Dianne White Oyler discusses the creation of the N'ko alphabet, based on the Maninka language, by Souleymane Kanté (1922-1987) in 1949 in Haute Guinée (Guinea). She carefully documents N'ko's dissemination by a grassroots literacy campaign that started with Kanté and continues to the present. Her analysis shows the importance of language in transnational identity and the cultural nationalism of Mande-speaking people in West Africa. Oyler also discusses Kanté's and Nko's relationship to Pan-Africanism.
Author(s): Dianne White Oyler
Publisher: Africana Homestead Legacy Publishers
Year: 2005
Language: English; Mande (N'Ko / ߒߞߏ)
Pages: 256
City: Cherry Hill, New Jersey
Acknowledgments xi
Foreword xiii
Chapter 1: Introduction 1
Issues surrounding decolonization 3
The sources 4
Oral history 7
Literacy as an extension of language 8
Literacy in the colonies 11
Social uses of literacy in Guinea’s First Republic 13
Social liberation through N’ko literacy 14
Literacy campaigns 15
Notes 17
Chapter 2: The Mande world 21
Mande languages and their locations 21
The Mande heroic and historic past 25
Mande culture 27
Mande identity 29
Historical construction of Mande identity 31
The pre-Colonial era 31
The Colonial era 36
The First Republic 41
The governments of Lansana Conté 46
Conclusion 47
Notes 48
Chapter 3: Historic Kankan — A regional history 59
The pre-Samori period, 1775–1870 59
The Samori period, 1870–1890 64
French colonial rule, 1890–1922 66
The sociopolitical context, 1922–1946 74
Conclusion 76
Notes 78
Chapter 4: A cultural revolution through N’ko literacy —
The period of Mande enlightment 85
N’ko’s creation 87
Kanté’s motivations 89
Kanté’s translations and creative works 92
N’ko’s early dissemination 96
The reaction to N’ko 99
Formal dissemination 1959–1986 100
N’kos formal dissemination, 1986–to present 102
Notes 107
Chapter 5: Cultural nationalism in the Mande diaspora —
N’ko’s international dimension 117
Dissemination of N’ko as a transnational process 117
N’ko during the Mande diaspora 118
N’ko in West Africa 125
Souleymane Kanté’s literacy campaign as a Pan African movement 127
Souleymane Kanté’s Pan Africanism as a cultural and political movement 127
Kanté as a Pan Africanist 135
Notes 137
Chapter 6: Conclusion 143
A personal choice 148
Notes 150
Appendixes 151
Appendix A. Mande languages 152
Appendix B. Informant relationships to Souleymane Kanté 153
Appendix C. Samples of documents written in N’ko 155
Appendix D. Oral tradition of Souleymane Kanté, English translation 173
Appendix E. N’ko literacy survey of Kankan, 1994 178
Appendix F. N’ko literacy survey of Kankan, 2000 179
Appendix G. Books published in N’ko 183
Bibliography 199
Index 215
