Education and Language. The National Identity In Cameroon

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DEDICATION

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

ACRONYMS AND ABBREVATIONS

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
1.1.1 The Complexity of the State Cameroon: The Historical Myth
1.1.1.1 The New Cameroon
1.2 Statement of the Problem
1.3 Objectives of the study
1.3. Main Objective
1.3.2 Specific Objectives
1.4. Research questions
1.4.1 Main Research Question
1.4.2 Specific Research Questions
1.5 Significance of the Study
1.6 Scope of the Study
1.7 Definition of key Terms
1.8 Organization of the study

CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORITICAL FRAMEWORK
2.1: Literature Review
2.2.1 Theory of the intermediate theory by Anthony Smith
2.3. GAPS IN THE LITERATURE

CHAPTER THREE
METHODOLOGY OF THE STUDY
3.1 Research Design
3.2 Population and target population
3.3 Sampling techniques and Sample size
3.4 Data collection techniques and instruments
3.4.1 Primary data collection techniques
3.4.5 Secondary data collection
3.6 Validity and reliability of instruments
3.7 Data analysis and presentation

5.5 Suggestions for Further Research

REFERNCES

APPENDICES

DEDICATION

To my Late Uncle NANGANG DANIEL WEMBA who passed away during the period of my research and to the NGONGANG’S and NGANJE’S family for their support and prayers for this project.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I sincerely thank my Supervisor Professor Uwem Essia and my co-supervisor Mr Hansel Kukangleh Tanteh for their support, corrections, guidance, patience and cooperation despite their busy schedule, and which contributed tremendously towards the completion of this work.

Thanks also goes to all the intellectuals, and Cameroonians who despite their tight schedule offer some information to regard of the work.

I also wish to thank my family members, especially Professor Nganje Therese. Also individuals like; Elijah Etim, Doctor Daniel Ekongwe, Doctor Ndi Richard, for their enormous efforts and all their prayers, financial and moral support to guarantee that this work is successful.

Special thanks goes to my siblings, friends like; Sophie Ngouakang, Derick Suh, Tatiana Mayo, Natacha Olinga, Monny Mpah, Hanson Ngwene, Erica Wankem and especially my course mates and BOD of WEM’AFRIKA. Their advices, moral support gave me the motivation, ideas and courage to hammer ahead during the difficult moments of the work.

Finally, I give thanks to God for his Grace which took me through this work to get to this expected end.

ACRONYMS AND ABBREVATIONS

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

ABSTRACT

Since November 2016, Cameroon has witnessed violent conflicts due mainly to its colonially brewed linguistic cum cultural divide. What is now referred to as the ‘Anglophone Crises’ has manifested seriously in the struggle by the English-speaking minority to preserve its language, education and judiciary systems, against perceived threats of assimilation by the majority French-speaking population who tend to dominate the central government, given that they are in majority. Therefore, this work set out to show that the absence of national identities, especially in the languages and education systems adopted by Cameroonians, poses serious challenges to achieving durable peace and sustainable nation building. A qualitative content analysis was used for the study. Content in the social studies where materials read and collected from both primary and secondary sources to determine pattern and generate themes. The study were analyzed descriptively and presented in graphs, tables and charts, while critically the study found that although common understanding is growing across the English-speaking and French-speaking Cameroonian population, the State has done far too little to create, popularize and mainstream concrete tokens of national identity, such that over time the evolved ‘Cameroonian’ identity progressively displaces the alien and divisive “Francophone and Anglophone” identities. Accordingly, a multi- stakeholder, all-inclusive and continuing national dialogue process should be institutionalized to construct national identities to serve pivots upon which national policies on communication, education and adjudication are anchored. Achieving the above outcomes however, calls for political will, sincerity of purpose, and sound diversity management and peacebuilding policy implementation capacities.

Keywords: Peacebuilding, Nation building, Identity, Education, language, policy

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the Study

Conventionally, a nation is a community of people of the same descent, integrated geographically in settlements or neighborhoods and culturally by a common language, customs, and traditions, but who are not yet politically integrated in the form of state organization. In other words, a group gathered together in an area to common descent is described as a nation. (Kedourie 1971). The idea of state sovereignty and nation states became popular after the French Revolution. By the 19th century, the conservative representatives of the German Historical School equated the principle of nationality with the ‘principle of revolution’ (Habermas 1995). National identities are common norms and cultures that define a peoples within a nation state or society. Besides that, National identity involves “feelings of closeness to and pride in one’s country and its symbols” (Citrin et al., 2001), “ways of being and sense of place and belonging” (Byrne, 2007). National identity is constructed through lived experiences, everyday practices, and stories and myths. National identity is more symbolic than related to a nation’s political ideology (Huddy&Khatib, 2007). Political ideology does not affect people’s deep and all-encompassing love for their country. Regardless of political changes, people maintain their deep attachment to their homeland. People with strong national identity engage in activities to improve their country’s present and future. For example, they pay more attention to politics, stay abreast of current national news, and are more likely to vote. “National identity does not merely imply the embodiment of a cognitively constraining cultural outlook, as cross-cultural writers suggest, but is itself a flexible cultural creation into which people impute variable and fluctuating meanings” (Ailon-Souday, &Kunda, 2003,). The meaning and significance of national identity, like other social identities, depends on the context. National identity does not dominate most people’s everyday lives; however, certain circumstances bring sharp awareness to national identity, its complexity and ambiguity.

