Towards the Intellectualization of Fulfulde as a Lingua Franca in the Far North Region: Challenges and Prospects (Published)
Fulfulde is undoubtedly one of the most developed and expansively used indigenous languages in the Northern Regions of Cameroon. The status and use of Fulfulde has grown widely with the political, religious, social and economic growth of people who use it for various purposes. Currently, it is one of the most dominant languages in Cameroon with several forms of prestige attached to it. Since it is usually a very daunting task to choose one language in a multilingual setting and empower it to be used for ‘official purposes’ because of peoples’ strong attachment to their language, this study sets out to find out which of the languages could be intellectualized in the Far North. Data was collected through informal participant observation and a thirteen-item questionnaire administered to a random selection of 176 respondents from different age groups. The findings revealed that 120 (69.4%) preferred Fulfulde to be intellectualized and the preference of more than half of the respondents 111(68.9%) was also due to the fact that the language is widely spoken in the region. Given that the results were quite different from what is normally expected in most multicultural settings, this paper therefore argues for Fulfulde to be given due prominence through intellectualization.
Keywords: Empowerment, Fulfulde, Revalorization, intellectualization, prominence, translation
A Framework for Assessing Women’s Economic Empowerment (Published)
Global progress towards gender parity across critical areas of life is still at the disadvantage of women. Women are in a disadvantage position in such areas as the ownership and control over assets, access to affordable credit, social reproduction, to socio-political representation, cultural practices and participation in formal sector of the economy. The consequence of such disparities limits the extent women can exercise choice and make decisions economically, socially, and politically. Therefore, how to flatten the curve and reverse these disparities remains the subject of the subsisting women’s empowerment conundrum about whether others can externally determine empowerment, or if women have to be the agents of their empowerment. What then defines the empowerment framework and understandings of the form that empowerment should take remains debatable. This paper critically reviewed how the empowerment of women has been discussed and conceptualised within development studies, with particular focus on women’s economic empowerment. The paper further looked at issues around women’s empowerment measurement and indicators; identified some frameworks for measuring women’s empowerment. Lastly, the author proposed a conceptual framework within which women’s empowerment might be assessed. To this end, women’s economic empowerment was defined as the extent women exercise control over decisions relating to accessing and use of resources and the resulting household reality.
Keywords: Agency, Empowerment, Nigeria, Women’s Empowerment, economic empowerment framework, indicators