Lineage
Pedigree – It’s almost as if the word wants to break in half from the weight it’s carrying.
Sankofa
Cultivated through oral tradi-tion by the Akan people of Ghana, sankofa posits that one should remember the past in order to make positive progress.
The word means “to retrieve” in the Akan (Twi) language, and its philosophical connotation is expanded upon in this West African proverb: Se wo were fi na wosankofa a yenkyi (“It is not taboo to go back and fetch what you for-got”).
The power of sankofa comes from this central idea: To know your history and heritage is to know your current self, the world around you, and how to make improvements to both.
There are two main adinkra symbols associated with this concept: a heart that curls inward and outward, and a bird looking backward while carrying an egg in its mouth.
People often fabricate the sankofa bird as a gold weight and emblazon the heart shape onto artwork or their bodies as tattoos.
The heart also appears on many gates in America, especially in New York City. In order to respond creatively to life’s challenges.
Cornel advises you to tap into some ancestral knowledge. “Without the best of our roots,” he says, “we cannot even think about wise, courageous, visionary R-O-U-T-E-S.
And by routes, I mean our individual lives, our individual journeys and pilgrimages, and our collective lives.”
Researching your family history can help you to establish your own identity, embrace your culture and traditions, and help you to understand why you are who you are.
Connect more deeply with a sense of self by learning about their family’s past—where they came from, who they were, what they did, the trials they overcame, the accomplishments they achieved, the dreams they had.
It can also give your sense of self-worth and belonging a boost.
It can also do the opposite.