Preview

Sankofa Essay

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
859 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Sankofa Essay
In investigating Basil Davidson's narrative "The Bible and the Gun, a wide range of contemplations and in addition feelings turn out to be more than present alongside a more prominent comprehension of the historical backdrop of the lives of numerous Africans. The African individuals were very much aware of the excellence, cleverness, and holiness of their property, yet according to the British, the area was proportionate to riches and nothing more. The Africans were focused by the British and additionally different Europeans for their territory basically however once their properties got to be occupied, everything they might do would now be under the control of the white man. Due to the fact that the African people were considered …show more content…
An exploration of history is a key theme that plays a major output in the movie Sankofa to help create one's identity. Through the use of characterization and symbolism, Gerima shows the African perception of identity and the role that history/the past plays through the use of Mona's transformation and journey. In the beginning of the movie it was said that “Spirit of the dead, rise up and possess your vessels. Those who died in Brazil, Jamaican, and etc., to rise and tell your story.” Those passionately spoken words were said by the “Divine Drummer”, whose duty was to lead those spirits that had wandered back home. This is where Mona came into play. She's a model who ran into Sankofa in one of her shoots. He yelled at her and her white photographer; stating that that cavern was where the whites abused millions of Africans, and the photographer did not belong there. Seeming less sure of herself, Mona followed the tourists into the caverns. Mona fell behind and the lights went out. When they turned back on, she was in the past; looking at bounded and shackled naked Africans. She saw men and women who were scared and branded and tried to escape. However she was taken by the white men, who stripped her bare and branded her. While doing so she screamed “I am an American, I'm not African” (Gerima,

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    HIST 325: Colonial Africa

    • 3255 Words
    • 14 Pages

    Winter 2013 – TR 6:00-7:20pm, McKenzie 214 – CRN 23274 Version 1.00, 7 Jan 2013 Professor: Dr. L. F. Braun Office: 311 McKenzie Hall Telephone: x6-4838 on-campus. Email: lfbraun@uoregon.edu Office hours: T 2:00-4:00pm & by appt. Overview and Objectives Africa is central to human history. It is the continent where our species arose, where some of the greatest ancient civilizations throve, and where dynamic, complex, and innovative cultures confronted a variety of social, political, and environmental challenges. Many African states and societies were materially wealthier than their European counterparts until the 1700s, and Africa has always been connected— however tenuously at times—to the wider world. Yet in the popular, Eurocentric historical imagination in the U.S. and Europe, there is sparse knowledge of Africa’s history, and it was rarely even considered a subject for historical study until the 1950s. For the period before European political dominion in Africa (c.1880-1960), this lack is even more pronounced. In this course we will explore the history of Africa between the 800s and the late 1800s, while at the same time discovering the…

    • 3255 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Gary Nash’s “Black people in a white people’s country” is an article that provides us with insight into the overall development of the international slave trade and slavery of West Africa beginning in the late fifteenth century and continuing. The economic influences, impact of the stages of transport on the slave ships especially that of the “middle passage”, and the impact on white or the Europeans society as African slavery became not only more prominent but also more institutionalized in the Americas.…

    • 484 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    GAFST Film Review Sankofa

    • 1715 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The character Mona undergoes substantial transformation in the area of individual personality and social psychology we call “identity.” What does her journey suggest to us about both the Africana perception of identity and the role that history plays in that? Explain the role that the characters, Nunu, Shango, and Joe play in Mona’s transformation. In the context of this discussion, give your definition of Sankofa. It is at once a bird and is depicted by the staff of the drummer in the film. But what is it really and what is Mona’s connection to Sankofa? What does it suggest to other Africans and more importantly, to and about non-Africans?…

    • 1715 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Chapter 20 Course Notes

    • 1585 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Chapter 20 Africa and the Africans in the Age of the Atlantic Slave Trade I. Introduction A. Mahommah Gardo Baquaqua – symbol of slavery 1. Muslim trader > African slavery > African slave trade > Missionary B. Impact of outsiders on Africa 1. Islam first, then African developed at own pace, West had big impact C. Influence of Europe 1.…

    • 1585 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Korematsu Essay

    • 670 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Korematsu was born to a Japanese-American family that owned a flower nursery in 1919. After World War II broke out, Japanese living in Pacific states were sent to internment camps. Korematsu refused to go to an internment camp. In 1942 he was arrested and sent to a camp. The U.S. Supreme Court supported his conviction in 1944 on the grounds of military necessity. In 1983, Korematsu appealed his conviction. Later that year a federal court in San Francisco overturned the conviction. In 1988 Congress passed legislation apologizing for the internments and awarded each survivor $20,000. While the American concentration camps never reached the levels of Nazi death camps as far as atrocities are concerned, they remain a dark mark on the nation's record…

    • 670 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Dbq Imperialism In Africa

