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This collection of proverbs drawn from the folklore of the Bali Nyonga comes on the heels of many publications that have recently come to light about Bali culture by native and expatriate scholars. It indicates the ever-growing interest writers have shown and continue to show in the dynamism of a unique ethnic group with a two-century-old history marked by chivalry and conquest.The proverbs testify to the migratory trajectory of the Chamba from their motherland in the plains of the Adamawa mountain ranges southward through the Tikar regions and the Bamileke grasslands to their present site in the southwest of the Bamenda Grassfields - a trajectory fraught with danger, resistance and wars which in turn spurned a culture of conciliation, human dignity and statesmanship.

In this collection, poet Michael Kengnjoh invites the reader to appreciate a world in which the game of power takes central stage. The poems deal with the themes of politics, the economy, the fate of the masses and leaders' desperate attempts to cling to power. It is a collection that invites humanity to reflect on the fleeting nature of power, the need to liberate both the vulnerable and the powerful, the transitory nature of life, and the alternative possibilities that abound.

In Search of Harmony traces the migration of Bali Nyonga, its transformation from a raiding band into a settled community in the Bamenda Grassfields, its development from a dispirited splinter of the broken Chamba alliance into a structured kingdom with solid institutions and a powerful monarch, its fateful encounter with the Europeans, and its transition into competitive national politics. It explores the complex and often conflicting web of relationships with its neighbours that have continued to impact its development. Students of Cameroon history and politics will find this volume useful, informative and challenging.

This book critically explores global challenges from linguistic and literary standpoints aimed at contributing towards their mitigation. Composed of two parts, contributors to the first section examine issues such as language use in the Anglophone crisis in Cameroon, the Covid-19 pandemic, migration, ethnic conflict, hate speech and language shift. The second part comprises essays that foreground global problems in literary texts. Contributors survey global problems like terrorism, gender inequality, racism and neo-colonialism, which engender horror and fuel violence. Drawn from various literary texts from Cameroon, Africa, Europe and America, contributors propose language and literature responses to global issues. These include using appropriate language and concrete techniques to assist citizens and world leaders convey precise messages for better understanding and nation-building. New communication strategies could also be adopted to keep life going and improve solidarity worldwide. Finally, contributors submit that dialogue could be a panacea through stakeholder collaboration and that negotiation is a productive solution to peace and harmony.

The Lock on My Lips is an intense drama that foregrounds the conflict over land ownership as a metaphor for contemporary gender inequalities in an African context. Mrs Ghamogha Manka has bought land in Kibaaka against customary law, where land is believed to belong to the man. Tried and found guilty by customary law, she is ordered to transfer ownership of the said land to her husband to avoid dire consequences. A fierce champion for women's causes, Mrs Ghamogha seeks redress in the modern legal system, converting a domestic conflict into a collective battle between customary and Western-derived legal systems.¿Perpetua K. Nkamanyang Lola is a literary critic, poet, playwright, and novelist whose works have been published in national and international journals. Some of her highly acclaimed publications include The Lock on My Lips, Rustles on Naked Trees, Healing Stings, Fictions of Memory: An Intercultural Studies, and Representing Fictional Minds and Consciousness: Analysis of some Cameroon (African) English Narratives. Her research interests include narratology, gender/feminist studies, identity and memory cultures, postcolonial criticism, and intertextuality amidst dynamic interactive discourses and discussions with writers and experts on academic and creative fora. She has served in various capacities for over 23 years as Research and Documentation Officer at Giessen Graduate Centre for the Study of Culture hosted by Justus Liebig University, Germany; lecturer at the Universities of Douala and Bamenda, Head of Service for Extra-African Cooperation, University of Bamenda, First Deputy Mayor of Mbiame Mbven Council. She is also an Associate Professor of English Literary and Cultural Studies, a Knight of the Cameroon Order of Merit, and a member of the Cameroon Anglophone Writers Association. Her drama, The Lock on My Lips, won the first Eko Prize for Emerging Anglophone Writers in 2015. She currently serves as the Cultural Attaché at the High Commission of Cameroon in Abuja, Nigeria.

