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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:A Cultural Revolution in Africa: Literacy in the Republic of Guinea since Independence
Author:Oyler, Dianne WhiteISNI
Year:2001
Periodical:International Journal of African Historical Studies
Volume:34
Issue:3
Pages:585-600
Language:English
Geographic term:Guinea
Subjects:alphabets
writing systems
Manding
literacy
Mande languages
Development and Technology
Education and Oral Traditions
About person:Souleymane KantéISNI
External link:https://www.jstor.org/stable/3097555
Abstract:This article addresses Guinea's revolt against European cultural imperialism as evidenced in the issues of language and literacy that have dominated the political landscape in post-1958 Guinea. It further addresses the concept of maternal language learning that became central to decolonization, and the policy Sékou Touré developed and implemented with the support of UNESCO - the National Language Programme (1968-1984). In particular, the article documents one result of Touré's programme that has acquired a life of its own outside government control, a grassroots literacy movement that centres on an alphabet called N'ko. A salient aspect of the issue of language and literacy was the involvement of Souleymane Kanté (1922-1987), a Maninka-speaking 'vernacular intellectual' who invented the N'ko alphabet in 1949. The dissemination of N'ko shows the growth of a literacy movement that is currently spreading across international boundaries throughout West Africa. Being literate in N'ko has become an important part of the current Mande cultural revival. Notes, ref. [ASC Leiden abstract]
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