Cameroonian Immigrants in the United States

Although Cameroon’s image as a stable nation with a strong economy may have mitigated against any large-scale migration by Cameroonians following independence, the economic collapse beginning in the mid-1980s and the coerced implementation of democratic reforms in the early 1990s exposed fault lines in the nation’s economic and political institutions. As a result, thousands of Cameroonians have left the country in search of a better life abroad. While Europe remains the favorite destination for many of these migrants, a significant number have also come to the United States. Cameroonian Immigrants in the United States examines the increase in the population of Cameroonians in the United States in the last two decades, the difficulties that many of them must endure in order to come to America, and the challenges they face adapting to their new environment. Despite the problems they face, these new immigrants are creating a home in America. At the same time, however, they remain connected to their country of birth through remittances to friends and family members and other forms of investments and development projects in their communities.

Fascinating and illuminating scholarship. This book offers a lucid and engaging insight into Cameroonian migration and the formation of its diasporas. Carefully crafted, each chapter speaks with clarity about how, after decades of political and economic stability, Cameroonians are now looking to the United States to fulfill their economic aspirations. Long associated with migration to the colonial metropoles of France, Britain, and Germany, the increasing trend to migrate to America is being shaped by internal geopolitical and economic conditions associated with globalization and social changes in Africa. Highly recommended reading and a welcome addition to the growing number of scholarship on African migration and diasporas., Joseph Takougang’s Cameroonian Immigrants in the United States: Between the Homeland and the Diaspora captures in documentary and mesmerizing terms the whole gamut of experiences and perils the Cameroonian immigrants have gone through in their attempt to find a home away from home. Written from a personal point of view and enriched by first-hand experiences, interviews, research and conversations, Takougang discusses the various waves of Cameroonian immigration to the USA, the challenges they face and the fundamental concepts that undergird waves of Cameroonian immigration to the USA. The reader comes out feeling like he or she has danced, slept and wept with the thousands of Cameroonians engaged in this great exodus. This is a 'must read' book for all African scholars, friends, and the many out there who taste for the true picture of the Cameroonian Odyssey in the USA, especially the many non-Cameroonians who have had a whimsical idea of immigration and the often misinterpreted idea of the role these immigrants have played in the economic, social and professional development of the USA.

Joseph Takougang is professor of African history in the Department of Africana Studies at the University of Cincinnati.