“Many African societies divide humans into three categories: those still
alive on the earth, the sasha, and the zamani. The recently departed
whose time on earth overlapped with people still here are the sasha, the
living-dead. They are not wholly dead, for they still live in the
memories of the living, who can call them to mind, create their likeness
in art, and bring them to life in anecdote. When the last person to
know an ancestor dies, that ancestor leaves the sasha for the zamani,
the dead. As generalised ancestors, the zamani are not forgotten but
revered. Many … can be recalled by name. But they are not the
living-dead. There is a difference.”
―
James W. Loewen,
Lies My Teacher Told Me
1 July 2014
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment