THE ENGLISH-LANGUAGE PRESS AND THE "ANGLO- PHONE PROBLEM'' IN CAMEROON: GROUP IDENTITY, CULTURE, AND THE POLITICS OF NOSTALGIA By Lyombe Eko* This paper traces the role of the Cameroonian English-language press in creating awareness of the "Anglophone problem," and putting it on the Cameroonian and international political agenda. The analysis is carried out within the fiamework of the problematic situations perspective which holds that when newspapers report events, they always present the issues in ternas of prob- lems that need to be solved in order to maintain individual, political and social equilibrium and harmony. English language newspapers and radio programs made use of identity and nostalgia to present an unenviable picture of the Anglophone minority in Cameroon. The newspapers concluded that Anglo- phones were a maiginalized minority whose problems could only be solved by political autonomy and less control from the French-style over-centralized bureaucracy in Yaounde. INTRODUCTION One of the greatest challenges of modem nation states is protection of the political rights, cultures and economic interests of minority groups within their borders. The problems of minority groups are usually aggravated in uncer- tain or fluid political and cultural situations in which these groups consider themselves the victims of the majority. In order to cope with their perceived unfavorable predicament, minority groups develop coping mechanisms. The *Lyombe S. Eko (Ph.D., Southern Illinois University at Carbondale), is Assis- tant Professor of Journalism and Mass Comniunication at the University of Maine, Orono, ME 04469-5724. Me teaches courses in Mass Media Law and Regulation, Mass Commtjnication, and Techniques of Video Productipn. His areas of research and academ- ic specialization are: Comparative mass media law and policy, visual communication, and InterftatJonal telecommunications. Before joining the University of Maine, he was a journalist and producer at the African Broadcasting Union (URTNA) in Nairobi, Kenya and at Cameroon Radio and Television Corporation. He has also produced several video documentaries on African topics, one of vAich was broadcast on WNYC, a PBS affiliate in New York. " loumal of Third World Studies, Vol. XX, No. 1 © 2003 by Association of Third World Studies, Inc. 79