military. Building on the work of Frantz Fanon, this paper offers an analysis of the construction of these identities before and after European colonisation. In mapping the contours of Francophone and Anglophone assimilation it seeks to explore how the current crisis might be resolved through what Fanon describes as a transformation of the collective unconscious and what the Nigerian philosopher Cyril Orji describes as a psychological transition away from prejudice against the Other.

1. Introduction

There are several studies on what has been described as the Anglophone problem in Cameroon. Since the 1980s the problem has generated a number of publications (Konings and Nyamnjoh 2003; Mukong 1990; Nyamnjoh 1997; Toh 2001; Victor 1999). There are also important historical analyses narrating Cameroon’s complex history (Ardener 1962; Gardinier 1963; Le Vine 1964) and the colonial roots of the present conflict within the country (Benjamin 1972; Johnson 1970; Joseph 1977; Kale 1967). However, while there have been historical, political and even theological analyses (Pratt Morris-Chapman 2022) this study is distinctive in that it explores how the psychological impact of colonialism in this context relates to the current conflict between English and French-speaking Cameroonians.

To accomplish this the paper first introduces Fanon’s discussion of the psychological impact of colonialism and relates his analysis to the ongoing violence in Cameroon. Fanon, a decisive figure in anti-colonial studies, inspired many independence movements around the world (Fanon [1952] 1982). His possible contribution to decolonialism in Cameroon, through the transformation of the collective unconscious, is then complemented with the thought of Cyril Orji’s analysis of bias and psychological conversion. Shaped by the insights of the Catholic philosophers Bernard Lonergan and Robert Doran, Orji outlines the way in which prejudice and bias can reinforce both the legacy of colonialism and the cycle of violence and decline (Orji 2022). In utilizing the insights of both Fanon and Orji, the paper explores how unity might be restored within this context.

2. Black Skins, European Masks

In his work Black Skins White Masks Frantz Fanon argued that, on entering the world, the colonized person is formed in a society in which the original stories, customs and traditional world view have been erased because they conflicted with the oppressors’ cultural norms. Fanon illustrates this point powerfully by describing how, as a child growing up in Martinique, he was formed by the French language, French systems of education and French magazines for children; comics “put together by white men for little white men” which glorified French explorers and missionaries and denigrated non-European cultures as savage. He explains that over time, when combined with European models of education and the teaching of European history, a child begins to identify himself with white men, to see the “Gauls” as his ancestors, to look down on immigrants from Senegal and to adopt a general attitude and way of thinking “that are essentially white”—an attitude which denigrates the original culture of his land and people (Fanon [1952] 1982, pp. 146–48). Tragically, Fanon’s analysis reverberates profoundly with the crisis in contemporary Cameroon.

Over the last decade, Cameroon has been in a state of civil war. In 2016, protests within the minority Anglophone regions against the obligatory use of French in schools and courtrooms triggered a period of considerable unrest. Masses of ordinary Anglophone citizens poured on to the streets in protest. This resulted in a ferocious response by the government in which many people were killed and many more arrested. When people tried to document these atrocities on their phones, the government disconnected the internet to the Anglophone regions of the country (six million people). This only inflamed the situation and within a short space of time many Anglophones took up arms and began calling for secession—the creation of an independent nation of Ambazonia. The governments’ arrest of secessionist leaders has led to anarchy—a proliferation of various armed groups each motivated by their own survival. In short, the failure to resolve the crisis peacefully has led to an intolerable situation for the ordinary population (Pratt Morris-Chapman 2019, p. 1). The reason as to why Africans would go to war over European identities is not only perplexing for external commentators. For example, the Cameroonian philosopher Achille Mbembe states that “for Africans to plan to kill and be killed in the middle of the 21st century in the name of defending English or French traditions would be the height of absurdity” (2017).1 Indeed this native Cameroonian is utterly baffled as to why Anglophone secessionists, calling for an independent nation for the English-speaking population, have chosen to present their cause in terms of an Anglophone identity. Unfortunately, while Mbembe is correct in his assertion that the solution to the crisis is to “truly decolonize” the state so that Anglophones no longer feel disenfranchised, he grossly underestimates the extent of British interference in the territory prior to colonisation (Mbembe 2017a).

