Thursday, October 31, 2019

Language-based Conflict

We don’t see a lot of news out of sub-Saharan Africa, I just read that a low-level rebellion in Cameroon is between Anglophones and Francophones, the speakers of two colonial-era languages. See the African Arguments article, hat tip to RealClearWorld for the link.

What isn’t said, likely because interested readers are supposed to know, is whether language group is a proxy for tribal or ethnic identification in Cameroon. Cultural/ethnic group conflict is a common cause of unrest which is often tied to language group in places like Belgium, Canada, or Catalonia. Perhaps in Cameroon as well?