Nationality Cameroonian Known for Hybrid languages work | Name Peter Vakunta Role Author | |
Occupation Author, literary theorist, poet, professor Alma mater University of Wisconsin-Madison Books A NATION AT RISK: A PERSON, Camfranglais: The Making of, The Life and Times of a Cam | ||
Peter Wuteh Vakunta, PhD., is an author, literary theorist, poet, and professor, noted for his work in and on hybrid languages, including Camfranglais, Cameroonian Creole, linguistic indigenization, and multilingual educational systems. He is originally from Bamunka-Ndop, in the Northwest Region of the Republic of Cameroon, and currently teaches French language and literature and serves as Chair of the Department of Modern Languages at the University of Indianapolis.
Contents
- Biography
- Camfranglais
- Indigenization of language
- Books
- Kindle Books
- Articles in peer reviewed online journals
- Reviews and Publications on Dr Vakuntas Works
- References
Biography
Dr. Peter Wuteh Vakunta is a naturalized American citizen with roots in Cameroon. He immigrated to the United States in 2001, after serving as a senior translator at the Presidency of the Republic of Cameroon in Yaounde. He earned his bachelor's degrees in Cameroon and Nigeria, as well as his MA and MS degrees in the USA and Cameroon. In 2009, Vakunta received a Ph.D. in French and Francophone Studies with a minor in linguistics from the University of Wisconsin Madison where he taught courses in the Theory of African Literature, Contemporary African Fiction, and Intensive English Language. Dr. Vakunta is married with five children.
Camfranglais
Dr. Vakunta is fluent in the following global languages: English,French, Hausa, and Creole (Cameroon), Camfranglais, and Bamunka. He has lived and worked in France, Cameroon, South Africa, Nigeria and the United States of America. In his capacity as study abroad coordinator, he has traveled with hundreds of students to France, Canada, Italy, Finland, Estonia, Spain, Cameroon, and South Africa. Vakunta writes expertly in all the aforementioned languages. He also writes in and about Camfranglais, a hybrid language largely based on French syntax and vocabulary that has served as a language of resistance in Cameroon since surfacing in the 1970s. Vakutna has written poetry and critical works in Camfranglais, including a recent biographical work on Lapiro de Mbanga.
Dr. Vakunta's research focuses on African Studies, canonical questions bordering on the translation of postcolonial francophone literature; it makes explicit the working of the creative impulse in the interface between original writing and its translation into global Frenches. Vakunta's teaching interests border on interdisciplinarity as a locus for discourse on challenging habits of thought; crossing borders in educational globalization; curriculum and instruction; second language acquisition, intercultural skills development, post-coloniality and translational theories. He has had scholarly articles published in the following peer-reviewed journals: Meta 53.4 (2009); Translation Review 73 (2007); Tropos 34 (2008); Journal of the Midwest Modern Language Association (2009); Chimères (2010); Journal of African Literature Association (2009, 2010); Miniatures 58 (2011), and African Literature Today 29 (2011).
Dr. Vakunta has authored the following fictional works in Camfranglais and Pidgin English: Requiem pour Ongola en camfranglais: une poetique camerounaise, 2015; Tori shweet for Cameroon Pidgin English,2015; Poems from Abakwa in Cameroon Pidgin English, 2015; Takembeng and other Poems from Abakwa,2015; Speak Camfranglais pour un renouveau ongolais,2014; Cam Tok and Poems from the Cradle, 2010,and Majunga Tok: Poems in Pidgin English, 2008.
Indigenization of language
In 2011, Dr. Vakunta released a work on literary theory exploring linguistic indigenization in African literature and its implications for literary criticism as well as translation theory. Indigenization, within this context, is defined as "the African writer's attempt at negotiating linguistic and cultural spaces in a bid to infuse literary works with the worldview, imagination and sensibilities of indigenous cultures." Analyzing the works of Nazi Boni, Ahmadou Kourouma, and Patrice Nganang, Vakunta concludes that "indigenization of language constitutes the single most effective tool with which postcolonial African writers attempt to individualize the use of the French language," calling for further research into the controversial aspects of language usage in postcolonial literature.
