Fuelwood, Lomé and the State

This book examines domestic fuelwood energy in Togo, with a focus on the capital, Lomé, from 1907 to 2025. Despite a 'butanisation' programme introduced in the 1980s to promote a gradual shift to liquefied petroleum gas, charcoal remains central to everyday cooking, particularly in Lomé. While fuelwood has been extensively studied by natural scientists as well as by so-called 'development' experts and state-led institutions, its historical dimensions have received little attention. This book offers the first dedicated historical analysis of Togo's fuelwood energy debate, focusing on Lomé. Drawing on archival, oral historical, and visual sources, the study traces how social, economic, demographic, environmental, and political forces have shaped fuelwood energy production, commercialisation towards Lomé, and transformations in its use in the city. It also demonstrates how failed state interventions entrenched the dominance of fuelwood. By situating these processes historically, the book contributes to Togolese and West African historiography and lays the groundwork for comparative perspectives on fuelwood as a key domestic energy source in rapidly expanding West African capitals. By the time this book is published, Hanza Diman is a postdoctoral researcher and lecturer at the University of the Bundeswehr Munich. His current research examines the use of compact cassettes as a medium of communication between Beninese migrants in Côte d'Ivoire and their families in Benin from the 1970s to the early 2000s. He earned his PhD in 2021 from the University of Bayreuth's International Graduate School of African Studies (BIGSAS) and the Chairs of African History and Culture and of Technology in Africa. He is a graduate of the Institut de Relations Internationales et Stratégiques (iRiS-SUP, France). He also holds an MA in political history from the University of Bayreuth, with a study on the history of military coups d'état in Togo, and a BA in German philology from the University of Abomey-Calavi, Benin.