Miroslav Hroch, described the birth of national identity in three phase process. The first stage is occurring primarily in “non-historic” nations where there’s either the lack of an indigenous elite or whose elites were assimilated into an imperial culture( smith,1983, Prizel 2004).this is seen when their interest is developed through artifacts of a distance and peasant traditions to validate a sense of national separateness. The second stage is the infusion of cultural separateness from a narrow circle of intellectuals to the masses and the last stage is when overtly political organizations results fusing the intellectuals and the masses creating a broad-based national movement, following the common path of the 19th century (hroch, 1985). Nation building in Europe began since the 18th century, but in Africa many nations were created after World War II (Alberto and Reich 2015; Kolsto 2000).

1.1.1 The Complexity of the State Cameroon: The Historical Myth

Cameroon as a state was built in the complexity of different colonial powers. Cameroon is a unitary state where implementation of a program of decentralization is ongoing. In the year 1961, the two Cameroons (former Southern British Cameroons and the French the Republic of Cameroon) were unified to form what was then known as the Federal Republic of Cameroon. Cameroon acts as a gateway and a link to other landlocked Central African countries. At the same time, its geographical, cultural and linguistic diversities has made nation building quite complicated.

Inclusively, Cameroon is the only African country with a history of three colonial rulers. In July 1884, a part of the coastal Cameroon around the city of Douala was annexed to German Empire by a “Germano–Douala treaty”, a treaty signed between the Douala ethnic group leaders and German firms. Gradually, the German Empire penetrated to inlands of the region and conquered the territory, thereby forming the foundations for Cameroon’s borders as they are today. Cameroon was governed as a German protectorate (Schutzgebiet) until 1916, when it was unofficially partitioned between France and Britain countries that fought against Germany in Cameroon during the First World War. (DeLancey and Mokeba 1990).

In 1922, the League of Nations made this arrangement legal when it converted the regions into “mandate territories”. 80 % of the territory and its population were to be governed by the French government, and the remaining 20 % by the United Kingdom. (International Crisis Group 2010a). Due to this division, still today 20 % of the population speak English and 80 % French as a second language (Cumming 2007). Both France and Britain ruled their territories using the traditional chieftaincies as intermediaries of administration. In areas, where there were not enough powerful chieftaincies at hand to be used for collecting taxes or mobilizing labour for plantations or infrastructure construction sites, they were simply created. This created foundations for certain ethnic divisions and tensions of today’s Cameroon. (Geschiere 1993)

After the Second World War, in 1946 the mandates were converted into “trust territories” of the United Nations. By the UN Charter, Britain and France were obligated to develop their trust territories towards greater autonomy and ultimately independence. (DeLancey and Mokeba 1990). In the Brazzaville Conference in 1944, General Charles de Gaulle declared a new, more just and liberal era to begin in the French colonial politics. However, the rhetoric was not to develop the French colonies politically for the independence. For example, in Cameroon the French government later participated in the violent suppression of the nationalist movements in the 1950’s at the dawn of the independence of the French Cameroon. (Deltombe et al. 2011).

1.1.1.1 The New Cameroon

The mandate period with international pressure coming from the UN, was central for the state and nation building of Cameroon. In both British and French trust territories, national assemblies were established. The Representative Assembly of Cameroon ( Assemblée Représentative du Cameroun, ARCAM) was established in 1946 in the French Cameroon. The ARCAM was replaced by the Territorial Assembly in 1952 ( Assemblée Territoriale du Cameroun, ATCAM ), by the Legislative Assembly in 1957 ( Assemblée Territoriale du Cameroun, ALCAM) and finally by the National Assembly of Cameroon (ANCAM) in 1960. (De Lancey 1990).

The British Cameroons was administrated as part of Nigerian states, but the Lyttleton constitution in 1954 brought a degree of autonomy to the territory (International Crisis Group 2010a). Labour unions and political parties were allowed to be established for the first time. The nationalist party “The Union of the Peoples of Cameroon” ( Union des peuples du Cameroun, UPC) was formed by young and educated Cameroonians in the French Cameroon in 1948 and it became the first true mass party, gaining popularity also in the British Cameroons. The UPC criticized France’s colonial politics for the lack of support to political development. Ultimately, the party started to demand independence with the country borders as they had been during the German protectorate in 1914. (Nsoudou 2009; Deltombe et al. 2011).

The French colonial regime was determined to silence the rising voices of the masses, and Started a harassment campaign against the UPC. This led to an outburst of riots in the southwestern parts of the French Cameroon, especially in Douala in May 1955. The authorities violently suppressed the riots and the blame was put on the UPC. The UPC party was banned and it entered into a guerrilla war against the French administration.

With the help of the pro-France Cameroonian authorities, broad search and destroy missions followed. The founder and leader of the party, Ruben Um Nyobe was assassinated by a combined French and Cameroonian mission in 1958. The last notable UPC leader, Ernest Ouandié was executed in public as late as in 1971(International Crisis Group 2010a Nsoudou 2009). In January 1960, the French Cameroon was declared independent, thereby forming the Republic of Cameroon. Backed by France, the Prime Minister Ahmadou Ahidjo became the first president without any formal elections. (DeLancey and Mokeba 1990).