In Fons of Traditional Bamenda, Tatah Mbuy critically examines the predicament of traditional leaders in the Cameroon Grasslands in the wake of the civil unrest that has regrettably evolved into armed conflict in the territories that constituted the former Southern Cameroons. Drawing on his ethnographic knowledge of this region, Mbuy argues that chieftaincy in the Grasslands was historically perceived as a sacred institution, the locus of neutrality and justice and the custodian of its people's cultural legacy. However, multiparty politics and bureaucratic elites have coopted traditional leaders to serve party interests to the detriment of their people, thus attracting widespread condemnation and violence towards their persons. Mbuy convincingly argues that the Fon should not be an active element in partisan or competitive politics. All civil administrators in any Fondom in "traditional Bamenda" would gain more if they are conscious of the cultural structure and adherence of the people. As a source of neutrality, Fons stand to serve their people and society should they steer clear of partisan politics. This text is highly recommended to all concerned citizens, students of history, anthropology, political science and civil administrators in Cameroon and beyond.

In this succinct, well-framed work, noted activist and scholar George Ngwane tackles the issue of minority language rights with alacrity. The book will offer those interested in linguistic rights insights into the dilemmas facing African countries, set against the backdrop of developments in the international framework for the promotion of linguistic rights. In drawing on Cameroonian policies of which he remains a key influencer, George Ngwane offers practical insights and bold solutions that should prove insightful for those tasked with determining the intricacies by which African development potential can be realised through measures that promote both the identities and the future socio-economic and development trajectories of their countries.George Ngwane is a Senior Chevening Fellow in Conflict Prevention from the University of York (UK) (2010). He is since 2017 a Member of the National Commission for the Promotion of Bilingualism and Multiculturalism (Cameroon). He is since 2019 a member of the Board of Minority Rights Group, International, London as well as Member of the Board of Minority Rights Group Africa (Uganda). He is since 2021 a Member of Rotary Peace Fellowship Alumni Association, New York (USA).

Saleh's love and respect for his mother, Hamsatu, is not only detrimental to his own life but also injurious to his family life. Hamsatu makes all the decisions in his life. She becomes despotic and decides who her son, Saleh, should marry, and the type of children his wife should bear. Habiba is just thirteen when her grandmother, Hamsatu brings in a suitor, Zubairu, a contemporary of her late husband. Although Saleh wishes to send all his children to school, a rainstorm renders him hopeless as his mother takes ill and eventually dies. Following his mother's death, Saleh's bankruptcy compels him to take a loan from the elderly Zubairu and his failure to repay the loan compels him to hand over his daughter, Habiba, in marriage to Zubairu. Consequently, Habiba is helpless and soon discovers that she must pay not just for her father's wrongs but must also shoulder the responsibility of his abandoned wife and children by remaining married to Zubairu who is willing to assist them as long as she plays his game. Habiba desires to punish both her father and Zubairu for ruining her dreams. What will she have to do to get at them?

Crystallography and Mineralogy when fully understood, provide the solid foundation necessary for the comprehension of the other topics in Ordinary and Advanced Level Geology. Unfortunately, many students and teachers see Crystallography and Mineralogy as "challenging topics" which require the assimilation and memorization of a large number of facts. The Fundamentals of Crystallography and Mineralogy solves this challenge by reference to everyday examples of things we see around us and through the Competence Based Approach which takes the learners out of the pages of textbooks or the models and samples displayed in laboratories.The first chapter of the textbook covers Crystallography from the unit cell through the external crystal features to crystallographic axes and crystal classification into systems and classes.The second chapter covers in detail the basic notions of Mineralogy, from the origin of minerals through the physical properties of minerals to the classification of minerals into silicates and non-silicates based on chemical composition.At the end of each chapter, there are a handful of hands-on activities and study questions that will fully equip the learners for the end of course examinations. This textbook is not only suitable for Ordinary and Advanced Level and first year university Geology students and teachers, but also anyone interested in Crystallography and Mineralogy.

