West Africa's first coup: neo-colonial and pan-African projects in Togo's "shadow archives"

Kate Skinner

doi:10.1017/asr.2019.39

West Africa's first coup: neo-colonial and pan-African projects in Togo's "shadow archives"

Kate Skinner

African Studies and Anthropology

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

3 Citations (Scopus)

544 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

This article is an historical analysis of West Africa’s first coup. Starting from contemporary accounts of the 1963 assassination of president Sylvanus Olympio of the Republic of Togo, and the overthrow of his government, the article identifies three competing explanations of events. It follows these three explanations through Togo’s “shadow archives,” asking how and why each of them was taken up or disregarded by particular people at particular moments in time. The article develops a new interpretation of West Africa’s first coup, and outlines its implications for the study of national sovereignty, neo-colonialism, and pan-African solidarity in postcolonial Africa.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	375-398
Journal	African Studies Review
Volume	63
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1017/asr.2019.39
Publication status	Published - 20 Aug 2019

Bibliographical note

The author acknowledges the financial support of the College of Arts and Law R&KT Fund at the University of Birmingham.

Keywords

France
Ghana
Togo
United States
archives
assassination
coup
diplomatic relations
neo-colonialism
pan-Africanism

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Cultural Studies
Anthropology

Access to Document

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This article has been published in a revised form in African Studies Review DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/asr.2019.39. This version is free to view and download for private research and study only. Not for re-distribution, re-sale or use in derivative works. © African Studies Association 2019
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Cite this

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West Africa's first coup: neo-colonial and pan-African projects in Togo's "shadow archives"

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

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