University Crisis and Student Protests in Africa: The 2005 -2006 University Students� Strike in Cameroon

Faced with a deepening crisis in their universities, African students have demonstrated a growing activism and militancy. They have been engaged in numerous, often violent, strikes for improvements in their deteriorating living and study conditions and the introduction of a democratic culture in the universities and society as a whole, including the right to express their views, organise in student unions and participate in university management. This book focuses on a recent violent strike action in Cameroon’s state universities, with special attention to the University of Buea – the only English-speaking university in the country between 1993 and 2011. Such a detailed study on student strikes is still rare in African studies, and maybe even more important, this book pays special attention to certain elements that have been of great significance to the strike but are often overlooked in narratives of other student actions in Africa, namely the use of cell phones, differences in gender roles of student activists, the religious dimensions of the strike, the central role of some public spaces like bars and cafés for the planning and execution of student strikes, and the power of the photocopier. The book goes far beyond simply documenting the various protest actions of students against the state and university authorities. It also provides ample room for comments from journalists and other civil-society members and groups on various aspects of the strike. Acnkowledgements | v Chapter 1. Irrepressible Dissent: The University as the Bedrock for Political Transformation in Cameroon | 1 Chapter 2. Scholarship Production in Cameroon: Interrogating a Recession (Nantang B. Jua and Francis B. Nyamnjoh) | 23 Chapter 3. The University of Yaoundé as Ground Zero for the 2005 Student Protests in Cameroon | 49 Chapter 4. Protest on the Second Front: The University of Buea Joins the Fray | 73 Chapter 5. The Hurricane of Student Strike Action Sweeps into Douala and Dschang | 101 Chapter 6. Use of Force and Loss of Life and Property at the University of Buea | 123 Chapter 7. Reaching Accord: Negotiating Resolution at the University of Yaoundé | 165 Chapter 8. A Bumpy Road to an Untenable Resolution in Buea | 183 Chapter 9. Civil Society Actors Weigh in on the University Strike | 257 Chapter 10. Epilogue to a Strike | 297 References | 327 Wilber, Wendell, Willy, Walter, and Woody really know how to put on a show. Five hilarious ducks juggle pies?SPLAT; spin plates?CRASH; and show off their magic box?WOWEE! Their slapstick routine is also a math lesson. They introduce the concepts greater than, less than, and equal to, as well as addition and subtraction. All the while, students will be laughing so much, they won't even realize that they are learning. A page for teachers and parents explains exactly how the book meets the Common Core State Standards (K. CC. 6-7) and (K. OA. 1-5) Edited By Francis B. Nyamnjoh, Walter Gam Nkwi & Piet Konings. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 327-335).