Ca’la Kian Connors

This dissertation investigates how sociolinguistic identity, discrimination, and social/community support impact maternal-infant health among displaced Anglophone women in Douala, Cameroon. Due to its history of split colonial rule, Cameroon is regionally, socially, and politically divided into Anglophone and Francophone regions, with Anglophones constituting the minority. Since the outbreak of the Anglophone separatist conflict in 2016, many Anglophones have been displaced to Francophone Douala- now experiencing pregnancy in the context of everyday discrimination and systemic neglect. The Developmental Origins of Health and Disease theory suggests that stress during pregnancy can affect birth outcomes. Taking an innovative biolinguistic approach, this research explores how everyday interactions become embodied during pregnancy through neuroendocrine pathways associated with stress and affiliation. The study draws on ethnographic, biomarker, and survey data to connect lived experiences of social identity, marginalization, and social connection with outcomes like preterm birth and low birthweight. By focusing on a non-racialized but deeply politicized sociolinguistic divide, this project extends existing research on intergenerational stress transmission and health disparities beyond the focus of racialized divides in Western contexts. It explores the significance of language as a biosocial determinant of health, offering new insights into how identity, inequality, and support influence health in this population.