In 2014, Dr. Vakunta released yet another seminal work on linguistic hybridization titled Camfranglais: The Making of a New Language in Cameroonian Literature This work addresses the emergence of a hybrid code in Cameroon and its usage as a narrative canon in francophone literature. In order to transpose the speech patterns and idiolects of ordinary Cameroonians into fictional writing, creative writers consciously manipulate the French language in an attempt to reflect the socio-cultural realities of the writing context. Linguistic 'miscegenation' has engendered what has come to be referred to as a third code that poses enormous problems for readers and translators not acquainted with the Cameroonianisms that constitute the subtratum on which this language is formed. When creative writers resort to Camfranglais as a literary medium they do so in a bid to superimpose the speech particularisms and value systems of Cameroonians upon a foreign language—in the case of Cameroon, French.
In 2016, Dr. Vakunta published his first voluminous work on translation theory and practice titled Critical Perspectives on the Theory and Practice of Translating Camfranglais Literature.
Dr. Vakunta's short stories and poems have appeared in scores of poetic and short anthologies in the United States, Europe and Africa. As part of his cross-disciplinary inquiry, he has conducted four insightful interviews published as follows: "Lapiro de Mbanga in His Own Words: An Interview with Dr. Peter Vakunta," in Postnewline (2012); "Legalese as a New Literary Canon in African Literature: An Interview with Benjamin Kwakye," in The Entrepreneur (2010); "The Ramifications of Linguistic Innovation in African Literature: An Interview with Patrice Nganang," in Palapala Review (2009),and "The Pragmatics of Poetic Translation: Interview with Poetic Translator, David Scheler in The Entrepreneur (2009). It is noteworthy that that Dr. Vakunta takes pride in initiating the students that he teaches into scholarly pursuits. He has organized panels at conferences where his students have presented scholarly papers with him. The latest conference where this happened was the panel titled "The Nuts and Bolts of Translation Theory and Practice in the 21st Century" at the Cross-Pollination II Conference hosted by the University of Indianapolis on March 24, 2017. Six of his students were presenters on this panel.Two of his students presented well-researched papers during the 2014 Summer Research Institute at his university.
Symposia and colloquia constitute the backbone of Dr. Vakunta's research enterprise. He has chaired several panels and presented scores of well-researched papers at the Modern Language Association, Midwest Modern Language Association, African Literature Association, African Studies Association and the American Literary Translators Association. He is a novelist, poet, short story writer and essayist. Here are the titles of his most recent publications: Magnum Opus: A Tribute to Ntarikon (2017); Gravitas: Poetic Conscientcism for Cameroon(2016); Critical Perspectives on the Theory and Practice of Translating Camfranglais Literature ( 2016); Stream of Consciousness: Poetics of the Universal (2015); Poems from Abakwa in Cameroon Pidgin English(2015); Tori Shweet for Cameroon Pidgin English(2015); Takumbeng and Other Poems from Abakwa (2015); Camfranglais: The Making of a New Language in Cameroonian Literature (2014); Nation at Risk: A Personal Narrative of the Cameroonian Crisis (2012); Nouvelles du Cameroun (2011); Les douleurs de la plume noire (2010); Martyrdom and Other Freedom Poems (2010); Indigenization of Language in the African Francophone Novel: A New Literary Canon. (2010); Nul n'a le monopole du français: deux poètes du Cameroon Anglophone (2010) Cam Tok and Other Poems from the Cradle (2010); Paradise of Idiots (2010) Straddling the Mungo: A Book of Poems in English and French (2009) and No Love Lost (2008). All these books are available on amazon.com
Last but not least, a significant proportion of Dr. Vakunta's scholarly work is devoted to the production of Open Educational Resources(OER), notably didactic videos made available as open resources on YouTube as follows: Les mois de l'année, 2014; Les jours de la semaine, 2014; Quarters in Bamunka, 2014; Hausa for Beginners, 2013; Habits of Highly Effective Translators, 2013; Pragmatics of Learning a Second Language, 2012; Un mariage de convenance, 2012; La raison est nègre, 2012; Bamunka Jumpstart, 2012; Le sophisme senghorien, 2012;Hausa Haiku, 2012; Seven Strategies for Mastering Target Language Grammar, 2012; Seven Strategies for Mastering Foreign Language Vocabulary, 2012; Seven Habits of Highly Effective Listeners, 2012; Seven Habits of Highly Critical Readers, 2012; Stress Management Strategies for Foreign Language Learners, 2012; Days of the Week in Bamunka, 2012;Counting in Bamunka, 2012; Snow in Bamunka, 2012, and Camfranglais around the Mungo, 2012.
