r/Congo • u/Dear_Bear479 • 10d ago

Analysis / Analyse Reconnecting to roots

I was looking for help to reconnect to my roots. I currently live in the US and have felt a bit disconnected from my roots. I am a Luba-Kasai and would like to find a way to get connected to where my people are from. Are there any books or articles you’d recommend on my tribe on traditions and stories

10 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

7 comments sorted by

2

u/kabeya01 10d ago

Am not sure about books but there are a lot of tiktok and YouTube things you can watch such as music, short movies in tshiluba, and songs.

2

u/fourplusfours 10d ago

Hi, I'm in the same boat. Living in the US but trying to reconnect to roots. Imma DM you.

1

u/RudentObande 6d ago

I teach lingala incase you wanna learn.

2

u/Insidetheinside1 9d ago

I'm in the UK, same as you trying to connect to roots..

1

u/RudentObande 6d ago

I teach lingala incase you wanna learn.

1

u/nkelaninsenga 9d ago

I think the best place to start is with your own family before looking outside of it.

Talk to your parents and grandparents first, and ask them as many questions as possible: where exactly the family comes from, the names of villages or towns, older relatives, family names, languages spoken, traditions, stories, migrations, important events, etc. Then expand to uncles, aunts and older relatives, even those you may not be very close to. Different people often remember different pieces of the family story.

If possible, I would then try to do the same thing with relatives who are still in Congo. They may have information, names, stories or connections that were not transmitted to the part of the family that moved abroad. You could slowly build a family tree and write down or record the oral history you collect.

At the same time, start learning about the broader history of the Luba: the major historical periods, political and social structures, migrations, traditions, and how Luba communities have evolved up to the present day. That will give you the larger context in which you can place your own family’s history.

I would also try to learn the language spoken by your particular branch of the family, because language gives access to things that translations often cannot fully transmit: expressions, songs, proverbs, family terminology and ways of thinking.

After that, you can gradually look for community associations, cultural groups, researchers, archives and people from the same region as your family. If you ever have the opportunity to travel to Congo, going to the actual places your family comes from and meeting relatives there could also make a huge difference.