THE PARADOX OF CO-EXISTENCE AND REUNION IN CAMEROON: THE STUDY OF BOLE BOTAKE’S FAMILY SAGA

This paper sets out to prove that co-existence subdues binary oppositions in Bole Butake’s Family Saga. The work is undertaken because, in a dynamic marked by the living together of Anglophone and Francophone groups in Cameroon, social relations are constrained by numerous differences. Bole Butake focuses on the postcolonial era in Cameroon where the co-existence of Anglophones and Francophones is plagued by anxieties, tensions, crises and binary sentimentalities. The work is based on the hypothesis that the characters depicted by Bole Butake in Family Saga are plagued by crisis and binary sentimentalities which threatens their peaceful co-existence although the playwright suggests that peaceful co-habitation is possible. The Post-Colonial Theory sheds light on the binary polarities between the two distinct linguistic and cultural groups that result in tensions and crises, while New Historicism portrays the link between Butake’s creative write-up and the Cameroonian society.