Books
Magnum Opus: A Tribute to Ntarikon, 2017 ISBN 9789956764044
Critical Perspectives on the Theory and Translation of Camfranglais Literature, 2016 ISBN 9789956763047
Gravitas: Poetic Consciencism for Cameroon, 2016 ISBN 9789956764846
Tori shweet for Cameroon Pidgin English, 2015 ISBN 9789956762316
Poems from Abakwa in Cameroon Pidgin English, 2015 ISBN 9789956792238
Takembeng and other Poems from Abakwa, 2015 ISBN 9956762407
Stream of Consciousness: Poetics of the Universal, 2015 ISBN 9789956792948
Requiem pour Ongola en camfranglais: une poetique camerounaise, 2015 ISBN 9789956792917
Camfranglais: The Making of a New Language in Cameroonian Literature, 2014 (ISBN 9789956792962)
The Life and Times of a Cameroonian Icon: Tribute to Lapiro de Mbanga Ngata Man, 2014 (ISBN 9789956791941)
Speak Camfranglais pour un renouveau ongolais, 2014 (ISBN 9789956791767)
Nation at Risk: A Personal Narrative of the Cameroonian Crisis, 2012 (ISBN 9781469799742)
Nouvelles du Cameroun, 2011 (ISBN 9782350741932)
Les douleurs de la plume noire, 2010 (ISBN 9956616281)
Martryrdom and Other Freedom Poems, 2010 (ISBN 1450251412)
Indigenization of Language in the African Francophone Novel: A New Literary Canon, 2010 (ISBN 143311271X)
Nul n'a le monopole du français: deux poètes du Cameroon Anglophone, 2010 (ISBN 9956615501)
Cam Tok and Other Poems from the Cradle, 2010 (ISBN 1452006032)
Paradise of Idiots, 2010 (ISBN 1452006016)
Straddling the Mungo: A Book of Poems in English and French, 2009 (ISBN 9956558893)
No Love Lost, 2008 (ISBN 9956558400)
Majunga Tok: Poems in Pidgin English, 2008 (ISBN 9956558613)
Ntarikon: Poetry for the Downtrodden, 2008 (ISBN 1434357678)
Grassfields Stories from Cameroon, 2008 (ISBN 9956558117)
Cry My Beloved Africa: Essays on the Postcolonial Aura in Africa, 2008 (ISBN 9956558737)
Green Rape: Poetry for the Environment, 2008 (ISBN 9956558486)
Better English: Mind Your P's & Q's: A Guide to Effective Communication for English Second Language Speakers, 2007 (ASIN B008VGFTYC)
The Lion Man and Other Stories, 2005 (ISBN 1592214002)
A Lexicon of French and English Terms and Expressions Used in Parliamentary Proceedings, 2004
Glossaire anglais-français des termes et expressions relatifs aux élections et aux techniques d'observation des elections, 2003 (ISBN 0620269782)
Lexique Français-Anglais des termes et expressions à l'usage des parlementaires, 2003 (ASIN B00KIDQ3BO)
A French-English Lexicon of Terms and Expressions relating to Voting and Election Monitoring, 2000 (ISBN 0620269774)
Kindle Books
Anatomy of Translation: Unpacking Code-switching in Camfranglais Poetry, Amazon Digital Services, 2016
Toyi-Toyi Poetry in Pidgin English from Southern Cameroons, Amazon Digital Services, 2015
Summum Bonum: Poetics of the Common Good. Amazon Digital Services, 2015
Translation Handbook Vol. 1: Lexique françcais-anglais des termes et expressions à l'usage des parlementaires. Amazon Digital Services, 2014
Ngata Man: Tribute to a Fallen Hero (Lapiro de Mbanga). Amazon Digital Services, 2014
From Pidgin to Camfranglais: The Making of a New Language in Cameroon. Amazon Digital Services, 2014
Fossoyeurs des états bananiers. Amazon Digital Services, 2014
Afritude ou tigritude. Amazon Digital Services, 2014
Carnet d'un retour au pays natal en camfranglais. Amazon Digital Services, 2014
Pedagogical Aspects of Environmentalism,Amazon Digital Services, 2013
A Review of Cameroonian Literature in English Vol.1, Amazon Digital Services, 2013
Emerging Perspectives on the Translation of Hybridized Literatures, Amazon Digital Services, 2013
Bate Besong: Why the Caged Bird Sings, Amazon Digital Services, 2013
Nuts and Bolts of Second Language Acquisition, Amazon Digital Services, 2013
Ntarikon: Where Rainstorms Gather. Amazon Digital Services, 2013
Méditations poétiques en camfranglais. Amazon Digital Services, 2013
