An Interview with Dr. Alain Sonyem

Alain Belmond Sonyem is a lecturer in German-language literature and civilizations at the ENS-Yaoundé. He has been researching German-language children’s and youth literature for more than twenty years and has already published numerous articles and three monographs.
Greetings, Dr. Sonyem! Thanks for your time and accepting to do the interview with Cootermag.

1. As my first question, could you please talk a bit about yourself and let our readers know you more?

Thanks Dr. Farnia for the interest of Cootermag towards my humble person. This first question seems very difficult to answer for me. I am a son of farmers and I grew up under very poor conditions. However, my father always said that education is the only heritage he can give to us. I was very good at school and succeeded to become a secondary school German teacher and to also get a PhD degree in German literature for children and young people. Now I am a lecturer in the department of foreign languages at the ENS Yaoundé. I am also a guest researcher at the University of Leipzig and a writer.

2. Could you please tell us more as a specialist in German Children’s Literature? What pushed you toward this field of study?

When I was a child I was a passionate reader. I almost read everything I found from newspapers to specific children’s literature. In the secondary school, I could read all the books for literature course within two days and I borrowed novels from the school library every week. During my masters studies in 2002, a German Professor visited us and presented children’s literature as a possible research field. I was so excited that I began the same day to read German children novels for research purposes with the only question to know what children literature is all about. My first research was about the image of adults, and the second was about the difference between writing for children and for adults. Later on I researched about representations of Africa in German Literature for young people for my PhD.

3. Interesting! So later on, as a post-doc researcher, you worked on transnational circulations of racism-discourses at the University of Leipzig. Could you please tell us more about your research?

One important aspect of my PhD Thesis was about stereotypes and racism in children books. I decided to research more about the topic after the murder of the black American George Floyd in 2020 as it lead to manifestations against institutional racism everywhere in the world with the slogan “Black Lives Matter.” My ongoing research focuses on how and why Black Lives Matter circulated in Europe and Africa and how it could contribute to fighting against racism and promoting social cohesion in the world.

4. Such an interesting topic! Now, what about your research at the International Youth Library in Munich?

From June to August 2018 I researched at the International Youth Library in Munich about the field of Africa-Literature for Children in Germany. My focus was on why and how some institutions select some newly published books and recommend them to their young readers. I criticized the fact that some recommended books do not always follow the criteria that are defined by these institutions and that the position of their authors in the literary field might influence the selection process.

5. Great job! I like the idea very much, because such recommended books are taken for granted most of the time. So, I also know that you’re a writer and have published some novels for teenagers in German language. As a writer, a critic and also as a parent how do you look at the world, and the teenagers?

I dream of a world without races where all people look the same. I do not only mean physical differences, but mostly structural differences, cultural differences, religious differences etc. These races are always the main obstacle to social cohesion. My novels focus on intercultural encounters and multicultural characters. My main character which I called Richter (Judge) is a teenager from a white European mother and a black African father who falls in love with Blessing, a girl from a francophone mother and an Anglophone father. I believe that only the teenagers can break the racial and cultural barriers and promote my ideal of a raceless world.

6. Has being a literary critic in Children’s Literature had any influence on you as a writer?

Yes, of course. It is true that writing is something spiritual, but sometimes I have to rewrite my texts, so that they reflect my scientific positions. Anyway they remain an artistic work that everybody can interpret as he or she wants.

7. What’s your opinion on Children’s Literature in Africa?

In Cameroon where I come from, children’s literature is only what children read at school for their education. There are of course some specialized publishing houses, but these remain unknown and children’s literature is not looked upon as a major concern.

8. But I’m sure, your research and the academia you’re working for have made a great impact. But what do you think of the future of Children’s Literature in the world?

As long as adults will encourage children to read, as long as people will write for children, as long as this literature will be advertised and sold, children’s literature will survive. I am very optimistic.

9. That’s nice to hear, especially because it seems that all of us believe in the power of YA and Children’s Literature. As for my last question, what’s the message you’d like to give the whole world?

No to Racism.

Excellent, Dr. Sonyem! I appreciate your effort and care for Children’s Literature. We do need more scholars like you in this domain; scholars who are committed and serious and strive to empower children and make a world a better place. Thank you!

Interviewed by Dr. Neda Farnia
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