Uses of the past in Gola Discourse

Knowledge of the past is a highly valued commodity among the Gola of West Africa. ‘Setting things straight’ and ‘putting a proper form to things’ is a major preoccupation of this highly articulate people. There is no man among them worth his salt who is not ready at the slightest provocation to ‘make new ideas from old ones’ (ke djike dje yun gogo), or, more literally, to present ‘new ideas of the old people’. But there are many cultural restrictions and formal requirements which must guide the approach to things past. The past is considered to be the repository of all important sacred and secular knowledge, and the act of formal retrospection is the duty of qualified men of wisdom who are expected to apply their accumulated memories to the solution of problems confronting the living present.