Muslim Community of North Cameroon, Education and Social Divide: Historical Perspective, 19th-20th Centuries

Abstract

This modest contribution aims to study some of the challenges facing Muslims living in North Cameroon. We started from the simple observation that in the current configuration of administrative services and the management of public affairs, there is a low representativeness of Muslim citizens of North Cameroon. Through the history and the sociological and participatory observation for several years, we understand that the colonial impact and ultra-conservatist ideas within the community itself associated with socio-political factors have accentuated the gap in socio-political integration between the Muslim North and the Christian South of Cameroon. It emerges that mainly the advent of the Western (European) school had an impact both on the socio-religious level and on the level of the configuration of the leadership within the Muslim community of North Cameroon. The novelty and originality of this study explains its historiographical contribution to Islamic history in North Cameroon and African studies in Turkey on the one hand, its socio-political contribution which will allow Muslim leaders and the State to better dialogue for the development of the situation of Muslims in a minority context vis-à-vis the Christianity present in Cameroon on the other hand.