The development in the British Cameroons also took a course towards ending the trusteeship system. As the neighbouring Nigeria and the French Cameroon had both become independent in 1960, the question of the future governance of the British Cameroons became topical. The United Nations coordinated the negotiations and put forward the option of integrating the area either to Nigeria or to the Republic of Cameroon. Previously the French Cameroon). No option of becoming independent was given. The voting on integration to either one of the countries was organized separately in the British Southern and Northern Cameroons. In February 1961, the British Southern Cameroonians voted for merging with the Republic of Cameroon, whereas the British Northern Cameroonians voted for integration with Nigeria. Further, Britain’s colonial strategy had been to administer its territory as two separate entities (Northern and Southern Cameroons), which was to prevent nationalism from emerging. As a result, the territories had developed regional identities. (DeLancey and Mokeba 1990; International Crisis Group 2010a).

Although the new state was made federal (the Federal Republic of Cameroon), the reunification was a disputed process, which left an English speaking minority discontent with their decreased political influence. Negotiations for forming a new federal constitution were led by Ahidjo, the president of the Republic of Cameroon, who aimed to ensure the interests of the “Francophone Cameroon” that is (With the Francophone Cameroon is refer to as the French-speaking part of the federal Cameroon, hence to the previous Republic of Cameroon. With the Anglophone Cameroon is referred to the previous British Southern Cameroons, the area that in 1961 voted for integration with the Republic of Cameroon in the new federal state). The Federal constitution ensured bilingualism with French and English as official languages, and the dual education system was maintained. However, against the will of the Anglophone Cameroon, the highly centralized model for governance adopted from France remained.

Political decision making power was centralized in the federal capital, Yaoundé and the presidency became an institution with de facto unlimited power. The British Southern Cameroon ceased to exist and was reduced to one of the six provinces, henceforth known as West Cameroon (Since the administrative reform of 1983 the area is divided into two provinces: the Northwest and the Southwest. No formal mechanisms were put in place to ensure that all regions would receive financial allocations from the state budget.

The allocations remained discretionary, subject to annual non-binding applications from regions to Yaoundé. The discontent of the Western Cameroonians following the unbalanced power relations is in many studies described as the “Anglophone problem”. Until today, there are voices appearing in the West Cameroon, with demands for greater autonomy and even independence. (International Crisis Group 2010a; Abé 2006)

As the above review may suggest, recent “Anglophone agitations” is rooted in the countries checkered and fractured history. Agreeably the situation is compounded by inadequate tokens of national identity that reduces the “Francophone- Anglophone divide”. For instance, Cameroon has no national currency or legal tender, no indigenous language has be developed to the level of a national language, education and legal systems are widely divergent along colonial lines, and the Cameroon National Anthem render in the French and English languages are different. Apart from football, nothing else appear to unite Cameroonians as a people.

It is understandable as Ngwa (2006) notes that Cameroonians are drawn from over 250 ethnic cleavages and ancestral origins, cultures, customs and traditions. But many countries including the United States, China, Russia and Canada have similar heterogeneous origins but are able to evolve formidable rallying forces of nation building that unite them as one people. This has been quite challenging to Cameroon and several other African countries. Hence the present study investigates how Cameroon can reconstruct unifying national identity around its education systems and language.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

According to Opio (2000), nation-building will allow the post independent African countries to reshape and unify the different ethnic/linguistic groups that make up the country around patriotic national values and sentiments. After independence, President Ahmadou Ahidjo adopted the policy of “ citoyenneté nationale” meaning national citizenship to unify the English-speaking and French-speaking sides of Cameroon. This policy framework is also adopted by President Paul Biya, although with slight variation in approach (Ndjio 2012; Monga 2000; Socpa 2002). These strategies have largely remained on paper as Cameroonians have remained widely divided along the “Anglophone and Francophone lines”. The business of the state is predominantly conducted in the French language, and the promise of having French and English languages as comparable national languages appear far from being achieved.

Nation building requires cultural cohesiveness, economic solidarity, ecological balance, and moral and spiritual consensus. Achieving the above outcomes requires that government protect lives and property, and more seriously adopt common set of values and beliefs that are grounded on high moral and ethical standards that guarantee economic freedom, protects property rights and guarantees the dignity of labor and concerns for vulnerable persons. Beyond the “Anglophone – Francophone” divide, Cameroonians easily retreat to their small groups based on blood, kinship, religion and business instead of national or patriotic identities. Moreover, Cameroonians are not adequately informed about their history, making it increasingly difficult to younger Cameroonians to connect to the past adequately.

The continued coexistence in Cameroon of French-speaking and English-speaking Judicial and education system after over 50 years of unification is undoubtedly unhealthy for nation building. However, far more disruptive to nation building is the growing fear of a deliberate policy by the French-speaking dominated State to completely extinguish or wipe off the among many English-speaking Cameroonians that the precolonial values and institutions, particularly the education and legal systems are being displaced and their advantages of their historical heritage completely wiped off Cameroon’s history. This fear, real or ephemeral, is behind on going “Anglophone crises”, which requires urgent remedial action before it assumes the dimension of civil war. How to build national identity around language and the education system, so as to promote peacebuilding is the main motivation for this work.