The historical encounter between Europeans and the peoples of what became Cameroon predates the colonial era. Indeed, what commentators like Mbembe and others (Ngong 2021) overlook is that the assimilation of Cameroonians to an Anglophone identity began long before Britain obtained formal control of the territory (Pratt Morris-Chapman 2022, pp. 48–74). In 1858 the Baptist Missionary Alfred Saker (1814–1880) established a “colony” in Victoria (present day Limbe). Saker viewed the Cameroonian people as “utterly barbarous” being without “clothing” or “knowledge” and viewed his role as that of bringing British “civilization” (Underhill 1884, p. 133). Unable to separate Christianity from Anglophone identity, many Baptist missionaries like Saker saw themselves as channels of “British” values and “civilization.” They encouraged the indigenous populations to learn English, adopt European dress, and cultural norms (Everill 2012, p. 797). The impact of the Baptist mission on the foundations of an Anglophone identity in Cameroon is considerable. The depth of its impact is visible in the reality of Victoria’s endurance, as an enclave of English culture, throughout the period of German annexation (1885–1916) and beyond (Pratt Morris-Chapman 2022, pp. 49–50). Thus, while it is true that formal British control of the territory was relatively short (1916–1961) in comparison to Britain’s colonization of other territories, the formation of an Anglophone identity predates the colonial period (Pratt Morris-Chapman 2022, p. 50). In short, by the time Cameroon became independent, the local population had endured over a century of pressure to assimilate English language and culture. Moreover, while the formation of a Francophone identity in Cameroon emerged over a shorter period of time (after 1916) the intensity of French colonization produced a similar impact in less than half the time.

Following their victory over Germany in the First World War, France and Britain shared Germany’s overseas colonies between them (Koffsky 1969, p. 21). From 1916 onwards, when Germany lost control of Cameroon, French culture began to penetrate the eastern part of present-day Cameroon. However, while the influence of the French began much later, cultural imperialism remained a central plank of French imperialism. According to Betts, classic French colonial policy may be summarized as follows: “the conquered were to absorb the customs and institutions of the conquerors; it was the white man’s burden translated into the French by the word assimilation” (Betts 1961, p. 30). While it is true that over time colonial policy shifted, as the dissemination of scientific evolution led French colonial authorities to conclude that natural selection prevented non-Europeans from attaining complete assimilation, France continued to believe that the “cultural level of a race can be somewhat raised by means of education” (Betts 1961, p. 68). This at least goes some way as to explain why, in a relatively short period of time, the populations within the Eastern part of the country were assimilated to French language and culture (Konings and Nyamnjoh 2003, p. 8). Thus, while Mbembe is correct that it is absurd that successive Cameroonian governments have sought to Gallicize the English speaking-population through the posting of French-speaking teachers, judges and police to Anglophone regions, Fanon’s analysis exposes the psychological devastation wreaked by the European colonization of the Cameroonian mind. To paraphrase Fanon, the Francophone “wants [everyone] to be like the French man”—for the Francophone “there is only one destiny and it is French. Long ago [he] admitted the unarguable superiority of the French man and all his efforts are aimed at achieving French existence” (Fanon [1952] 1982, p. 228).

3. Transformation of the Collective Unconscious

The above indicates that a central problem in Cameroon is the imposition of European identities. At this juncture Fanon’s insights are highly pertinent but it is important to interpret Fanon’s contribution in relation to the Négritude movement associated with the thought of his fellow Martinican Aimé Césaire, the Senegalese thinker and politician Léopold Sédar Senghor, and the French Guianese poet Léon-Gontran Damas. It should be stressed here that the response of this movement to colonialism was nuanced in that, for example, Senghor highlighted the need to “recover” Africa’s “ancient wisdom” (Shatz 2024, p. 41) and Césaire stressed the importance of looking forward to a pan-African culture which incorporated tradition with “many new elements, modern elements, elements, let us face it borrowed from Europe” (Césaire 1956, pp. 206–7). Nevertheless, Fanon was shaped by these thinkers. He considered the colonized person to be “suffering from an inferiority complex” and “what has to be done is to save him from this” to “rid him of this unconscious desire” to be French by dismantling the myth of French superiority (Fanon [1952] 1982, p. 100). Fanon’s diagnosis of internalized racism and his vision of a liberation of the mind from the lies of colonialism offers a powerful solution to the present conflict in Cameroon. In particular, Fanon’s understanding of the need for people to “become conscious of [the] unconscious and abandon attempts at a hallucinatory whitening,” is central to resolving the current crisis (Fanon [1952] 1982, p. 100). This resonates with the following extract from Steve Biko, who coined the term black consciousness, who powerfully illustrates the problem in hand:

The first step therefore is to make the black man come to himself; to pump back life into his empty shell; to infuse him with pride and dignity, to remind him of his complicity in the crime of allowing himself to be misused and therefore letting evil reign supreme in the country of his birth. This is what we mean by an inward-looking process. This is the definition of “Black Consciousness”.

(Biko 1978, p. 29)

Essentially, the emphasis writers like Fanon and Biko place on black consciousness is highly significant for decolonisation in Cameroon. According to these writers, if complete liberation from colonialism is to be realised in a context like Cameroon there is not only a need for psychological liberation from false narratives concerning European supremacy but a celebration of African identity and culture and pan African unity. Thus, Fanon and Biko argue for a transformation of the collective unconscious. A shift away from inculcated perceptions of Europeans as superior through the re-articulation of narratives, myths and cultural symbols which challenge the insidious deception of the inferiority of non-European peoples. However, while Fanon, Biko and indeed Mbembe are correct about the need for a total decolonization of Cameroon, the question as to what should come after these colonial identities remains unanswered.

