The History of the N'Ko Alphabet and Its Role in Mande Transnational Identity

In her seminal work Dianne White Oyler discusses the creation of the N'ko alphabet, based on the Maninka language, by Souleymane Kant (1922-1987) in 1949 in Haute Guine (Guinea). She carefully documents N'ko's dissemination by a grassroots literacy campaign that started with Kant 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 Kant's and Nko's relationship to Pan-Africanism.