This book rethinks the history of decolonisation and new nationhood in the Ghana-Togo borderlands, and speaks to an increasingly urgent debate on the production of knowledge about Africa. It does this through the close reading, translation and analysis of a unique primary source - a newspaper entitled Abl??e(meaning 'the Key to Freedom'). Abl??e was initiated and sustained by a shoemaker named Holiday V. K. Komedja, and written almost entirely in his mother-tongue, E?e. Whilst many studies of nationalism have highlighted the importance of anti-colonial newspapers, this volume is unique - in its intensive focus on a single African-language newspaper, in providing translations of entire issues, and in following the story of decolonisation into the era of new nationhood. The manner in which Komedja recounted and explained political events challenges existing scholarly accounts of the rise and fall of Togo's first independent government, and of ethnic nationalisms and local loyalties within new nation-states. In re-reading the history of the Ghana-Togo borderlands through the pages of Abl??e, this volume demonstrates that intensive inter-disciplinary engagement with specific African-language texts is indispensable to the meaningful study of Africa and Africans in global history.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgements Glossary The Eve Alphabet Map PART 1: EDITORS' INTRODUCTION I: Preamble II: An overview: Holiday Vincent Kwasi Komedja and his newspaper III: The Aguawo: Asante invasion and the mission encounter IV: A historiographical intervention: Aguawo and approaches to empire VI: Coercion and coercion: the colonisation of Agu VI: Petitioning against plantations: the particularities of protest in Agu VII: The Togolese press: political history and regional print culture VIII: Journalist-activists: newsprint and politics in the borderlands IX: Writing the new nation: Ablɔɖe Safui and the work of citizenship X: Ablɔɖe Safui is my name! Komedja as patriot and truth-teller XI: Translating Ablɔɖe Safui: culture, communication and context XII: Conclusion PART 2: ABLƆƉE SAFUI (THE KEY TO FREEDOM): 22 ISSUES, EACH WITH TRANSLATION AND COMMENTS A S6 of 31 March 1959 AS 20 of 6 October 1959 AS 21 of 27 October 1979 AS 22 of 26 November 1959 AS 23 of 26 February 1960 AS 24 of 23 March 1960 AS 25 of 13 April 1960 AS 26 of 2 May 1960 AS 27 of 20 May 1960 AS 28 of 13 July 1960 AS 29 of 11 November 1960 AS 30 of 31 December 1960 AS 31 of 28 January 1961 AS 32 of 20 February 1961 AS 34 of 20 April 1961 AS 36 not dated AS 37 not dated AS 38 of 5 May 1962 AS 39 of 11 July 1962 AS 40 of 2 August 1962 AS 49 of 2 May 1965 AS 56 of 28 December 1965 Bibliography Index