Peter Wuteh Vakunta
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Peter Wuteh Vakunta | |
|---|---|
| Born | Bamunka-Ndop, Republic of Cameroon |
| Nationality | Cameroonian |
| Alma mater | University of Wisconsin–Madison |
| Occupation(s) | Author, literary theorist, poet, professor |
| Known for | Hybrid languages work |
Peter Wuteh Vakunta is an author, literary theorist, poet, and professor, noted for his work in and on hybrid languages, including Camfranglais, Cameroonian Creole, linguistic indigenization, and multilingual educational systems. He is originally from Bamunka-Ndop, in the Northwest Region of the Republic of Cameroon, and currently teaches French language and literature and serves as Chair of the Department of Modern Languages at the University of Indianapolis.[1]
Biography[edit]
Peter Wuteh Vakunta is a naturalized American citizen with roots in Cameroon. He immigrated to the United States in 2001, after serving as a senior translator at the Presidency of the Republic of Cameroon in Yaounde. He earned his bachelor's degrees in Cameroon and Nigeria, as well as his MA and MS degrees in the US and Cameroon.[2] In 2009, Vakunta received a Ph.D. in French and Francophone Studies with a minor in linguistics from the University of Wisconsin Madison where he taught courses in the Theory of African Literature, Contemporary African Fiction, and Intensive English Language. Vakunta is married with five children.
Camfranglais[edit]
Vakunta is fluent in English,French, Hausa, and Creole (Cameroon), Camfranglais, and Bamunka. He has lived and worked in France, Cameroon, South Africa, Nigeria and the United States of America. In his capacity as study abroad coordinator, he has traveled with hundreds of students to France, Canada, Italy, Finland, Estonia, Spain, Cameroon, and South Africa. Vakunta writes expertly in all the aforementioned languages. He also writes in and about Camfranglais, a hybrid language largely based on French syntax and vocabulary that has served as a language of resistance in Cameroon since surfacing in the 1970s.[3] Vakutna has written poetry and critical works in Camfranglais,[4] including a recent biographical work on Lapiro de Mbanga.[5]
Vakunta's research focuses on African Studies, canonical questions bordering on the translation of postcolonial francophone literature; it makes explicit the working of the creative impulse in the interface between original writing and its translation into global Frenches. Vakunta's teaching interests border on interdisciplinarity as a locus for discourse on challenging habits of thought; crossing borders in educational globalization; curriculum and instruction; second language acquisition, intercultural skills development, post-coloniality and translational theories. He has had scholarly articles published in the following peer-reviewed journals: Meta 53.4 (2009); Translation Review 73 (2007); Tropos 34 (2008); Journal of the Midwest Modern Language Association (2009); Chimères (2010); Journal of African Literature Association (2009, 2010); Miniatures 58 (2011), and African Literature Today 29 (2011).
Vakunta has authored the following fictional works in Camfranglais and Pidgin English:
- Requiem pour Ongola en camfranglais: une poetique camerounaise, 2015;
- Tori shweet for Cameroon Pidgin English,2015;
- Poems from Abakwa in Cameroon Pidgin English, 2015;
- Takembeng and other Poems from Abakwa,2015;
- Speak Camfranglais pour un renouveau ongolais,2014;
- Cam Tok and Poems from the Cradle, 2010,and
- Majunga Tok: Poems in Pidgin English, 2008.
Selected works[edit]
Books[edit]
Magnum Opus: A Tribute to Ntarikon, 2017 ISBN 9789956764044
Critical Perspectives on the Theory and Translation of Camfranglais Literature, 2016 ISBN 9789956763047
Gravitas: Poetic Consciencism for Cameroon, 2016 ISBN 9789956764846
Tori shweet for Cameroon Pidgin English, 2015 ISBN 9789956762316
Poems from Abakwa in Cameroon Pidgin English, 2015 ISBN 9789956792238
Takembeng and other Poems from Abakwa, 2015 ISBN 9956762407
Stream of Consciousness: Poetics of the Universal, 2015 ISBN 9789956792948
Requiem pour Ongola en camfranglais: une poetique camerounaise, 2015 ISBN 9789956792917
Camfranglais: The Making of a New Language in Cameroonian Literature, 2014 (ISBN 9789956792962)
The Life and Times of a Cameroonian Icon: Tribute to Lapiro de Mbanga Ngata Man, 2014 (ISBN 9789956791941)
Speak Camfranglais pour un renouveau ongolais, 2014 (ISBN 9789956791767)
Nation at Risk: A Personal Narrative of the Cameroonian Crisis, 2012 (ISBN 9781469799742)
Nouvelles du Cameroun, 2011 (ISBN 9782350741932)
Les douleurs de la plume noire, 2010 (ISBN 9956616281)
Martryrdom and Other Freedom Poems, 2010 (ISBN 1450251412)
Indigenization of Language in the African Francophone Novel: A New Literary Canon, 2010 (ISBN 143311271X)
Nul n'a le monopole du français: deux poètes du Cameroon Anglophone, 2010 (ISBN 9956615501)
Cam Tok and Other Poems from the Cradle, 2010 (ISBN 1452006032)
Paradise of Idiots, 2010 (ISBN 1452006016)
Straddling the Mungo: A Book of Poems in English and French, 2009 (ISBN 9956558893)
No Love Lost, 2008 (ISBN 9956558400)
Majunga Tok: Poems in Pidgin English, 2008 (ISBN 9956558613)
Ntarikon: Poetry for the Downtrodden, 2008 (ISBN 1434357678)
Grassfields Stories from Cameroon, 2008 (ISBN 9956558117)
Cry My Beloved Africa: Essays on the Postcolonial Aura in Africa, 2008 (ISBN 9956558737)
Green Rape: Poetry for the Environment, 2008 (ISBN 9956558486)
Better English: Mind Your P's & Q's: A Guide to Effective Communication for English Second Language Speakers, 2007 (ASIN B008VGFTYC)
The Lion Man and Other Stories, 2005 (ISBN 1592214002)
A Lexicon of French and English Terms and Expressions Used in Parliamentary Proceedings, 2004
Glossaire anglais-français des termes et expressions relatifs aux élections et aux techniques d'observation des elections, 2003 (ISBN 0620269782)
Lexique Français-Anglais des termes et expressions à l'usage des parlementaires, 2003 (ASIN B00KIDQ3BO)
A French-English Lexicon of Terms and Expressions relating to Voting and Election Monitoring, 2000 (ISBN 0620269774)
References[edit]
- ^ http://uindy.edu/cas/modern-languages/faculty[dead link]
- ^ "Peter W. Vakunta - Langaa Research and Publishing Common Initiative Group". www.langaa-rpcig.net. Archived from the original on 2010-06-30.
- ^ UIndy news. Vakunta's writing probes the politics of language. Available at: http://news.uindy.edu/2014/06/11/profs-writing-probes-politics-of-language/
- ^ See, for example, Camfranglais around the Mungo, available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwpJNYxR-4U
- ^ Dr. Peter Vakunta's interview with Lapiro de Mbanga, available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZW4tlDIBulA