Victor Le Vine's Shorter Cameroon Writings, 1961-2007

Yaya Fonye Odette

Sujets

• Social sciences
• African Studies
• Regional Studies

Informations

• Publié par: Langaa RPCIG
• Date de parution: 06 octobre 2014
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9789956792641
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

From his first research there in 1959 until shortly before his death in 2010, Victor Le Vine was a major Cameroon scholar. What he wrote during Cameroon’s first half-century of independence carries implications for the years ahead. This volume introduces and presents eight of his short writings, 1961-2007, five never previously published. They demonstrate his mastery of the intricacies and the sweep of the country’s governance history, and both his own and Cameroon’s importance for African Studies at large.

MILTON KRIEGER, introduced to the study of Cameroon by two scholars shown on this book’s cover, Richard Bjornson and Victor Le Vine, dedicates a legacy volume to Le Vine. It follows his co-authored (with Joseph Takougang)  (Westview, 1998), , 1998- 2011 (Langaa, 2008), and an edited collection of his 1990s writings, (Langaa, 2014).

VICTOR LEVINE’S ICTOR LE VINE’S Shorter Cameroon Writings, 1961-2007 Sh ter Cameroon Writings, 1961-2007

Edited by

Milton Krieger

Edited by Milton Krieger

Victor Le Vine’s Shorter Cameroon Writings, 1961-2007

Edited by Milton Krieger

Langaa Research & Publishing CIG Mankon, Bamenda

Publisher: LangaaRPCIG Langaa Research & Publishing Common Initiative Group P.O. Box 902 Mankon Bamenda North West Region Cameroon [e-mail] www.langaa-rpcig.net Distributed in and outside N. America by African Books Collective [e-mail] www.africanbookcollective.com ISBN: 9956-791-41-5 ©Milton Krieger 2015

DISCLAIMER All views expressed in this publication are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Langaa RPCIG.

Acknowledgments For permissions to reproduce original texts for this volume, the publisher and editor thank the following: Washington University in St. Louis as copyright holder for materials from the Victor T. Le Vine Papers, University Archives, Department of Special Collections, Washington University Libraries, as follow: “Eighteen Months after Independence: Is the Cameroun in Trouble?” (1961, Ch. 1 herein). “Perspectives on Contemporary Politics in Cameroon” (1980, Ch 3 herein). “Cameroon’s April Revolt in Perspective” (1980, Ch. 4 herein). “Crisis and Democratic Succession in Cameroon” (1992, Ch. 5 herein). “Memorandum: Summary Background to the Bakassi Dispute (2007, Ch. 8 herein) Copyright Clearance Center for “The Politics of Partition in Africa: The Cameroons and the Myth of Unification,” Journal of International Affairs XVIII: 2 (1964), pp. 198-210 (Ch. 2 herein).

Jean-Germain Gros for “Ahmadou Ahidjo Revisited,” Cameroon Politics and Society in Critical Perspectives (University Press of America, ISBN-10 0761825916), pp. 33- 59 (Ch. 6 herein). Professor Gros edited this book, holds its copyright, and reserves rights for any full or partial future publication of Le Vine’s contribution. Lynne Rienner Publishers for Victor T. Le Vine, Politics in Francophone Africa (Lynne Rienner: Boulder, CO, 2004), pp. 310-313 (Ch. 7 herein). Cover Photo: Richard Bjornson, Victor Le Vine, Dieter Keester and Marcien Towa (Left to Right), at a reception hosted by Gilbert Andze Tsoungui, ca. 1980-1981. Photo Courtesy of Nathalie Le Vine.

Table of Contents Preface…………………………………..……………… v Chapter 1: A Precarious Independence, 1961……...……..1 Chapter 2: Cameroon’s “Invented Tradition,” 1964……...11 Chapter 3: An Ambassadorial Briefing, 1980…….……… 35 Chapter 4: Crisis Paper I, 1984………………………….. 55 Chapter 5: Crisis Paper II, 1992……………….…………69

Chapter 6: Ahmadou Ahidjo in Retrospect, 2003……...…85 Chapter 7: Cameroon inPolitics in Francophone Africa, 2004…………………………………...………… 125 Chapter 8: The Bakassi Dispute, 2007…………...……… 137

Conclusion………………………………..………...……161

iii

iv

Preface

This posthumous selection of Victor Le Vine’s shorter writings on Cameroon, of which five appear in print for the first time in this volume, fully spans his half a century’s scholarly career. A pioneer student as Cameroon’s independence approached, few writers from beyond its borders arrived earlier, returned more often, spent more time there (roughly three years) and sustained their interest longer. None were more foundational in charting Cameroon’s dramatic path to independence and beyond, and in linking the Cameroon experience to Africa’s social science scholarship at large. Victor’s diverse background and a trilingual fluency that matched Cameroon’s decades of colonization--born in Berlin in 1928 before his family moved to Paris in 1934 and then to the U.S.A. in 1940--account for his ready access to French and English-speaking parts of Cameroon and to German language materials. Only Harry Rudin among his predecessors and a few other scholars more recently shared such a capacity. Equally decisive was the mid- to late 1950s timing of Victor’s University of California at Los Angeles apprenticeship in political science and African Studies. James Coleman’s campus and national leadership in African Studies and Cold War-Sputnik era funding opportunities in a favorable foreign area studies niche (it was strategic, not just academic) gave Victor’s years there a particular edge. Rene Lemarchand was among Victor’s student colleagues who, like him, soon reached tropical Africa, excelled quickly (Victor was the first to complete the UCLA doctorate) and built

v