Power and Marginality in the Poetry of Nol Alembong and Emmanuel Fru Doh

Abstract

The political history of Anglophones in Cameroon in determining their evolution and growth as a people and community has been bedeviled by intrigues, fraud, manipulations, betrayals, double standards, abuse of power and the marginalization of Anglophones. Given the numerical disadvantage of the Anglophones who constitute only one fifth of Cameroon's population, the Francophones who are in the majority use the political power they possess to oppress, subjugate and repress the Anglophones. The fundamental question that is raised in this article is: for what reason is power acquired in contemporary African politics? Against this backdrop, the poetic orientation of Anglophone Cameroonian poets sprouts from the close scrutiny and consideration of the past and present socio-political, historical, cultural and economic landscape.

Guided by the new historicist critical theory and the socialist realism of the Lukacsian and Leninist-Marxist paradigm in analyzing and evaluating Nol Alembong's Forest Echoes (2012) and Emmanuel Fru Doh's Not Yet Damascus (2007), this paper argues that the poetic works of Alembong and Doh are a response to the social isolation, economic exploitation and political marginalisation of Anglophones in Cameroon. The paper proposes and recommends the culture of dialogue in order to express a response to life and create a harmonious society where peace is maintained and sustained and tension is defused.