Shit SIT Cameroon People Say*

During lectures and discussions I frequently jot down quotes in the margins of my notes. This is my collection of quotes from the first 3-ish weeks of classes. We wrapped up our first module today so I figured it fitting to post them. They were taken from guest lecturers, other students, and SIT staff

members during classes. (Disclaimer I don't necessarily agree with these quotes)

• “I see you smiling, I want to hear your smile”

• “You are privileged to watch this movie”

• “They took away the ability to feed themselves and to make money but also their culture, traditions, and language and that’s just as painful.”

After class work time. In the far right corner is Elise. Elias, Danny and
Khalilah are sitting together discussing their group project.

• “'Culture does not make people, people make culture'”

• “Tradition is a practice, culture is practiced.”

• “This is social sciences, there are no right or wrong answers in social sciences.”

• “In Africa, people are racing to please the West, and thus are not themselves.”

• “Globalization is a dream it’s not a reality”

• “The Western individualist says I am because I am where as the African says, I am because we are”

• “Time is a cultural phenomenon”

• “If we want development from the West, we should use the parameters of the West.”

• “The essence is to share, to see things the other way... so you don’t have the same view you came with...”

• “Any experience you are going o experience here are the same someone is going to find if they are going to go to the US...The same bag and purse snatchers are everywhere.”

• “Boko Haram is not Cameroonian”

• “Paul Biya is one of the most intelligent presidents in the world”

• “Football is the top most religion in Cameroon... when we are winning we believe in Cameroon”

• “He’s not a devil, he’s just a president”

• “No two countries practice the same democracy”

• “I will use ‘Western democracy’ and ‘African democracy’ and these mean different things"

• “There is still what we call mental slavery where people from Europe, America, still think they are superior and Africans are inferior”

• “One black in the White House, the rest in prison”

• “We have some of the best laws in the world but the application of those laws is very preferential”

• “In Africa we don’t talk about feminism, that is a Western concept... we just know that we are all humans”

• “Every country that has succeeded depended on their roots... they looked at their local realities”

• “How can Cameroon go back to its roots? The first thing is mental decolonization”

• “The western region is the one place in the country where good globalization exists... globalization is choosing the right things to copy.”

• “African leaders are corrupt because of the corruption of the outside world”

• “We should put aside Western democracy and re-coin our own democracy taking into consideration our own realities”

• “Each time you copy, you photocopy, it’s not authentic”

• “Globalization is a channelized dictatorship”

• "If Cameroon were practicing free and fair elections, the democracy would be a lot better than in the US"

• "There are no set rule of democracy"

• "In Cameroon we say that even dogs don't practice same sex relationships- a male dog cannot meet another male dog without fighting and these are considered animals less intelligent than humans. So if you participate in a same sex relationship you are less than those dogs"

• "I define poverty as lacking something you value"

• "I don't believe in globalization... there has been cooperation among nations since the beginning of time"

• "There will never be a global village"

Rainy Season Out the Back Door of the Office.

• "It depends on how you define globalization"

• "Your education system is done intentionally... You don't learn anything about other countries... You only learn about the power of America."

• "Same sex marriage is not human rights, that's a cultural concept"

• "If I want to go to the US with my two wives, the US government will tell me 'no, you can't enter because you have two wives.' But then they are violating my culture, my rights, and the rights of my two wives who agreed to marry me."

• "The body that is supposed to me the most equal in the world has inequalities, the UN is unequal."

• "Globalization is an idea constructed by a culture trying to impose itself"

• "Human rights cannot be defined as universal"

• "So you are saying the old white guys are sitting in an office somewhere deciding what to impose on other countries through globalization?" "Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying."

• "It's saying no, the world should not be in one man's command"

• "Governments are controlled by multinationals, at least in the US you know that"

• "Money isn't always the solution"

• "It's not development in terms of politics or economics but its a developed love for themselves and one another that's not developed in the United States, or at least not in my community."

*The title is based off of a series of YouTube videos called "Shit ....Say" making fun of whatever population the video is titled after. I am not making fun of anyone here, I just thought the title worked.