1.3 Objectives of the study

1.3. Main Objective

The main objective of this work is to investigate how national identity in Cameroon can be constructed around education and language.

1.3.2 Specific Objectives

The specific objectives are the following:

I. To investigate how the education system in Cameroon promotes/support national identity and nation building.
II. To examine how language can support nation building in Cameroon
III. To investigate the challenges of nation building in Cameroon

1.4. Research questions

1.4.1 Main Research Question

How can national identity in Cameroon be constructed through education and language.

1.4.2 Specific Research Questions

I. How can the educational system in Cameroon promote national identity and nation building?
II how can language serve as a support towards nation building in Cameroon?
III what are some of the challenges of Nation building in Cameroon?

1.5 Significance of the Study

The significance may be assessed in the dimension of nation building.

1.5.1 To nation building policy

To continue, nation building will serve as a new strategy in which the country has failed to construct for so many years. That’s because a country which has attained nation building should not still be faced with issues of identity but rather of developmental problems like climate change, diseases and many others.Therefore the study is a call for action. For the academic community to reveal the identities in both cultural, multi lingual and educational. These factors are the backbone for development in Cameroon that is in a crises that is concerned on identity.

1.5.2 To Research

Further, the study is of significance and relevant to contemporary issues. That is so because, the world of the 18th century was on states coming together for a national cohesion but today states are requesting for their identity and this is why this study is contributing on the issue of identity in the sector of sovereignty.

1.5.3 To the commission of multiculturalism and Bilingualism

The study again is a method towards nation building and peace building policy in Cameroon. Policies that are implemented in Cameroon should be towards peace and not a reoccurrence of the same roots of conflict. Therefore the study seeks to create and awareness that foreign community should not impose their identities in Cameroon because they are based on interest and those interest should be under the terms of the Cameroon government. This is for the purpose of stable peace and security in the country.

1.5.4 To the ministries of Education, Culture and communication

The study serve as a stimulator to government officials, elites, experts, as well as Cameroonians to promote a Cameroonian identity serving for the purpose of a peaceful nation in other to accept and create a one Cameroon. Having failed to evolve as a nation the purpose of the research is to draw attention to the deviations from the Cameroon deviation in the “National Integration” agenda and generate debates on how to foster a national identity and culture in Cameroon. As a way for building a Cameroon after its union with a new Cameroon. The shift in policies and social cohesion has been a hindrance to a peaceful nation.

1.6 Scope of the Study

The study used materials on policies, nation building documents, newspapers, seminars presentations, archival documents, books and articles concerning issues of national identities on language and education.

1.6.1 Time Delimitation

The study span covers from the 1961 of the Federal Republic of Cameroon to the Republic of Cameroon. That’s because the structure of a better Cameroon began from those constitutions that existed of different nations who opted to become one.

1.6.2 Thematic Delimitation

The study is on Cameroon with the specific focus on the political development of the country and policies and strategies used for building a nation.

1.6.3 Geographical scope

1.6.3 Study delimitation

The population targeted are academicians, elites, civil societies and the common people. My focused on these people is because they understand the various concepts of nation building and what best strategy is used to build a better Cameroon in their respective domain while the common people will better explain what their differences are and what are their similarities in which the government has failed to portray a Cameroonian identity.

1.7 Definition of key Terms

a.) Identit y: Identity is a description or, in other words, the definition of the existence and belongingness. The identity consists of two pillars: identifier and identified. (Eralp 1997:19) In our concern, the individual subjected identified as a ‘self’, and the society is the main identifier as an ‘other’. It is an alterity, otherness and an ambiguous notion which gets its meaning from what it is not, from the ‘other’ as Derrida argued: “All identities can exist with their ‘difference’. There exist no cultures or cultural identity which does not have its ‘Other’ of the ‘self’ ” (Derrida 1992: 129).
b). Peacebuilding : Boutros-Ghali denotes peacebuilding as “an action to identify and support structures which will tend to strengthen and solidify peace to avoid a relapse into conflict”. Even more precise, he describes post-conflict peacebuilding as taking “the form of concrete cooperative projects which links more countries in a mutually beneficial undertaking and will not only contribute to economic and social development but also enhance the confidence that is so fundamental towards stable peace.”
c) National identity : Nation identity is one's identity or sense of belonging to one state. A nation is as a collective whole which is represented by linguistic, geo-politics, culture, and distinctive traditions. National identity may refer to the subjective feeling one shares with a group of people about a nation, regardless of one's legal citizenship status. National identity Psychosomatic terms as "an awareness of difference", a "feeling and recognition of 'we' and 'they'". The expression of one's national identity seen in an optimistic light is nationalism which is characterized by national pride and positive excitement of love for one's country. The exciting expression of national identity is prejudice, which refers to the firm belief in the country's superiority and extreme loyalty toward one's country.
d. Education: Education can be regarded as a tool for intellectual emancipation and empowerment, for adaptation to prevailing power structures, or at worse –for well-planned intellectual oppression and indoctrination. Hence, there is no neutral, objective education. Especially in countries with a colonial past, education should be efficiently harnessed for the “decolonization of the mind”. (Ngatcha 2002,).

