“The Sankofa Exhibit: Embrace the Past, Forge the Future,” a showcase of cultural Zimbabwean art, is being hosted by the student-led Sankofa Research Team and the Department of Anthropology and the Department of Ethnic Studies in Mendocino Hall.
The exhibit, which opened Oct. 15, introduces viewers to the African principle of Sankofa, which is the idea of looking to the past to inform and inspire the future. The exhibit features various displays of African tribal pottery, wooden animal carvings, human face masks, embroidered dollies, copper sheets depicting animal scenery and musical instruments like drums and maracas.
In 2023, more than 600 African art pieces were gifted to Sac State by private donor Shirley Finster, allowing students who were a part of the Sankofa Research Team to analyze and display parts of African culture for future generations.
Connie Finster, the sister of Shirley Finster, said she was impressed with how well the student-research team put together The Sankofa Exhibit while honoring the preservation of the pieces her parents collected while living in Zimbabwe for over 50 years.
“The students have done a really excellent job of describing life in southern Rhodesia and Zimbabwe in the 1960s and 1970s,” Finster said. “The artifacts that are from the tribal trust area that my parents brought back with them are just beautifully displayed and nicely exhibited.”
Connie Finster believes it is extremely important for Sac State to continue to preserve African cultural artifacts and retrieve parts of African culture to share with future generations.
“We are so grateful to Sac State for taking this casual collection and making something significant, educational, informative and appreciable out of it,” Finster said. It’s just important that we see cultural information from around the world just to keep our horizons expanded. It’s really important to fit all of us in different parts of the world to see each other as fellow human beings and this helps that.”
The Sankofa Research Team’s cataloging and preservation of African cultural artifacts occurs under the tutelage of Sac State’s Anthropology Museum and Collections Manager, Karen Dively, and Clarence George, an ethnic studies professor and curator of The Sankofa Exhibit.
George said he saw immense value in bringing the exhibit to Sac State as an opportunity to allow the general public to view these artifacts. He said the exhibit also allowed him, students and the university to benefit from the exhibit’s abundance of opportunities to showcase the beauty of African culture.
“I looked at the art exhibit and found the opportunity to process it and create a research project for students, as well as the university and myself to benefit, and [to] have people see the rich opportunities the art exhibit could provide students,” George said. “It’s been super fun to watch students create their own opportunities in terms of being able to make the curation process of the Sankofa art exhibit grow into the beautiful exhibit it is today.”
There were many African cultural items, such as handwoven baskets, walking sticks, wood vessels and utensils, that were on full display at the exhibit for people to view. George said the drums, called djembes, were very significant to him, as they serve as an important cultural symbol for many people in Africa.
“I think the drums are very significant. They were kind of the foundation of the collection, and why I was so excited about what the collection could be,” George said. “They speak to the diaspora; they speak to the different connections between the continent and African people around the world.”
George said he hopes that students can look at what Zimbabwean people across the world have done in the past and bring people from different walks of life together, so they can appreciate the experience of what being Zimbabwean is like.
“The Sankofa legacy within the context of the collection shows how you can bring different walks of life together to appreciate and invest into an African-centered model that encompasses this development of people coming together to see something special that can hopefully be echoed throughout time,” George said.
Robin Kelley-Dunton, a first-year graduate student, helped the student research team complete the process of displaying the artifacts and curating the museum for public viewing. Alongside Professor Clarence George and museum manager Karen Dively, The Sankofa Exhibit tells a story of hard work and dedication to the culture.
“A lot of students don’t have the opportunity to engage with pieces from other countries; the significance of bringing these pieces to the university allows them to engage with that,” Kelley-Dunton said. “This is a place where they have access, and it’s an amazing thing. It’s not just open to the people on campus but also to the community, so anyone can come in and engage.”
Charles Chaney, a junior business major, shared his experience interacting with The Sankofa Exhibit.
“This exhibit makes me interested in learning about Zimbabwe’s history. I felt the emotion of appreciation when I saw the art, instruments, and baskets. I think these artifacts are meaningful and have good craftsmanship,” Chaney said. “I am curious about the art, music, and clothing after seeing this exhibit.”
The Sankofa artifacts convey a clear message to viewers: embrace yourself and your culture, especially as you navigate life’s unknowns.
“I think it is important to showcase these artifacts. College is about learning, and a huge way to learn is to see the world from different perspectives, including different time periods,” Chaney said.
The student-led research team is currently experimenting with digitizing each artifact and creating an online museum where students and the public can view the exhibit from anywhere in the world. There is no set completion date; however, the student-led research team is hoping for finalization sometime in the coming year.
Located at the Anthropology Museum in Mendocino Hall, room 1000, The Sankofa Exhibit will run until Dec. 5, 2025.
