The African concept of sankofa means retrieving what risks being lost from the past.

Evidence

Trending on college campuses and used in the names of many social justice organizations is the African term sankofa. But what does it mean? In the simplest of terms, it means “to go back and get it.” The majestic bird that presses forward while looking back, safeguarding and nurturing the promises of life, is both a visual and symbolic reminder. It represents the foretelling and prophetic message of the past that cries out to the present: “Never forget where you come from.” — Tamara Lanier, From These Roots, 20

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines sankofa as the imperative to go back and fetch what is at risk of being lost.
• XREF: Connects to the ADDENDUM on grafting as narrative metaphor and to the reader’s interest in how memory and genealogy are preserved against institutional erasure.
• ADDENDUM: The retrieve-what-is-lost framing echoes the grafting-and-growth article’s metaphor of root systems reaching back; could support a follow-up on why reclaiming dispossessed roots is a recurring narrative device.