LA TRIBUNE DES ARTS ET LETTRES: UNE PRODUCTION DU SAVOIR LITTÉRAIRE AFRICAIN ANALYSE DES CHRONIQUES DE CAMEROON TRIBUNE 1975 à 1984

Abstract

ABSTRACT Created some fifteen years following independence, the state-owned daily newspaper Cameroon Tribune played a leading role in the dissemination of government’s discourse with a view to political, social and cultural development in Cameroon. It appeared as the actual driver of intellectual debate, as it held a dominant intellectual position. The period concerned with the corpus of our research work is a transitional one in the African history, which was characterized by two epistemological break-ups: a political break-up with a multiplication of dictatorial regimes and the resulting disenchantments all over the continent, and a literary break-up following the Negritude movement and the introduction of a new discourse with the “Malinkeization” of the French language by Ahmadou Kourouma. The study of literary processes in Cameroon Tribune’s chronicles enabled us to assess the ownership of the public space by the written press, the making of literary activities and the building of national culture. Such analysis of literary production by journalists and other intellectuals showed that the intellectual sphere, blended with politics, is where literature gradually builds its emergence. By proposing to study in a pragmatic way the literary material as it appeared in Cameroon Tribune, our thesis aims to help reread the literary history in Cameroon’s media.