At this juncture it is helpful to return to the thinking of Césaire Senghor, and Damas and to what has been described as negritude essentialisms, including:

(1)

Black identity;

(2)

The recovery of African culture;

(3)

Resistance to colonialism and assimilation;

(4)

Pan African solidarity;

(5)

Universal humanism (Panda 2024, p. 475).

These essentialisms are helpful for exploring what decolonization might entail within the Cameroonian context. Is it to be through the (2) rediscovery of indigenous identities. This, argument is furthered by writers like Ngũgĩ who considers that the decolonization of countries like Cameroon must not only entail a recovery of African values and culture but the embrace of African languages and the rejection of European languages (Ngũgĩ 1986). The challenge with this is that the boundaries drawn at the Berlin Conference (1885) divided common ethnic identities. For example, the case of Cameroon illustrates this in that there are a number of groups straddling both sides of its borders with Nigeria and so on (Le Vine 1964, p. 198). Put simply, emphasis on diverse languages within a territory could bring more polarization and division. Moreover, Fanon implies that romanticism toward the past is no real solution in the longer term (Fanon [1952] 1982, p. 225).

With regard to (3) resistance to assimilation by the Francophone government, an option suggested by Anglophones fighting for secession from Cameroon has been that of a common Ambazonian identity (Pratt Morris-Chapman 2022). The challenge facing this suggestion is that, while it has the unrealized potential to unite the various Anglophones from a variety of ethnic groups around a common identity it is difficult to see how this option could lead to a united Cameroon. While Doho posits that an Ambazonian identity could lend itself to (4) the full participation of Anglophones in a wider pan-Cameroonian society, the ongoing violence committed by both the Cameroonian government and the Ambazonian secessionists renders this ever more unlikely each day that the conflict continues (Doho 2020, p. 217). Moreover, in his Wretched of the Earth Fanon himself warns how, rather than being an “all-embracing crystallization” of the hopes and dreams of the nation, national consciousness is highly vulnerable and can all to easily become embroiled in tribal and ethnic rivalries (Fanon [1961] 2004, p. 159). This dynamic has continued to play out among Anglophones themselves and historic tensions between the north and south-west regions of any future Ambazonian nation have the potential to bring disintegration (Bongmba 2021, p. 179). The above would suggest that it is not enough simply to decolonize Anglophone and Francophone identities. While it is unquestionable that the damage wreaked by long assimilation to European culture must be addressed it is also necessary to address the real danger of discrimination and prejudice among indigenous black identities as this could lead to a continuation of the very same cycle of oppression and conflict currently playing out between Francophones and Anglophones (Mbembe 2017b, p. 5). In sum, if (4) unity and (5) a universal humanism are to really be achieved in Cameroon and beyond, it is necessary to unravel the problem of bias and discrimination between different African ethnic groups within this context.

4. Levels of Bias in Cameroon

In his analysis of the causes of ethnic and religious conflicts in Africa, the Nigerian philosopher Cyril Orji argues that “at the root” of conflicts such as the crisis in Cameroon are “deep seated” prejudice that lead to exclusivism and the disintegration of society. He acknowledges that the roots of this prejudice are complex in that while they are indeed due to the (a) devastating impact of the colonial legacy he maintains that (b) the human condition is vulnerable to bias and prejudice (Orji 2008, p. 54). He defines this bias and prejudice as a “block or distortion” in our cognitive processes which prevents us from seeing certain things. His analysis roots this prejudice at a psychological level in that our unconscious censures certain information/data which prevents accurate knowledge of the world and, more importantly for our present discussion, the people around us (Orji 2008, p. 61; Lonergan 1996, p. 231; Doran 1990, p. 34). Thus, we repress from consciousness anything which might contradict that prejudice we have toward the Other. Unfortunately to refuse this information unconsciously is to prevent our cognitional processes from understanding the Other as they really are. Thus, Orji defines prejudice as a “flight from understanding” which impairs relations between the various members of society. He maintains that the rejection of information which conflicts with unconscious levels of prejudice can lead to a breakdown in the social order in that, over time, it can lead various groups within a society to oppress, alienate and marginalize each other (Orji 2008, p. 61). Inspired by the philosophy of Bernard Lonergan (1996, p. 231) he outlines four different stages of prejudice including (i) dramatic bias (ii) individual, (iii) group, (iv) and the general bias of common-sense values (Orji 2008, pp. 68–70). At this juncture it is helpful to briefly explain these different levels of bias in relation to the Cameroonian context.