Education means a change in man's conduct of life. It means the upgrading of a man's ability to choose the best alternative available in any circumstance he faces. It means the development of the person to prepare him to adopt the best approach to a problem at any given time. Education defined as 'adjustment ability to a changing situation and environment'. Education is more than an economic investment: it is an essential input upon which life, development and the survival of man depend. We all know that it is the responsibility of everyone in a country to educate; whether we are parents, adults, children, or teachers, in the public or private sector, education is the responsibility of everyone. But however we see the needs and problems, most of us would agree that the role of education is to help provide the opportunity for all people to develop as fully as possible.

E. Language

A Common Language is another factor of nationality or one of the elements of nationality. The people speaking the same language feel alike; unity of language helps establishment of common idea, tradition and culture. According to Fichte, a common language is a bond of unity. In the words of Boehm, “The concept of mother tongue has made language the source from which springs all intellectual and spiritual existence. The mother tongue represents the most suitable expression of spiritual individuality.” A common language is, however, not an indispensable factor of nationality. For example, the Gaelic and English speaking people together form the Scottish nationality, and a difference of language has not proved to be an obstacle in the way of unity among the Scots. In Cameroon, there are two official languages which are English and French and these languages has brought more division than unity.

1.8 Organization of the study

The structural organization of this work is made up of five chapters. Chapter one is introduction, and it is composed of the background of the study, statement of the problem and the objectives. The objectives of the study shows what the study is all about and includes the research questions, the scope of the study. Chapter two focuses on the literature review and theoretical framework. It is a review of what other researchers and scholars have contributed to the topic and how this research is different from what these earlier writers have written. Many scholars and intellectuals have written significantly on nation-building and national identity and whereas there have been somewhere the literature is located and addressing those gaps left by some scholar’s and agreeing to what other academics have written and said. Concerning the theoretical framework, the theories which have applied to other studies and is very reliable for this present study as a guide to the research. Chapter three is about the research methodology which explains how the study was carried out. It is it qualitative and is it going to provide the findings for the results. Chapter four examines the data, which is concerned with what methods used and what were the presents the outcomes and of the various conclusions. Chapter five is the findings and on the recommendations, with the results on the table what is the final response to the study and what has to do for further studies.

CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORITICAL FRAMEWORK

2.1: Literature Review

2.1.1 Conceptual review

2.1.1.1 Education

According to Mahatma Gandhi, education not only moulds the new generation, but reflects society’s fundamental assumptions about itself and the individuals who comprise it. By education, he meant, an all-round development drawing out of the best in the child’s body, mind and spirit. He stated that literacy is not the end of education.

Based on this, education was viewed as a continuous process which results in emotional development, social adjustment, physical well-being and vocational competence. Some philosophers like Rousseau, Pestalozzi, Froebel, Basedow and other contemporaries were the prime movers of this view. It was felt that the school’s purpose should be broadened to include all facets

of human development. They did not affirm that the schools should not develop the intellectual powers of pupils, but they asserted that all the activities of human life are the concerns of the school.

Progressive education came into focus with the renowned and reform philosophers like John Dewey, Francis W. Parker, and William Wirt who were also known as progressivists. Progressive education movement was influenced by the new scientific outlook and the empirical discoveries which were at their peak during that time. Thinkers like J.S. Mill, Spencer, John Dewey and his followers reflected on the concept of education, influenced by the social and economic conditions, which shifted from the individual to group or collective freedom. It was felt that man’s nature is social in origin and hence the educational activities are of prime importance in making man of what he is. The educational institutions were viewed as the agents with the responsibility for not only making the social nature of the pupils and also for the reconstruction of society itself. It was also implied that what the child is, or will become, depends upon society. Education is seen from the notion of individual’s free choice. Extending further, it was also felt that the education given by teachers who understand growth and development will somehow predetermine the person to make choices which are in harmony with nature.

Furthermore, Education is also considered as a process of initiation, like saying, that it is an activity rather than it is a concept or idea. You must have come across the cultural practices in certain communities of initiating the child into learning which is celebrated as a ceremony (Akshara Abhyasa). Similarly, the above educational viewers, especially R. S. Peters, considered education as a process of initiation into what is considered as worthwhile for the child to learn. He extends his ideas further, saying that education involves essentially certain processes which intentionally transmit what is valuable in an intelligible and voluntary manner and creates in the learner a desire to achieve it.

2.1.1.2 Language

Stalin, in his attempts to place his policies on a true basis described the concept of nation, according to him “a nation is a historically constituted, stable community of people, formed on the basis of a common language, territory, economic life, and psychological make-up manifested in a common culture”(Yuri, 1994) . Therefore accepting nations as “imagined communities” it becomes easy to understand the link between nationalism and language. The formation of nation-states on common traits and features paved the way for the spread of national consciousness among the people. Thus, as soon as the political units of any country turned their face to the ideal of nationalism they had to describe and depict the image of being part of one culture which is standardized through the use of certain concepts and symbols. The importance given to the language, hence, became visible in the descriptions which were made in the early 1900s. Accordingly, in order to provide the acceptance of the national discourse by the people of a country, the political elite have to use certain elements and components. Fishman argues that nationalism requires certain elements to keep the mechanism alive, accurate, and verified. Fishman’s description of nationalism as the “organizationally heightened and elaborated beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors of societies acting on behalf of their avowed ethno-cultural self-interest” (fishman,1972). This puts forward the fact that people believe in commonality and coherence in their social and political life in order to be a part of a nation. The establishment of a coherence within a nation-state is of paramount importance as it serves to be the leading factor in preventing the emergence of possible conflicts as well as the ignorance of the national identity. At that point, the importance of the use of language as an element of authenticity and commonality makes sense. Fishman argues that, “vernacular so commonly becomes such a symbol that it is the carrier of all other notions and symbols advanced by nationalism”.

