Böcker av Peter Wuteh Vakunta

Toward the Decolonization of the Europhone African Novel is a treatise on the problematics of language choice in Europhone African literature. Vakunta's research is rooted in the notion that the postcolonial African fiction writer is at a crossroads of languages, groping for linguistic re-orientation. Using the prose of fiction of Patrice Nganang, Ahmadou Kourouma, Mercedes Fouda, Nazi Boni, and Gabriel K. Fonkou as corpus, he contends that postcolonial African fiction is an offshoot of a linguistic tinkering process that enables writers to tinker with the language of the ex-colonizer in a deliberate attempt to divest indigenous writing of its hegemonic vestiges.Peter Wuteh Vakunta is Professor of French Literature and Francophone Studies at the United States Department of Defense Language Institute (DLIFLC) in Monterey-California.

A treatise on dissent as the acme of love for one's fatherland. Arguing against the grain, the author avoids smug patriotism; that which manages to make everything about the homeland flawless and beautiful.

In this book of poems, the poet speaks in a confident tone of apocalyptic utterances: advising, warning, denouncing, protesting, and lamenting. This long poem has the twin virtues of relevance and clarity of diction.

Pidgin English is the chief medium of communication for the great majority of Cameroonians. It sustains a world view, culture and way of life. Pidgin embodies concepts that would at best be partially expressed in formal English. A critical understanding of Pidgin English requires not only a thorough grasp of the socio-cultural matrix from which the words and expressions originate but also an immersion in an Afro-centric worldview. Majunga Tok: Poems in Pidgin English is the poet's attempt at capturing these speech patterns of ordinary Cameroonians in written form. Pidgin English, also called broken English, is a lingua franca spoken not only in Cameroon but also in many West African countries, including Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone and Liberia amonst others. This poetry anthology is inspired by the poet's desire to salvage a language that has been subjected to multiple forms of denigration because it is oral. In Cameroon, for instance, Pidgin English has been the target of myriad attacks from self-styled linguistic purists who claim that Pidgin is a bastardized variant of Standard English and, therefore, should not be allowed to thrive. The controversy and denigration directed at Amos Tutuola and his Pidgin English creative genius are vivid examples. This condescending attitude of speakers of Standard English stems from the fact that Pidgin is often associated with illiteracy.

No Love Lost is a tale of troubled times in which the storyteller strives to return to wholesomeness a society whose values have jumped the rail. Set in the 'No Man's Land' of Ongola, the novel unravels the corruption and influence-peddling endemic in this African country. Framed around the travails of an unemployed university graduate, the story is the gripping depiction of one man's vendetta against a society at odds with itself. Among others, the novel explores the themes of identity crisis, political gerrymandering, individual and collective greed, love and marriage, and class exploitation to weave an enduring tapestry of great human interest. Written against the backdrop of nascent neo-colonialism No Love Lost combines the traditional and the modern; the private and the public to demonstrate that the quest for truth and justice behooves all and sundry. The author infuses the narrative with oral traditions to capture the reader's attention in a compelling style. This is a refreshing work by a writer whose heart throbs for his people and their plight.

Gravitas: Poetic Consciencism for Cameroon is the poet's requiem for the geographical expression code-named Cameroon. Vakunta speaks with the audacity of a daredevil and the certitude of a seer. This long poem has the twin virtues of gravity and clarity of purpose. The poet eschews the banality and sophistry characteristic of poetry for poetry's sake. Passion, sarcasm, and incisive irony are the hallmarks of this long didactic poem. The poet subscribes to Salman Rushdie's pronouncement that a poet's duty is to say the unutterable, name the unnamable, unmask masquerading miscreants and shame the scum of society. In this poem, music serves as a clarion call for examination of conscience, and alcohol ceases to serve as opium of the people. A bittersweet potion, this book echoes the defiant voice of a son-of-the-soil at odds with his native land gone topsy-turvy.

Takumbeng and Other Poems from Abakwa is a tribute to the Takumbeng in Cameroon. This collection of poems celebrates the prowess of the Takembeng, a militant female secret society in the Northwest Region of Cameroon. The poems address human rights violations, rape of democracy, misgovernment, and other forms of societal ills that plague post-colonial Cameroon. It is written in impeccable Standard English. The strength of the book resides in the vastness of the thematic terrain broached.