The notion of (i) dramatic bias echoes Fanon’s analysis of the psychological conditioning and collective trauma resulting from imperial oppression (Orji 2008, p. 68). Like Fanon, Orji argues that assimilation to European cultures, over several generations, has wreaked unimaginable havoc upon the identities of indigenous populations. As Fanon powerfully illustrates, this trauma leads to a deep-seated bias against African identities in favour of European cultural norms (Fanon [1952] 1982, p. 147). However, in the case of Cameroon, the trauma of assimilation has led Francophones to form a negative view, not only of African identities, of any identification which conflicts with French culture. This coheres perfectly with the legacy of French cultural imperialism which emphasized the French right, as “a ‘superior’ society, to dominate and instruct a ‘lesser’ one” (Betts 1961, p. 30). The “success” of this venture in Cameroon is manifest in the government’s inbuilt opposition to Anglophone identity and its repeated attempts to Gallicize the English speaking population at all costs (Pratt Morris-Chapman 2022, p. 79). However, while the decolonialism advocated by writers like Fanon, Mbembe and Steve Biko (Fanon [1952] 1982, p. 28) is essential to challenging this level of bias, Orji argues that there are three other levels of prejudice that need to be addressed if we are to resolve ethnic conflicts such as the crisis in Cameroon.

In addition to the above, Orji argues that central to the human condition, is an (ii) individual bias. Unlike the unconscious trauma powerfully diagnosed by Fanon, this is a “conscious flight from understanding.” Here egoism and the advancement of one’s own self-interest lead to a form of self-deception. He contends that because this individual bias leads us to focus on resolving our own needs, at the expense of others it results in our alienation from the Other (Orji 2008, p. 71; Doran 1990, p. 34). This form of individual bias is vividly identifiable with the president of Cameroon Paul Biya who, during his 43 years as president of Cameroon, has pursued his own personal interests (amassing vast wealth) at the expense of the good of his country (Amin 2021, p. 95). As individual bias leads individuals to repress insights which challenge them from pursuing their own advantage (iii) group bias can lead certain sections of a society to prioritize their own needs and interests to the exclusion of other groups. This leads to a redirection of resources to the benefit of that particular group even if this destabilizes society as a whole. Orji highlights how this form of bias “derails authentic human development by promoting a culture of intolerance.” Over time, competing group interests lock societies into a violent cycle of “alternating power shifts” (Orji 2008, pp. 74–75). This form of prejudice is graphicly illustrated in the socio-economic and political marginalization of the English-speaking regions of Cameroon. Indeed, not only has the resulting conflict seriously impacted upon the economy of the country as a whole (making everyone poorer) the drive to assimilate the Anglophone populace has occurred at a time when several other Francophone countries have deliberately sough to increase educational opportunities in English so as to enable their populations to trade more effectively with neighbouring countries (Eyssette 2020, p. 522).

Over time, group bias can lead to the formation of prejudicial attitudes and twisted values—false principles which promote the short-term interests of a particular ethnic group at the expense of the longer term good of society in general. Orji describes this (iv) general bias of common sense as the most potent source of disintegration within society. Essentially, by repressing ideas that would challenge the interests of the group, it engages in exclusivist actions which breed resentment and even disgust amongst other groups. The latter in turn can become defensive about their own survival and, in the struggle for power, strive to promote their own cause at the expense of their oppressor. In short, the prejudice of the oppressor breeds prejudice in the oppressed and can lead another group into bias creating a new cycle of oppression (Orji 2008, pp. 76–79). This resonates with the situation in Cameroon. The terrible violence committed by both sides in the Ambazonian war illustrates how the brutality of the government has provoked secessionists to commit similar atrocities. Should these armed groups obtain power it is highly likely that the spectre of violence and oppression would manifest itself in new frightening ways (Chia 2023, p. 78).

5. Conclusions

The above indicates that the conflict in Cameroon is rooted in dramatic, individual, group and general bias. Though Fanon is correct to emphasis the urgent need to reverse the devastating impact of colonialism (and its antecedents) on African identity, Orji’s analysis indicates that this is only one part of the solution if real unity is to be achieved in Cameroon (and beyond). On this analysis the transformation of unconscious bias against African identity is only the beginning. Thus, while Fanon, Biko and Mbembe are right to stress the importance of decolonization and the transformation of the collective consciousness, Orji’s philosophical analysis of ethnic conflict in Africa resonates profoundly with the complexity of the crisis in Cameroon. In this context ingrained prejudice against Anglophones by Francophone governments has led to various forms of marginalization and socio/economic debilitation. Indeed, the individual bias of Paul Biya, the bias of successive Francophone governments against their own people and the establishment of policies and political doctrines which favour the erasure of the English-speaking population requires more than decolonization. While the latter is essential it can only form part of the solution in this context if lasting unity and solidarity among diverse African peoples is to be achieved.