Bernard Fonlon

Bernard Nsokika Fonlon (19 November 1924 – 27 August 1986) was a Cameroonian politician and educationist who worked on the development of bilingualism in Cameroon.[1]

Biography

Fonlon was of the Nso people, born in Kumbo, Northwest Province, and was educated at Christ the King College in Nigeria, then entered the Bigard Memorial Seminary with the intent of going into the priesthood. He later taught at St Joseph's College in Buea, and decided to go into scholarship. He earned degrees from the National University of Ireland, Cork, Sorbonne, and the University of Oxford, specializing in literature.[2]

In 1961, he was secretary in the office of the prime minister of Southern Cameroons, then worked for the President until 1964. Fonlon was then elected to the Federal Parliament, where he stayed until 1970, and served in the cabinet, first as deputy minister of foreign affairs, then as minister of transport, later posts and telecommunication, then health and social welfare.[2]

Fonlon left government service in 1971 to join the University of Yaoundé, where he taught literature, rising to become head of the Department of Negro-African Literature and publishing a number of works. He retired in 1984, and died while on a trip to Canada a couple of years later.

Fonlon was a major promoter of bilingualism, as reflected in the journal Abbia: Cameroon Cultural Review that he founded in 1962.

Folon died on 27 August 1986 in Ottawa, Canada.[1]

See essays in the festschrift Socrates in Cameroon: The Life and Works of Bernard Nsokika Fonlon edited by Nalova Lyonga (1989) 2010,[2] the entry in Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Cameroon pp. 124–125[3] and Chilver's obituary.[4]

References
  1. Uwechue, Raph (1991). Makers of Modern Africa (Second ed.). United Kingdom: Africa Books Limited. pp. 236–237. ISBN 0903274183.
  2. Lyonga, Nalova (2010) [1989]. Socrates in Cameroon: The Life and Works of Bernard Nsokika Fonlon. Cameroon: African Books Collective / Langaa Research and Publishing Common Initiative Group. ISBN 978-9-9565-7808-5.
  3. DeLancey, Mark Dike, 1973- (15 June 2019). Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Cameroon. ISBN 9781538119686. OCLC 1102416649.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  4. Chilver, Sally (April 1987). "Bernard Nsokika Fonlon, 1924–86". Africa. 57 (2): 259. doi:10.1017/s0001972000031065. ISSN 0001-9720.
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