"Poems from Abakwa in Cameroon Pidgin English is one patriotic rage. An anthology of sorts, this book of poems contains wisdom, inspirational reflections and witticisms for all. Through apt descriptions, illustrations, dialogues, interrogations and incisive phraseology, Peter Wuteh Vakunta creates an effective balance of colorful images that traces and documents disturbing accounts and evidences of corruption, greed, skewed values and life experiences that have assaulted his fatherland, betrayed political leaders and institutions, court judges, and parliamentarians as the police-cum-military continue to put their ambitions above the country's needs while forsaking future leaders-children. Vakunta describes how civil servants represent selfish interests and aspirations. Judges are intimidated as the nation's laws continue to be transgressed. The police and military continue to abuse the trust invested in them by civilians and misdirect their patriotism while virtually the entire nation continues to live shaky lives with a punctured integrity. Vakunta does this in popular lingos commonly used by musicians, business folks, and the common man under several labels-pidgin English, Camfranglais, Cam-tok, Camspeak, Majunga tok ..." Dr. Fidelis Achenjang, Union College, USA

"Using linguistic stylings as subversive as the messages nestled between the lines, Vakunta's Requiem for Ongola in Camfranglais: Cameroonian poetics presents a scathing critique of the corruption of democracy into "democraziness" running rampant in the "Sick Man of Africa". Written in Camfranglais, this is resistance poetry at its best: 'tokking' through the mouth of the voiceless", the author pulls no punches in condemning the country's roi fainéant, the perverted acceptance of feymania, the reduction of the national Constitution into toilet paper, and the general climate of impunity that has created an atmosphere of frustration and hopelessness. Calling upon the redeeming power of the Word - "Speak truth!" - these verses deftly navigate through the multilingual lexicon of a new, African hybrid language, providing an insider's account of the real stakes at hand in Ongola, the Ewondo word for Yaoundé."

This study raises awareness to the emergence of a new genre in world literature-hybridized literature. It rejects the assumption according to which literatures written in less commonly taught languages should be subsumed into one universally accessible global idiom. Instead, Vakunta challenges literary scholars and readers of literature to regard untranslatability as the key to cross-cultural engagement. The book's multiple approaches and innumerable sources generate complex interdisciplinary connections and provide an excellent introduction to a complex literary phenomenon alien to literati resident outside the officially bilingual multicultural and multilingual Republic of Cameroon.

The poems in this collection are a mirror reflecting the goings-on in the nooks and crannies of the Republic of Cameroon. Crafted in the lingo of the man in the street, these poems speak for the voiceless in Cameroon, for all those who live on the fringe of a rich Cameroonian society. The themes broached are numerous, namely the culture of impunity, the vicious cycle of corruption, abuse of power, influence peddling, rape of the constitution, electoral gerrymandering, and the ineptitude of national bourgeoisie to name but a few. In sum, Speak camfranglais pour un renouveau ongolais is a clarion call for a new deal in Cameroon.

The forces of nature warranted that these two English speaking poets, linguists, translators cum academics and researchers be born in Ndop, Ngoketunjia Division, in the North West Region of Cameroon. The one is based in the USA and other in Australia. Disgusted by the rotten political clime in their country as well as the political stance of politician vis-à-vis the English speaking minority, these two poets in their poetry explore the ins and outs of the problems of existence, not only of the minority English speaking Cameroonian but those of minorities in a modern world with a push for globalization. To them art is not only a weapon for survival but one for resistance.

A sinister form of oppression, linguistic oppression, is the key ingredient in this rich collection of poems written in both the English and the French languages. Highly charged with political overtones, this anthology awakens the conscience of a society in lethargy, one in which even those who lay claim to superiority display gross incompetence in the management of state and societal affairs. Vakunta raises a strong voice against the wanton abuse of the constitutional provision that protects the Cameroon's official bilingual policy. This collection makes a forceful case that official bilingualism is not a pipe-dream, but rather a powerful modus operandi with the potential to ease a myriad of socio-political bottlenecks. It is hoped that this bilingual anthology of poems would provide useful instructional material for educators and serve as an eye-opener to Cameroon's leadership and role-players.