A year-round celebration is ongoing, focusing not just on the past and wisdom already learned, but using it to build a future for all students who step through the center’s doors. This remembrance of the past to build a better future can be interpreted as the Ghanaian concept of Sankofa.
The idea of Sankofa is that it is not taboo to look back to or to retrieve from the past and that learning from it can provide wisdom for daily use and building one’s future. It is signified by a bird turning its head back, often creating a heart symbol. While there is a general meaning to the term, it leaves itself open to interpretation for each individual.
angela gay-audre, the director of the African American Cultural Center describes Sankofa as the heartbeat of the center, both connecting students to their past as well as the present, while also pushing them to think toward their future, all within a university setting.
“It is certainly the heartbeat of the cultural center, and I don’t think anyone sees Sankofa and [does] not think about the cultural center. At this point, it has always been a heartbeat of the campus to consider the work that we do as something that is historical, that grounds people in their present moment, helps them think about how they want to move towards the future,” gay-audre said.
gay-audre said the idea of moving towards the future is especially important as the way we often think about Blackness as unmoving or slow to change. They also said these ideas about the future need to be inclusive of all groups as we evolve and grow as people.
“When we tend to think about Blackness, we tend to think of it as a monolith, what it truly is not,” gay-audre said. “It is fluid, and I think that’s also the part of futurism is that we are already existing in a future that someone else had imagined, and that future is inclusive of Latina culture, it is inclusive of Asian culture, inclusive of white culture.”
That idea of inclusivity flows throughout the entire African American Cultural Center, especially when the African American Cultural Center collaborates with other campus organizations like the Pride Center. Wynter Douglas, the librarian and library coordinator for the African American Cultural Center emphasized this when talking about the Rainbow Reading Chat on Queer Afrofuturism which was held on Feb. 12.
“It’s just such a good marriage between the Pride Center as well as us … It’s really for everyone and very inclusive because some people might just hear the term and be like, ‘Oh, that’s only for Black people,’ but it’s really an epistemology and a way of being and thinking about the future and past,” Douglas said.
That core principle of inclusivity ties directly back to the concept of Sankofa, as every individual can derive their own personal and empowering meaning to the concept. Quashon Bunch, the assistant director of the African American Cultural Center, says Sankofa at NC State means helping students find value in their cultural heritage.
“Just letting every student know that where they come from is valued. Don’t be ashamed of where you come from as a student, but hold on to the things that you learn at home, learn from your family, learn from your culture, your heritage. What’s passed down to you from your ancestors. Use that to shape your future,” Bunch said.
Andaiye Qaasim, the student affairs specialist at the African American Cultural Center, says when she thinks of Sankofa, she remembers a film she saw as a child with her mother, “Sankofa,” by Haile Gerima. In the film, a self-absorbed Black fashion model is spiritually transported to a plantation in the West Indies and finds the redemptive power of community and rebellion.
“What that movie reminds me is there can also be hardship and pain with Sankofa, but then there’s also the beauty of building towards the future. So I love this idea of thinking about that understanding and grasping of the past and who you are and bringing that collectively with you is actually the ingredients to build a future that can be beautiful, prospering and encompassing of everyone,” Qaasim said.
Qaasim ended by saying that though there are different moments you may experience, both hard and good; as you learn about those moments, it is important to remember those whose shoulders you stand, what they have done and how you want to carry forward their legacy and build your own.
