| The Maninka speakers, a subdivision of the Mande, have created the N'ko alphabet, one of the two indigenous writing systems that continues in widespread use. Inspired by cultural nationalism in the pre-independence period, Souleymane Kante from Kankan, Republic of Guinea, created the alphabet in 1949. It subsequently became popular among a broad group of Mande speakers even though they had long used the Arabic and Roman alphabets. In recent years, the number of people who have become N'ko-literate has increased dramatically.;Souleymane Kante had read writings of foreigners who argued that Africans were unable to develop their own writing system. Motivated by a desire to disprove such claims, Kante aspired to create an African alphabet. His search was further inspired by the fact that foreign alphabets were incapable of rendering the full scope of Maninka thought.;This study explains how N'ko literacy originated and spread. It investigates the motives for the creation of the alphabet to the extent that they can be known, and it analyzes the sociopolitical context in which N'ko was created. The inquiry examines the rationale behind the selection of texts written in N'ko and traces the development and spread of N'ko schools in Guinea and across West Africa.;Additionally, it explores the context for the social uses of indigenous literacy. As a consequence of colonial domination, foreigners and foreign-trained professionals imposed alien languages and alphabets on Maninka speakers. The control of language, and ultimately literacy, has emerged at the center of the contest for economic, political, and religious dominance over the Maninka-speaking people of Haute-Guinee.;By adopting N'ko, Maninka speakers have attempted to wrest control over language, literacy, and education from foreigners and Africans influenced by them. N'ko has become central to Maninka cultural identity. N'ko promoters have launched a grassroots literacy campaign with the intention of rising from their subordinate cultural position. Their movement has had an impact, in turn, on regional Islam and on religious reform. |