In his memoir, From the Highlands of Nkar to the World, Martin Jumbam sets out on an adventure which leads him from the cosy domesticity of life in his village of Nkar, under the patronage of his parents, fervently-strict Catholic Christians, to what is practically a terra incognito, the unknown, the unfamiliar world that first opens up to him when he follows his elder brother, a Catholic teacher, to Nkambe, far from his native Nkar village. This becomes the first of an adventure that will eventually see him drift further and further away from his native village out into the beckoning wide world, a journey of nearly half a century, during which he frequents university amphitheatres in Cameroon, Europe, the United States of America and Canada. Deciding not to settle in any of these countries, thus rejecting the glamour of life abroad, he finally returns to his native Cameroon, an already married man and father of a family. Martin Jumbam worked for over 20 years for an American oil company, Pecten Cameroon, in the port city of Douala, Cameroon, before serving for four years as the general manager of La Maison Catholique de la Communication Sociale (MACACOS), the Catholic Media House of the Archdiocese of Douala. He is the author of My Conversion Journey with Christian Cardinal Tumi (Langaa Publishing, 2014), Beads of Memory (Spears Books, 2020), and co-author of My Night in Captivity (Spears Books, 2021). He lives in Douala and works as a freelance translator, conference interpreter and journalist.

General Pedagogy: A Guide to Effective Teaching demystifies the scientific art of teaching by providing facts, principles and concrete examples in real life situations such that neither the novice teacher who peruses it will stutter in front of students on the first day of school, nor will the experienced teacher write and execute the same old lesson plans on that day. "The best teachers are those who show you where to look but don't tell you what to see," is a popular quote attributed to Alexandra K. Trenfor, which aptly summarises the kind of teachers this book intends to produce when used as a teacher training resource. Real teachers facilitate learning; they do not simply tell learners the answers to their questions and concerns. Accordingly, the authors take the readers through well-researched themes in the academic discipline of teaching wherein they present, analyse and discuss pertinent issues. Although they provide useful suggestions for teaching success, the authors encourage teachers to interpret facts, ideas and suggestions presented against the sociocultural contexts of their practice. The materials are presented creatively while adding a personal touch, intended to facilitate effective and efficient learning. For coherence and better comprehension, the book has been carefully crafted in eighteen chapters lodged in six parts. The first part introduces the reader to the concepts of teaching and teaching effectiveness. The theoretical underpinnings of these concepts are brought out in the second part which paves the way for the third part that describes generic teaching approaches, strategies and methods. Part four and five comprise essential teaching skills and teaching tools for the 21st century while part six wraps up with the transition from teacher training laboratories to classrooms in the real world. The last two chapters intentionally prepare the teacher to overcome challenges of professional work in contemporary African classrooms.

In Tastes of Nature, Cameroonian poet, playwright, and environmentalist Ekpe Inyang seeks to break the monologue of globalization and, once more, let the dialogue between Nature and Culture take the stage. This is not done naïvely, by pretending that modernity never took place. In these poems, written between 1992 and 2021 we never find the belief in a simple return to innocence, nor a nostalgic yearning for a paradise before the Fall. On the contrary, Inyang stays grounded in conservational practices, in the daily interaction with his environment, and the findings of scientific research. His primary aim is to show how local places and global spaces are interconnected through ecological systems, and this ambition stems from a cheerful and sincere admiration for the lush beauty of the natural world.

Escape From Prison is a composition of sounds, feelings, illustrations and rhythms exuding from real life stories, moments of introspection, reflections on the identity of prisoners.

Ellen Peng straddles two inescapable complexities in her young life and family - her status as the first born and role model for her younger siblings and her very complicated relationship with her mother, Lydia who's chosen to jeopardize her own future and that of her entire family. Lydia orchestrates the death of her husband in order to accommodate Tom, a younger, able-bodied and attractive lover in her life. Her insatiable epicurean lifestyle, coupled with her longing for self-aggrandizement make up the ingredients for her atrocious choices. How would Ellen respond to Tom and Lydia's cat and mouse games that potentially, could lead to abysmal psycho-social suffering for the family and the larger community?

What God Has Put Asunder sounds like a misquote of Mark 10:9, the biblical consecration of marriage. But can a marriage fraught with infidelity, violence and abuse be considered as put together by God? Weka does not think so. She had reluctantly settled for Miche Garba as the lesser evil of two suitors who were being foisted on her by the authorities of the orphanage where she grew up. They stonewalled against her pleas to be on her own, claiming it would make her vulnerable. Or were they afraid she might become a permanent liability to the orphanage? Garba turns out a cheating, unloving partner, squandering on his many concubines, the proceeds from the farms and lands Weka inherited from her late parents, while neglecting her upkeep and her children's. At the height of the disaffection, Weka runs off with her children to rehabilitate her family estate. Having failed to forcefully bring them back, Garba sues Weka for abandoning her conjugal home. Will the court sunder the marriage of inconvenience? And would it help matters if Weka's full name were "e;West Kamerun"e;? This should unmask other ticket names like Sister Sabeth and Father UNOR. For these two What God Has Put Asunder is a call-out for double standards. Can they belatedly remedy the injustice of denying Weka the separate status which they granted, at the same time, to many other damsels who, to date, are far less endowed and more vulnerable than she was?