The emphasis given on the symbolic aspect of language in the context of nationalism serves to be an important point of verification in accordance with the main argumentation of this thesis. To this end, in line with what Fishman says, language is not only a means of communication but it could be considered as a tool that would secure the transference of the historical and traditional data from one generation to another by creating commonality among people as assuming the task of being a national symbol.

According to Urciuoli, “borders emerge in specific contexts as a metonymy of person, language, and origin category”. When language is considered to be a border or boundary for the people of one nation, the symbolic aspect of it verified once again by assisting the argument of this thesis. Schmid explains that, “a common vernacular also establishes effective boundaries between different groups” by creating a mobilization between ethnic groups, even if in some cases that might cause a social disturbance. To this end, the argument that language creates borderlines among different groups by defining their national identity, proves the fact that no matter how language operates in the transference of national data among people of one nation, it would act as a symbol of power in creating significant fault lines in between different groups, or in other words different nationalities. Accordingly, the purpose of launching language policies to promote a titular language would not be effective in short-term, however, by repeating the same national discourse these policies might help the urgent need to launch of a national awakening and later on the spread of the national consciousness among the people of one nation.

2.1.1.3 National identity

Mc Crone and Surridge views that national identity is one of the most concepts discussed in the late 21st century but the least understood. It is subtle, elusive, and contain many fragmented qualities under a single heading (Norris, 1991).Epstein explained that national identity is coherent and unified and it is made up of different specialties like national identity and cultural identity, social identity and individual identity have different meaning but drive to a particular objective. It is open to change, redefinition and reconstruction (Epstein, 1995). There’s a need to redefine these identities in other for them to reconstruct in portraying today’s national identities and consciousness.

Those are the various identities that associates building a nation an example from turner and Tajfel explained that Social identity plays a substantial role in the world and the society in which we belong. There’s always a reason for an existence of a particular group and an explanation of a specific behavior, Turner and Tajfel were the first scholars to have developed a social identity theory in other to attempt a statement towards the action and cognition with the help of group processes like; the out-group and in-group identity theory(Trepte, 2006). He further explained by indicating there are all in the quest to achieve self-esteem and self-enhancement. Self –categorization is defined as that factor which stresses the individual belonging to a social category or group (Stets & Burke, 2000). That’s because it concentrates on the causes of the identification and the consequences. Where it draws primarily a wide range of implication of “who you are”. Mostly known as the ‘US” versus “THEM” where the ‘US’ means the in-group identity and the ‘THEM’ means the out-group identity. Tajfel (1979, Mcloed 2008,) continues to stress that in social identity theory prejudice views on other cultures, which is the outgroup might result to racism, and racism to the extreme might leads to genocide. This aspects links towards ethnic identity because ethnicity is another tool towards nation building because a nation is made up of different ethnic identities which come together to form national identity in the world.

Anthony D. Smith in his book “National Identity”, says a nation depends on the models placed by each country or community concerned in which they have certain beliefs, about what constitutes a country as opposed to any other kind of collective cultural identity. He went further to include the adjacent territorial units of a population where they have their homelands, a common mass culture, common historical myths and memories, a universal legal system, a standard division of labour and a method of production with mobility across the territory for members. With all these assumptions they are numerous critics to ensure global divisions and conflicts created by these nations. Therefore, a nation in fact, brings or combine other types of identity class, ethnic and some few but for the permutations of nationalism, the ideology with different ideologies like; on communism, fascism and liberalism. National identity is fundamentally multidimensional and cannot be studied to a single element or induced to a population of artificial means. (Smith, 1991). This illustration by smith is this present work is to present the essentials of how a nation should be in other to attain nation building and stable peace.

Besides the prerequisite of promoting nation building, Smith still continues by asking essential questions of national identity; like the essential “cement of the nation-state”. With the various philosophers from the German Romanticism and the French Enlightenment, answers given to the question asked above. From the French philosopher, a nation-state consists of citizens who agree on a social contract and submit to general legislation. This tradition was called political Nationalism because it was a French enlightenment nationalism which focused on the stimulation of democratic development that is community-based on shared duties. While to the German romantics, thinks that having a mutual concession of the nation-states whose individual share one single language, religion, same historical myths, in fact, a unique culture. They went further by explaining; an individual nationality is not a rational matter of choice but of fate that is an individual born in a nation cannot just choose to leave or join another country ( foreigners remain foreign).