Camfranglais: The Making of a New Language in the Cameroonian Nouveau Roman. Amazon Digital Services, 2013
Cry of the Environment, Amazon Digital Services, 2013
Clando Republic and Other Scrolls, Amazon Digital Services, 2013
A l'école de la rue. Amazon Digital Services, 2013
Yaounde: Autopsy of a Nation. Amazon Digital Services, 2013
Audible Palimpsests in the Francophone African Novel, Amazon Digital Services, 2013
Crossing the Threshold: Essays and Criticisms, Amazon Digital Services, 2013
Stories from the Grassfields of Cameroon, Amazon Digital Services, 2012
L'écrivain africain à la croisée des langues, Amazon Digital Services, 2012
Rite of Passage and Other Stories, Amazon Digital Services, 2012
Traduire ou Trahir? The Task of Translating Temps de Chien by Patrice Nganang. Amazon Digital Services, 2012
A Novel of Subversion: Code-switching in Temps de chien by Patrice Nganang. Amazon Digital Services, 2012
Carton rouge à Paul Biya, President de la République du Cameroun: Lapiro's Songs of Protest (Vol.1). Amazon Digital Services, 2012
Recueil de mots d'esprit, Amazon Digital Services, 2012
Subversion of the Francophone Novel: Bwamufication of French in Crépuscule des temps anciens by Nazi Boni. Amazon Digital Services, 2012
Slanguage and Other Freedom Poems, Amazon Digital Services, 2012
Fox Cities and Other Poems, Amazon Digital Services, 2012
La raison est nègre (poésie), Amazon Digital Services, 2012
Amour en deux langues (poésie), Amazon Digital Services, 2012
Poésie sous l'arbre à palabre d'Afrique, Amazon Digital Services, 2012
Barrel of the Pen, Amazon Digital Services, 2012
Divine Therapy: Inspirational Poetry. Amazon Digital Services, 2012
How Europe Underdeveloped My Homeland, Amazon Digital Services, 2012
Brotherhood of the Jungle, Amazon Digital Services, 2012
The Art of the Township Bard, Amazon Digital Services, 2012
The African Writer at the Crossroads of Languages, Amazon Digital Services, 2012
Son of the Soil, Amazon Digital Services, 2012
Tales from My Folks, Amazon Digital Services, 2012
Mind your P's and Q's: Effective Communication Guide. Amazon Digital Services, 2012
Articles in peer-reviewed & online journals
"Tyranny of the Majority in Biya's Cameroon," Pambazuka, July 2017https://www.pambazuka.org/democracy-governance/tyranny-majority-biya%E2%80%99s-cameroon. Accessed July 6, 2017
"False Start or Decapitated Revolution in Southern Cameroons," Postnewsline. Accessed December 11, 2016 from http://www.postnewsline.com/2016/12/-false-start-or-decapitated-revolution-in-southern-cameroons.html
"Time for the Demilitarization of British Southern Cameroons," Postnewsline. Accessed November 23, 2016 from http://www.postnewsline.com/2016/11/-time-for-the-demilitarization-of-british-southern-cameroons.html
"Seeds of the Cameroonian Popular Revolution," Pambazuka, October 20, 2016
"Pogroms in the Rainbow Nation's Prison-House of Political Dwarfs," Pambazuka, August 11, 2016
"Translation or Treason: On Translating the Third Code," Translation Journal 17.4, 2013
"Camfranglais: The Making of a New Language in Fouda's Je Parle Camerounais and Fonkou's Moi taximan," The Journal of the Midwest Modern Language Association 44.2 (Fall 2013), 162-8
"Dissent as a Higher form of Patriotism," Pambazuka 623 (2013)
"Aporia: The Manichaean Stigmatization of Africa," Postnewsline. Accessed November 21, 2013 from http://www.postnewsline.com/peter-vakunta
"Aspects of Highly Effective Literary Translations: A Pedagogical Perspective," Postnewsline. Retrieved October 6, 2013
"The Task of the Cameroonian Intellectual," Postnewsline, Retrieved June3, 2013 from http://www.postnewsline.com/peter-vakunta
"Bate Besong: Why the Caged Bird Sings" Postnewsline, Accessed May 21, 2013 from http://www.postnewsline.com/peter-vakunta
