Digital Narratives of Belonging as Anglophone or Francophone in a Cameroon Online News Forum

Type Journal Article - Open Linguistics
Title Digital Narratives of Belonging as Anglophone or Francophone in a Cameroon Online News Forum
Author(s)
Volume 2
Issue 1
Publication (Day/Month/Year) 2016
Page numbers 511-527
URL https://www.degruyter.com/downloadpdf/j/opli.2016.2.issue-1/opli-2016-0027/opli-2016-0027.pdf
Abstract
Using readers’ comments on an online news forum (The Post newspaper), this paper describes
patterns of belonging to the historical (colonial) linguistic in-group anglophone and out-group francophone
in Cameroon. These groups emerged from the British-French colonisation of the country after WW1, with
anglophones representing the former British colony and francophones the French. My focus is on the use
of eight plural pronouns and how they index in-group or out-group belonging. Four of the pronouns, we,
our, us and ourselves are used inclusively to create a solid anglophone in-group through the narration of a
common (colonial) history, linguistic background (the use of English) and experiences. The other four, they,
them, their and themselves refer predominantly to francophones as an out-group that must be differentiated
from the close-knit anglophone in-group. I illustrate how, in defending the boundaries of these groups,
the commentators autobiographically narrate the life trajectories of their in-group, highlight its values and
interrogate the moral stance of the out-group. They benefit from the digital space which provides anonymity
and closes the geographical distances between them. Overall, the anglophone in-group narrative emerges
as an autobiographical narrative within the bigger (national) autobiographical narrative of the country, into
which it often opens and is sometimes integrated.

Related studies

»