According to Gilroy national identity is a melting pot which has the assimilating character by depending on the notions of citizenship and patriotism. Anderson asserts that national identity is imagined and constructed. Rutherford claims that national identity depends on the uniformity, cultural community and common culture. Calhoun seeks the way to link the national identity to the theory of democracy by means of post-national social formations. Güvenç finds the origins of national identity in the national culture which will be obtained by the socialization processes. Yurdusev establishes a correlation between the national identity and state and he claims that national identity is the yield of nation-building and national ideology. Connor and Smith emphasizes the primordial character of national identity and they use the word ‘primordial’ in the meaning of its back-ward looking character seeking the myth of national origin.

As a contrary Bradshaw says that the national identity has a forward-looking character and this identity emerges with the politicization of an ethnic group looking to the future destiny by sharing the same soil of the homeland. Breuilly, in his book entitled Nationalism and the State elaborates upon the relationship between culture and nationalism. For him this relationship always bears the traces of historical, ethical, and political forces that constitute the often shifting and contradictory elements of national identity (Breuilly 1993). Central to the construction of right wing nationalism is a project of defending national identity through an appeal to a common culture that displaces any notion of national identity based upon a pluralized notion of culture with its multiple literacies, identities, and histories and erases histories of oppression and struggle for the working class and minorities'. According to Breuilly, “to the degree that the culture of nationalism is rigidly exclusive and defines its membership in terms of narrowly based common culture, nationalism tends to be xenophobic, authoritarian, and expansionist'' (Breuilly 1993).

Rutherford claims that national identity based on a unified cultural community suggests a dangerous relationship between the ideas of race, intolerance, and the cultural membership of nationhood. Not only does such a position downplay the politics of culture at work in nationalism, but it erases an oppressive history forged in an appeal to a common culture and a reactionary notion of national identity (Rutherford 1972). Pitting national identity against cultural difference not only appeals to an oppressive politics of common culture, but reinforces a political moralist that polices 'the boundaries of identity, encouraging uniformity and ensuring intellectual inertia'. Calhoun tries to combine the national identity and democracy by using the legal rights. In his words, ''in the first instance, national identity must be addressed as part of a broader consideration linking nationalism and post national social formations to a theory of democracy” (Calhoun 1972). That is, the relationship between nationalism and democracy must address not only the crucial issue of whether legal rights are provided for all groups irrespective of their cultural identity, but also how structures of power work to ensure that diverse cultural communities have the economic, political, and social resources to exercise 'both the capacity for collective voice and the possibility of differentiated, directly interpersonal relations.

2.1.1.4 Nation building

John Stuart Mill was an ardent supporter of the ideal of single-nation states. According to him, ‘‘it is in general a necessary condition of free institutions that the boundaries of governments should coincide in the main with those of nationalities.” In the modern time, President Woodrow Wilson of America advocated the application of this policy after World War I. As a result, new states like Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Finland, Poland, Czechoslovakia etc. came into being. These replaced the old poly national states. Whereas, this principle has some merits, no doubt, but its application may lead to multiplication of the number of states and create a condition for breach of international peace. Hence, some thinkers do not support this principle. Lord Acton, for example, opines that a combination of different nations is as necessary a condition of civilized life as the combination of individuals to form a society.

In this context, the first meaning of the “nation” is implied with the origin and lineage. The findings of the philological researches support this argument. Hobsbawm argues that in an old French dictionary the word ‘nation’ is related with the naissance (birth), extraction (lineage) and rang (status)”. In Low and High German the word “people” (Volk) evocates similar meanings with the words derived from “natio”. In any case, there is a complicated interaction between ‘volk’ and ‘natio’. The term “natie” in German jargon doesn’t mean the Volk, but birth and lineage.

Diderot and d’Alemberte, the French Encyclopedists, define the nation as crowded people who are subjected to the same rule who settle in a particular territory and have a particular border. Sieyes argues that nation is the union of partners who live depending on the same law and be represented by the same legislative power (Sieyes 1982). According to Kedourie, nation is a community from whose executive power the government is responsible (Kedourie 1971). German Encyclopedist Zedler claims that the nation with the peculiar and genuine meaning in 1740s implies a group of unified Burgers sharing common conventions, moral values and laws (Zedler 1940). Whereas, volk, as a more inclusive entity, covers people from different nations within the same provinces and states. It means that the people from different nations can live together in the same region even in the same state. Thus, it can be inferred, that there is no essential linkage between nation and territory. It is inevitable to separate the usage of the word “nation” before and after the age of nationalism and modernization process in order to prevent confusion. The word nation means in middle Ages the Volk (non-politicized public), ordo(a strata in the social stratification), Gesellschalft (a community and people, bigger than family and smaller than tribe, who displays similarity inborn and bearing the identity of a particular ethnicity) in daily language. Natio in ordinary speech originally meant a group of men belonging together by similarity of birth, larger than a family, but smaller than a clan or people. Thus one spoke of the Populus Romanus and not of the natio romanorum (Habermas 1995).

