Intertwining Development concepts and Socio-Cultural Alienation

An ethno-linguistic analysis of cultural identity Crisis in Sub-Saharan African Countries

Abstract

It would be inappropriate to discuss issues of development without taking an overview of some of the factors that influence it. From our analysis of development strategies and projects carried out in developing countries, a study of the views and concepts of development in various parts of Africa south of the Sahara in general and Cameroon in particular reveals a tremendous degree of cultural value degradation. This study seeks to show to what extend popular notions of development lead to cultural alienation but without any real social impact in developing countries. In this study, I will equally analyse the prevailing situation of acculturation in Cameroon, provide some salient examples of adulterated development models which have not helped in reducing the general poverty index of the country.
The paper equally has as objective to demonstrate that western concepts of development are at the centre of African cultural alienation and how this shift is more of disillusionment.
Revisiting what some scholars like Verhelst (1990) Gheddo (1973) have clearly demonstrated in their works that the Western concept of development is a cultural illusion inferring that Africans should consider themselves as not only consumers but also creators of their own meaningful development independently of the western ideologies, this paper thus examines the implication of such a situation within the global context of cultural alienation, and the limited technological developments observed in African states south of the Sahara.