On moving into a new apartment abroad in his Bavarian hometown, the narrator realises that some of his possessions and elements of his new neighbourhood open a window into a flurry of memories, serving as allegorical threads to his childhood, self-consciousness and discovery of the world. What begins as a personal narrative quickly cedes to a social archaeology, inviting the reader/listener on a homegoing journey in the backdrop of Cameroon's tottering democratic trajectory. Modulated with poetry and music, The Radio tunes in to diaspora, home, nation, education, existence, religion as well as Mbum popular culture, showcasing creative re-appropriation and re-mixing of global trends and icons in specific communities.

The Vacuum Chamber recounts the intriguing encounter between investigative journalist, Fondo and mysterious scientist, Dr Tanda Matanda, who heads an elusive Futuristic Institute of Science and Technology (FIST) where he carries out strange experiments in the Mendankwe mountains. Fondo eventually discovers that Dr Matanda's experiments reveal profound but dreadful insights on the question of life and death and indeed, the future of the country. A Handful of Earth details the unusual friendship between Veke Lucasi and Saddi Tegene, both enthralled by the affections of the school belle, Bridget Bijanga. Lucasi and Tegene's rivalry follows them through their adult life, climaxing in a brief romance and terrifying involvement with mystical forces. A Handful of Earth is intriguing, disturbing, and haunts the reader from the beginning to the end. Mutia is a master at weaving plot, creating suspense, and building petrifying horror.

In the wake of General Franco's demise, a Cameroonian student, Leinteng Basha, arrives in Madrid. He soon befriends two other African students, Bassey Okoro from Nigeria, and a drifter from Equatorial Guinea, Jesus Ndongo. Together, they navigate as best as they can through the challenges of loneliness, homesickness and especially the indifference, if not outright hostility of their host country. Leinteng keeps a diary in which he details in simple, straightforward but captivating prose, the travails and joys of his days in the Spanish capital. Through the diarist's sharp eye for detail, the reader is irresistibly drawn into the labyrinth of life as lived by an African student in post-Franco Spain.

Crossroads of Dreams is a steamy potpourri of poetry by Franklin Agogho, Jude A. Fonchenalla and M.D. Mbutoh which redefine representations of African youth through the prisms of politics, emigration and the enduring threat of underdevelopment. How would one explain the persistence of poverty and oppression in Africa amidst the superabundance of natural and human resources? In their search for answers, the poets not only chastise but also to point to a verdant and promising future - free of corruption, greed, violence and neo-colonialism. Other themes covered in the anthology include gender, identity and family ties. Animated by three distinctive styles, the eighty-eight poems in this volume will surely enrage, provoke laughter, sorrow, disgust but also hope, courage and visions of a promising Africa in all its splendour and tribulations.

When the lovebirds, Demas and Natasha go for an HIV test in a renowned hospital before concretizing their engagement plans, little do they know that things may spiral for the worse. Natasha's test turns out positive plunging the couple into utter shock, alienation, and despair. Is it an immaculate infection or a mysterious affliction? Join Demas and Natasha, both distraught yet resilient in this riveting and breathless tale as they traverse the circuitous and bumpy route of faith.

Just A Bend delivers an overall powerful message of assurance that, although life is full of bends, these should be taken only as moments for deep reflections given that no journey is ever predictably straight or short. It is a collection of deep, scintillating, captivating, motivating and inspiring poems that span various subject areas; culture, the environment, politics, economics - to highlight the human intrigues of marginalization, exploitation, jealousy, and hate that give rise to the multifarious human predicaments and woes. Despite this dark side, Just A Bend also portrays the bright side of life by celebrating care, love, and peace, and even individuals that deserve to be recognised in space and time. It offers a unique experimentation with type, style and form, that aims to encourage and inspire people who might not have thought of reading a poem, let alone, writing one, to pick up the golden sceptre in the bold journey of poetic expression.