    • 679 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The idea that Europe was a radical, cutting edge civilization created a sense of supremacy over less developed nations. They believed Africa to be so outdated that the natives could not even be considered modern men. In fact, they were not considered men at all. The explorers rationalized their corruption of this preoccupied land through the transfer from human status, to that of a wild animal. (Document P) Through the perspective of the Europeans, the seemingly underdeveloped Africa was in need of saving, and with their lavish machinery, they were the perfect nation to graciously come forth and salvage the remains of Africa and claim their habitat. “Take up the White Man’s burden, send forth the best ye breed, go bind your sons to exile, to serve your captives’ need; to wait in heavy harness, on fluttered folk and wild-your new caught sullen peoples, half devil and half-child…” (Document P) The animalistic tone of the words exposed the way they spoke of the Africans with condescending pity, and then acted accordingly. (Document…

    • 679 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Kokoro Essay

    • 1097 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Natsume Soseki throughout this novel went into great detail about friendship and the different stages of friendship. With a little help from a man he met on the beach at Kamakura he went from a young man trying to grasp the future to a very intelligent university graduate with all his morals set straight.…

    • 1097 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    ENGLISH 102 ESSAY 1

    • 913 Words
    • 4 Pages

    I see some rare and different qualities between the characters in these stories. First, in “The Rocking Horse Winner” the main character Paul is the son of two unlucky parents. This is shown as Paul overhears his mother talking about her unlucky streak. The young boy then starts seeing luck as money because if money and luck bring happiness, they must somehow be intertwined. In the story, it is this mindset that pushes Paul over the edge to become some sort of hero. The mother does not love Paul, much as described in the story, but when she sees the change in Paul for the worse she immediately begins to worry as most mothers would for a suffering son. The father of Paul is mentioned, but they do not say much about him, except he works in town and previously had a gambling problem. Uncle Oscar and Bassett are just riding on the coat tails of Paul, trying to hold on until something breaks.…

    • 913 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    West Africa was soon to be convulsed by the arrival of Europeans and become the advent of the transatlantic slave trade. Ships from Europe, bound for America, appeared on the horizon, and their captains and sailors-carrying muskets, swords, and shackles-landed on the coast, walked up the beach in their strange clothes, looked around, and demanded slaves. A horrific chapter in history had begun, and neither Africa nor America would be the same again. (Awmiller 14)…

    • 3458 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Jocasta Essay

    • 651 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In Oedipus Rex, Sophocles explores the titular characters encounter with fate. The poet Ruth Eisenburg does the same in her poem Jocasta, but from the point of view of that works titular character. In a well organized essay, analyze how Eisenburg utilizes devices such as imagery, figurative language, puns, and dramatic irony to convey Jocasta's personal encounter with fate.…

    • 651 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    During the age of Imperialism, racial divisions were at an all time high between the Europeans, “The White Man”. And, literally anybody else of another race at the time. However, racial tensions were quite particularly tense between Whites and Blacks. For the not so first time, Europeans were expunging resources out of Africa. And using the natives to do it for them. And an insightful look into the tensions of the time can be observed in two literary works from the time period, “White Man’s Burden” by Rudyard Kipling. And, alternatively, “Black Man’s Burden” by Edward Morel. The White Man’s burden deals with the social implications of being the Imperialist, exploring countries, and making them your responsibility, to “civilize” them. The Black…

    • 713 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Sankofa

    • 318 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Sankofa is an Akan (Ghanaian) word meaning "one must return to the past in order to move forward." Written and directed by Ethiopian-born filmmaker and Howard University professor Haile Gerima, Sankofa is the story of the psychospiritual journey of Mona, a self-possessed African American woman who faces an identity crisis. From the African continent through the Middle Passage and the Americas, Mona relives her past and is transformed.…

    • 318 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Stoddard Essay

    • 1241 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Stoddard, Thomas B.”Gay Marriage: Make them Legal.” Current Issues and Enduring Questions A Guide to Critical Thinking and Argument with Readings. Barnet Ed. Ninth Edition. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2007. 721-723. Print.…

    • 1241 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    This capitalist driven interest motivated the “Scramble for Africa,” the mass colonization of Africa’s West coast by predominant European powers. The African people were sought out as the focus of exploitation, as they were a cheap, easily attained, hard working people. Subject to exploitation, the people were dispossessed of their land and “relocated into Canada through forced and impelled migration,” (Mensah, 41) marking the beginnings of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. Once in North America, those of African origin were enslaved to European powers, obliged to function as merchandise, the people were bought and sold to provide domestic work for the dominant class/race. Dependent on the enslavement of the African people, the European economy flourished, through the development of its enslaved labour force overseas in North…

    • 1125 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    African American Culture

    • 4492 Words
    • 18 Pages

    As we begin to think about Africa and its, we must also consider how Western perceptions of "race" and "racial" difference have influenced our notions about the history of Africa. These ideas, which have usually stood out against the presumed inferiority of black peoples with the superiority of whites, arose in Western societies as Europeans sought…

    • 4492 Words
    • 18 Pages
    Powerful Essays