Periodic Reporting for period 1 - YouthLangCult (Youth Language and Cultural Practices in Postcolonial Cameroon)
Période du rapport: 2021-09-01 au 2023-08-31
Focusing on the case of urban youth styles in Duala, Cameroon, this research project analyzes the role of language, music and cultural practices in the construction of youth social identities in postcolonial Africa, at the crossroads of gender, class and race power relations. It also analyzes the forms and meanings of subaltern cosmopolitanisms at work in these multilingual and multicultural practices. The project is based on an ethnographic fieldwork in a youth cultural center located in two different neighborhoods, one in a middle and upper class neighborhood named Bonamoussadi, the other one in a poor, working-class neighborhood named New Bell. My research takes three different angles. First, I describe how gender, race class identities are constructed through the use of Camfranglais, a hybrid youth slang, in music performances and language practices among the youth. I take into account the multilingual and multi-semiotic dimensions of youth language practices. Second, I analyze the construction of cosmopolitan identities through these youth linguistic, bodily, musical practices, and their social meanings in the context of postcoloniality and globalization. I will also shed the light on the tensions between these discourses and youth multimodal practices observed in situ. Thus, I propose a more in-depth understanding of the ambivalencies of racialized and gendered youth subjectivities as produced by postcolonial power relationships in a globalized economy. This research can be of great interest for teachers, researchers, students, and policy makers in the field of urban youth culture and education. Indeed, this research aims to deconstruct racializing and simplistic representations of African urban youth by showing the great heterogeneity of this social group and the richness of youth cultural practices. The dissemination of research results outside academia through an ethnographic film will improve understandings of African languages and cultures among a large audience. I show how, through processes of 'whitening', these young people can negotiate in interaction among a variety of racialized and gendered subjective positionings. Third, I analyze the discursive processes of creating boundaries between languages, registers or styles in young people's reflexive discourses about language practices.
From the beginning of the project until August 31, 2023, I started collecting and analyzing a corpus of Youtube videos of popular songs among Cameroonian urban youth. I conducted an ethnographic research in a youth cultural center in Duala during the summer 2022, to collect data for analyzing gender ideologies on Camfranglais through youth language practices and music. I collected around three hours of recording of informal conversations, and a two hour recording of an interview I conducted with a volunteer teacher, a singer, actor and filmmaker who teaches theater and music lessons in the youth center. With a cell phone, I also took several photographs of the neighborhoods where I conducted my research. I also took ethnographic notes in a notebook for my personal record. I also gathered some complementary photographs and videos which are publically available on the Facebook page of the youth cultural center. Finally, I also collected videos of recorded songs and live performances performed by the artist I interviewed which are publically available on his Youtube channel, and I collected many Youtube videos of other popular songs performed by the youth during my fieldwork. The preliminary results show that the use of Camfranglais, an urban youth slang, is somewhat differenciated between girls and boys. I also started to analyze the use of Camfranglais in Mbole songs. Mbole is a musical style which is highly popular among urban youth in Cameroon. I collected a corpus of Youtube video clips of Mbole songs after attending several performances of these songs by children in the youth cultural center. The preliminary results show that Camfranglais in Mbole songs is ideologically related to an urban, heterosexual masculinity, whereas the reappropriation of this youth slang and the recycling of Mbole songs in actual language practices and performances among the youth is more subtile in actual practices. This preliminary research will give me the basis for my second research project that I will pursue during my new career as a tenure-track assistant professor. It will provide the material for future publications and other fieldworks which will be part of a book project. Based on this research, I presented some preliminary results on my analysis of the use of Camfranglais in Mbole songs during the Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association in November 2022. I also organized a thematic panel on 'Youth Language Pratices for the next Annual Meeting of this same Association in November 15-19 in Toronto. I also submitted a journal article based on the preliminary results for the US journal Signs and Society.
The preliminary results show that Camfranglais in Mbole songs is ideologically related to an urban, heterosexual masculinity, whereas the reappropriation of this youth slang and the recycling of Mbole songs in actual language practices and performances among the youth is more subtile in actual practices: contrary to a widespread language ideology according to which Camfranglais is exclusively a male register only spoken by young men, and particularly by street boys or thugs, the preliminary results reveal that both boys and girls use Camfranglais, partly because both of these groups are constantly exposed to this language through cultural productions such as Mbole music, and all of them know the lyrics of famous Mbole songs. But these practices of Camfranglais are differentiated between girls and boys in more complex ways: both boys and girls use Camfranglais words and expressions, but boys tend to use it more frequently and more intensively than girls, while these latter use it less frequently to index various personas which are ideologically and indirectly related to a street and masculine identity. Therefore, the use of Camfranglais enables to perform various social identities among the youth. This research has been conducted in two different and related sites, one in a middle and upper class neigborhood, the other in a poor, working class neighborhood. Preliminary results from this multi-sited ethnography also reveal that while they are many similarities between the two groups, the use of Camfranglais and its social meanings are variable according to socio-economic class. By shedding the light on the complex identity construction processes through language and music among Cameroonian urban youth, this research can be of great interest for teachers, researchers, students, and policy makers in the field of urban youth culture and education. Indeed, this research aims to deconstruct racializing and simplistic representations of urban African youth by showing the great heterogeneity of this social group and the richness of African youth cultural practices.
For the supervision of this project, I had regular meetings every two weeks with Dr. Asif Agha at the University of Pennsylvania. These meetings helped me to refine my research question and to develop a research plan for the next three years. I also stayed in touch with Dr. Isabelle Léglise with whom I had some exchanges via Zoom or by phone about my fieldwork.
For the supervision of this project, I had regular meetings every two weeks with Dr. Asif Agha at the University of Pennsylvania. These meetings helped me to refine my research question and to develop a research plan for the next three years. I also stayed in touch with Dr. Isabelle Léglise with whom I had some exchanges via Zoom or by phone about my fieldwork.