2.1.3 Emperical Review

2.1.1 Education as a support towards nation Building and National identity

In this section we will discuss, Dekone (2012),educational identities of Cameroon under colonization (Britain and France) and how it still represented in modern times and shows how it is one of the causes of disparities between the English-speaking Cameroonian( former East Cameroon) and French-speaking Cameroonians (former West Cameroon). The study articulated the educational systems in British and French Cameroon and how this education transformed the citizens and elites loyalties to their colonial masters up till they obtained independence. Dekone (2012) went further to pin point the roots of this conflict can be found in the “cultural isolation that the “Anglophone” agitated population experiences as a minority in a “Francophone” dominated nation”. The cultural identities of the two regions were molded both during the years of colonial experience, as well as in the time following Independence. The French and the British operated under two very different colonial policies, yet both East and West Cameroon today identify strongly with the culture of their colonizers.

Mukwedeya (2016), elaborated on his paper, how some African Countries have used education as one of the strategies to reconstruct their identity in their country. He brings relevance to Nigeria, Tanzania, and Angola, how the education policy has brought unity and National cohesion in the country. He explained, upon completion of secondary school, graduates were required to serve two years in the National Service which in itself was designed to promote national unity and has since been revived (2013) to curb moral decay and instill a sense of patriotism. This is done in Nigeria. (Kessler 2006).

Ngowo (2017), in his work said building nation building in Cameroon was through civic education and that was implemented in the educational systems. This was taught at the primary, secondary and higher institutions that was done so because such knowledge and understanding should be backed by the skills and abilities of critical thinking, abilities to analyze information, debates, engage in peaceful negotiation of conflicts and effective participation in community life. The subject matter also divulges values and dispositions for the respect of justice, democracy and the rule of law as well as the willingness to listen and work with others

Anttalainen (2013), view history education as a method of attaining a national identity by changing the dynamics of the subject. School textbooks reveal officially recognized historical truths in a country, and therefore provide a fruitful source for studies on historical consciousness and national identity. Eurocentrism and western traditions of historiography are essential to take into account in the African context. Also in Cameroon, the schooling was originally established by colonial regimes and aimed at colonizing the mind of the natives. Colonial heritage has shaped the history writing in the African context until the present day and has its effects also on the analyzed Cameroonian textbooks.

Eastmond and Cukur (2011) reviewed Education in “Education and the relevance of national identities: Responses to post-war curricula in two local settings in Bosnia-Herzegovina” by reflecting the contradictions and tensions that exist between political levels in Bosnian society. Multi-ethnic or integrated education is the official policy adopted at State and Federal levels, and is actively promoted by the international community (OHR). Explained further the decentralized state structure, however, responsibility for education rests with the Canton. The ten cantons in the Federation today reflect, (as does Republika Srpska), the ethnically restructured demography, five are Bosniac and three are Croat dominated (to which return of members of the minority population to their former homes are often resisted). The remaining two are mixed (Croat-Bosniac). In these mixed cantons local governance is often an ethnically polarized and conflict-ridden process and the tensions between a local, ethnically segreated practice and a federal multi-ethnic policy become most evident and problematic there. This work is similarity with the present study in which the disparity in education has led to conflict and disunity in the country.

Fazilah (2011), expatiated his understanding on education by pouring more views on national identity and youths in reference to Education. Thus, all the science of education both in terms of skills, academic and personal is very important to the country in forming the personality of youth today. Education received by students is what shapes the identity of the country where education have a substantial impact on life opportunities to acquire good quality and identity. Therefore, quality education is a dynamic concept of change and evolves over time and changes in the context of social, economic and environmental.

According to Ross and Wu (1996), education level of individuals incapable of managing the quality of life for economic and social development depends on the education received. Through education, individuals can build self-esteem among them the confidence to face the world and society and to understand the heart's desire.

Wehmeyer (1996) states that self-assertiveness is the foundation of one's life. With firmness, individuals are capable of making choices and decisions on actions and break free from outside influence or interference that is not beneficial. Assertiveness and confidence is a knowledge derived from education. Without education, ones self-esteem is not as strong as a person who acquires knowledge in education.

In his study On Collective Memory Maurice Halbwachs states that “if a truth is to be settled in the memory of a group it needs to be presented in the concrete form of an event, of a personality, or of a locality.” (Halbwachs ) However these forms are empty outside context, which means they need to be accompanied by an interpretation which the state does via two systems: the national educational system and a national ritual system within which memories are institutionalized, (Misztal)

Palonsky (1987) also underlines the relation between elementary school instruction and political socialization outcomes, explaining that “no political system could persist without a planned program for inducting succeeding generations into appropriate roles and ideological orientations”.

According to Thompson (1968), these roles and orientations are not static. Upon learning about their national identities, individuals can forget and later on again remember them. This fluid nature of national identities means that they can be reconstructed by schools for the well-being of the state (Barrett, 2000). It is important to emphasize that the process of identity construction and reconstruction does not necessarily appear to the students to be artificial or arbitrary, but as an objective reality -“official knowledge” -which is an inevitable and necessary to become members of the society (Barrett, 2000). Because we tend to view nationality as somehow natural and normal, schools have the power to manipulate individuals’ national commitment through educational materials and ways of instruction that are taken for granted. Manipulation may be interpreted as “amending or reinforcing the patterns of political learning in dramatic and enduring fashion” (Palonsky,1987). Such reinforcement, in turn, happens through a process of cognitive and affective development that determines the pattern of behavior and provides its driving force respectively (Piaget, 1969)

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