ninehillsRAMBLE in the JUNGLE
Francophones – stay in your own lane
By Wanaku Verdzekov · · The Cameroons
Date note: Undated Facebook note, written between 2011 and 2014. The AMBA addendum is from ~2019–2021.
Tags: francophone, anglophone, cultural-osmosis
Truth is in the details. As far as I know, when faced with the truth, some tend to forget or ignore the details, only to face the truth again around the bend.
I will say something that has probably been hinted at before (not sure where): Francophones in Cameroun tend to choose a type of socio-cultural civilization that Anglophones will not necessarily want to be part of. And so each group moves in its own direction, but some start looking over their shoulders to see… to see what?
Here is the advice: stay in your own lane.
AMBA: "Cultural osmosis"?
The "cultural osmosis" that was supposed to transform "Anglophones" through "assimilation and integration" into the fabric of Franco-Camerounese socio-political, cultural and economic life has been slowed down, with the goal of STOPPING it completely, for the simple reason that it is ILLEGAL and practically UNSUSTAINABLE.
TM
— Wanaku Verdzekov
Reading & grammar
Reading level: Gr 9–11
Understand
- What advice does the author give?
- What does the AMBA addendum say about cultural osmosis?
- What image does "looking over their shoulders" create?
Grammar focus: the idiom stay in your lane. The idiom (from traffic and sport) means "mind your own business, or keep to your role". Idioms carry attitude as well as meaning.
Try it: Use the idiom in two different contexts, one friendly and one critical.
Discuss: Can two groups live side by side while choosing different directions? Argue.