Social Sciences and Cultural Studies for the Transformative Development of Postcolonial Africa

by Alain Cyr Pangop Kameni (Editor), David Simo (Editor), Esaïe Djomo (Editor), Godfrey B. Tangwa (Editor), Aloysius Ngefac (Editor)

Overview

This open access edited volume brings together a multidisciplinary team of social scientists and cultural experts to investigate the concept of transformative development. Contributors discuss the transformative development vision with a focus on the social sciences and cultural studies. In doing so, they explore new development paradigms for Africa in the context of Covid-19, the role of myths in the psychological transformation of Africa, the correlation between discourses on cultures in Africa and the development of the continent, interactions between Indigenous knowledge and Western innovations, and new movements in the arts, handicrafts, and even postmodern Afropop.

Going beyond traditional emphases on economic and industrial progress, the authors gathered here ultimately develop new analytical frameworks that align with African realities and priorities in order to promote the decolonisation of the African minds, which remains a work in progress.

The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com. Open access was funded by the Bloomsbury Open Collections Library Collective.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781350513693
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	11/13/2025
Series:	Transformative Development for Postcolonial Africa
Pages:	232
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.56(d)

About the Author

Alain Cyr Pangop Kameni is Professor at University of Dschang, Cameroon

Aloysius Ngefac is Professor at University of Yaounde I, Cameroon

David Simo is Professor at University of Yaounde I, Cameroon.

Esaïe Djomo is Professor at University of Dschang, Cameroon.

Godfrey Tangwa is Professor at University of Yaounde I, Cameroon.

Aloysius Ngefac is Professor at University of Yaounde I, Cameroon

Table of Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Notes on Editors and Contributors
Editors' Preface

PART ONE: INTRODUCTION AND A TRANSFORMATIVE DEVELOPMENT VISION

Introduction
Alain Cyr Pangop Kameni, David Simo, Esaïe Djomo, Godfrey B. Tangwa and Aloysius Ngefac

A transformative development vision for postcolonial Africa: Focus on Social Sciences and Cultural Studies
Aloysius Ngefac

PART TWO: VOICES OF SOCIAL SCIENTISTS AND HUMANITIES EXPERTS

Glimpses of transversal research in African Studies: a new roadmap for postcolonial African nations
Alain Cyr Pangop Kameni

Towards a new paradigm for African development in the context of the Covid-19 Pandemic
Godfrey B. Tangwa

The Pragmatics of myths and the psychological transformation of Africa
Divine Che Neba

Which humanities for the development of postcolonial Africa?
Esaie Djomo

Climate Change Politics, Justice and Solution: An Ecolinguistic Appraisal of the Cameroonian Perspective
Julius Angwah

Ethnic Diversity and the Problem of National Unity in Cameroon: A Historical Perspective, 1961-2016
René Ngek Monteh

PART THREE: VOICES OF CULTURAL EXPERTS

Discourses on Culture in Africa: Paradigms and Challenges
David Simo

Grassfield Cultural Attractions of Mezam Division in Cameroon: Imprints of Indigenous Knowledge Faced with Western Innovations
Yvette Akwa Neba & Ojuku Tiafack

The production of arts and handicrafts for the transformative development of postcolonial Africa: The case of the Nweh ethnic group in Cameroon
Norah Aziamin Asongu

Post-modernist Afropop music and transformative development
Joseph Nkwain

Index

Editorial Reviews

The essays that have been assembled into this volume, unique in its combined multilateral perspective and assertive style, collectively offer scholars in the social sciences and humanities a valiant and neatly paved multilateral approach to the concept of development in post-colonial Africa, with the latter's rich and ever emerging cultural undercurrents as a pathfinder. With a scan of both past and present-day African experiences that would serve as indicators for the future, the collection is an enriching guide to the issues that revolve around the stagnation in the development of the African continent over three quarters of a century post-colonially, and will, therefore, be of interest to both scholars and students of African studies and development studies, stakeholders of African development, and policy-makers.” —Blasius Achiri-Taboh, Associate Professor of Linguistics at the University of Buea, Cameroon

“This volume is a timely contribution to ongoing discussions about development in postcolonial Africa. Drawing on a range of disciplinary perspectives from the social sciences, humanities, and cultural studies, this group of African scholars interrogate inherited models of progress and propose a roadmap for development that is both contextually grounded in a number of case studies and conceptually foregrounding. The emphasis on transformative development-understood as a holistic and multidimensional process-allows for critical engagement with questions of identity, nationhood, knowledge production, and institutional reform. By centering African experiences and perspectives, the book invites reconsideration of Eurocentric dominant narratives and provides analytical tools for rethinking development in theory and practice. This book will be of use to scholars, policymakers, and anyone committed to Africa's future.” —Maria Mazzioli, University of Groningen, Netherlands

From the Publisher