Sankofa

Names are a key motif in Sankofa. During times in which enslavement was legal, enslaved people were forced to take on the names of their enslavers, an act that functioned to erase their identities and cultural heritage. As seen in Sankofa, this practice continued after emancipation, with missionaries and evangelists often imposing European names upon various African people as part of the colonization process. Thus, Kofi’s full name is Francis Kofi Adjei Aggrey, an aggregation of his given Bamanian name and the name that Irish missionaries once gave his father, Peter Aggrey, who was formerly known as Kwabena Adjei. In this context, it is significant that Kofi goes by the name of Francis in London, for the decision reflects his initial attempts to assimilate to dominant culture.

When Francis becomes a revolutionary, he shortens his name to Kofi Adjei, and Anna notes that this is “a historic reversal” (59) of the usual pattern of European names overwriting African names. By choosing to go by his African name only, Kofi rejects the influences of European colonialism and affirms his Bamanian identity. His renaming also represents a metaphorical split in his identity between the idealistic but powerless Francis and the powerful but morally ambiguous Kofi.