"Fela's Rebel Afrobeat: A Pedagogical Perspective," Journal of African Literature Association 6.2 (Spring 2012) 1-11
"The Francophone Novel of Africa and the Caribbean: A Teacher's Perspective," Teaching African Literature Today, 29 (2011)
"Aporia: Ngugi's Fatalistic Logic on the Position of Indigenous Languages in African Literature," Journal of African Literature Association 5.2 (2010):74-81
"The Francophone Writer at the Crossroads of Languages," Chimères 31 (2010):1-14
"Critical Perspectives on the Francophone Novel of Africa and the Caribbean," Journal of the Midwest Modern Language Association 42.1 (2009):163-178
"On Translating Camfranglais and Other Camerounismes," META 53.4 (2009): 942-947
"Ramifications of Linguistic Innovation in African Literature: An Interview with Patrice Nganang," Journal of African Literature Association 3.2 (2009): 205-212
"Poète francophone du Cameroun," Tropos 35(2009):58-65
"Pidgin: Cameroon's Lingua Franca or Continental Creole?" Postnewsline. Accessed August 15, 2009 from http://www.postnewsline.com/peter-vakunta
"In Praise of Camfranglais and Other Africanisms," PanAfrican Visions 21. Accessed April 2009 from http://www.panafricanvisions.com
"Crossing the Threshold of Poverty in Africa,"PanAfrican Visions 20, Retrieved March 3, 2009 from http://www.panafricanvisions.com
"In Black and White: Reflections on Africa's Success Story," PanAfrican Visions 19, Accessed February 23, 2009 from http://www.panafricanvisions.com
"Poète francophone du Cameroun." Tropos 35(2009):58-65.
"Literary Post-colonialism: Indigenization in the Francophone Text," Tropos 34 (2008):66-89
"On the Importance of Translation: An Interview with Steven Stewart." Accessed December 10, 2008 from https://www.youtube.com/user/LiteraryTranslation
"Discourse on Gender in Africa," PanAfrican Visions 18, Accessed December 2008 from http://www.panafricanvisions.com
"Balkanized Continent, Fragmented Nation-States," PanAfrican Visions 15. Accessed October 2008 from http://www.panafricanvisions.com
"Africa's Tragedy of the Commons," Pan African Visions 14 Accessed September 2008 from http://www.panafricanvisions.com
"Le problème de l'Afrique," Codesria Bulletin 3-4(2006):34-35
"On Translating Camfranglais and Other Camerounismes," META 53.4 (2009): 942-947
"The Trouble with Africa," CODESRIA Bulletin 3-4 (2006): 32-34
Reviews and Publications on Dr. Vakunta's Works
The Global Reader and Names in Literary Works by Peter W. Vakunta, Bill F. Ndi and Emmanuel Fruh Doh," Ed. Nomenclatural Poetization and Globalization, Langaa Research and Publishing, 2014, pp.123-144.
"Environmental Terrorism in Peter Wuteh Vakunta's Green Rape," by Gamal Elgezeery. European Scientific Journal 10/32(2014):174-193
"A Review of Vakunta's Lion Man and Other Tales by Emmanuel Ngwainmbi in Folktales in Cameroon: From the Spoken Word to a Framework for Globalizing Afro-centric reasoning (2012).
"Language of literature: The African Francophone Novel: A review of 'Indigenization of Language in the African Francophone Novel: A New Literary Canon by Ken Walibora Waliaula, Pambazuka 562(2011).
"Lament of a Son of the Soil: A Review of Peter Vakunta's Paradise of Idiots: Poetry (2010) by David Scheler. Retrieved July 7, 2011 from https://www.amazon.com/review/R1VX14RGPM8N5X
"A Continent that Self-destructs: A Review of Martyrdom and Other Freedom Poems by Ben Kwakye. Retrieved August 5, 2011 from https://www.amazon.com/review/R3BR2QG37XB1S6
"The Clothes of Our Own Nakedness: A Review of Ntarikon: Poetry for the Downtrodden" by Emmanuel Fru Doh. Retrieved November 23, 2010 from https://www.amazon.com/Ntarikon-Downtrodden-Peter-W-Vakunta/product-reviews/1434357678
"Book Review: Lion Man and Other Stories" by Tande Dibussi. Retrieved on November 20, 2006 from http://www.dibussi.com/2006/11/book_review_the.html