Legal Oppositional Narrative ─ A Case Study in Cameroon

This book examines the possibilities of opposition to government-supported, dominant social orders through legal writing using post-Independence Cameroon (1960-1961) as its example. "Legal writing" in this case encompasses traditional fictional works such as novels, plays, and short stories that deal with legal themes, settings, and language, but also works with nontraditional narratives, such as legal case decisions, textbooks, and articles. An investigation of these Cameroonian texts demonstrates the potential use and effectiveness of oppositional narrative, as defined by authors such as Ross Chambers and Michel de Certeau, within postcolonial legal systems to influence a different reading of the legal and social order.

Stephen L. Bishop is associate professor of French and Francophone literature at the University of New Mexico.