Budji K. Ivoline is one of the earliest students supported by KPAAM-CAM: she obtained in 2015 a MA in Anthropology at the Department of Anthropology, Catholic University of Cameroon – Bamenda. She is now enrolled at the University of Newcastle (UK) in a MA in Cross-Cultural Communication and Media Studies. Ivoline’s full CV.
Ivoline’s MA thesis was entitled “Spotlight on a Threatened Language: The Fio Language of the Bamenda Grassfields of North western Cameroon” and was supervised by prof. Paul N. Nkwi in collaboration with Pierpaolo Di Carlo.
Summary of Budji K. Ivoline’s MA thesis
Spotlight on a Threatened Language: The Fio Language of the Bamenda Grassfields of North western Cameroon
This study, which focuses on the Fio people (an ethnic group found in Bum in the North West Region of the Republic of Cameroon), concentrates on the causes, processes and consequences of endangerment and/or disappearance of the Fio language, exploring the part language plays in identity construction and cultural continuity. Fio history, traditions, political system, and community life are also documented. Data was obtained through interviews and observation, and analysed qualitatively and quantitatively using the comparative method of analysis. It was realized that the major reasons for Fio language loss are lack of intergenerational transmission, migration, marriage out of the group, proximity to the more dominant Bum, and socio-economic need. Also, a majority of the Fio people think that language, culture, and identity are closely linked and losing one contributes at the very least to a negative change of the others. The thesis asserts in very strong terms that the Fio people feel despondent about the loss of their language and culture, and wish to regain both. (Defended in August 2015).
Read Budji K. Ivoline’s thesis