Tea and Treachery

Last week our class was lucky enough to visit the Point a Callière Museum in Old Montreal and see a very interesting exhibition on tea. I was totally psyched because I LOVE TEA with a passion and I also really love museums. I have to admit that I was somewhat disappointed by the tour. I hate to throw people under the bus but I do not think that our tour guide did a terrific job. She spoke a lot of her own trips to museums and China, did not express herself well in English and did not speak enough about the most interesting parts of the exhibition. I was happy to learn about the difference between Chai and Tea in class as well as many other great tidbits that our guide did not touch upon. Even after saying all of that I still really enjoyed it. It is fascinating how the world can connect and disconnect over trades and commodities. It's amazing.

I did NOT however enjoy the movie afterward. I was actually really turned off that a museum which should be non-biased in representing historical facts would spew that "MONTREAL IS GREAT"- propaganda at us. They completely made it seem as if the first Canadians- the native tribes (that resided here in PEACE long before being so called discovered) were violent attackers. I did not like this at all. HELLO!!!!!!  How much info is missing here? I didn't expect them to mention the forced assimilation, slavery, piracy, extermination and "ethnic cleansing" of the native peoples but they should not have portrayed them as a waring people.They completely dropped the ball on that one for me, they excluded a gigantic treacherous part of Montreal's history in doing so and I hope that people can see through that.

I was also disappointed in the fact that they also left out stories of the trade, enslavement and abuse of black slaves- right there on our beloved Montreal Old Port (and all over Canada for that matter). I was not surprised that it was not mentioned because black history and culture is usually massively under-represented and predominantly omitted BUT it would have impressed me greatly if it had been mentioned. I suppose that I cannot help but to notice and be ultra-sensitive to these things because of a large part of my cultural identity. I also identify with natives very much and all marginalized peoples BUT I think that it should have been blatantly obvious to any and every one. Was it? Or was it just me seeing through my cultural identity?

In any case, thank you so much for allowing us to have a museum day!!!! SO Great! I now think of tea as connecting agent for people, culture and language- not just an amazing calming and medicinal drink.

 Please see the links below: (highlights of one interesting story that took place in Old Mtl)

http://www.canadianmysteries.ca/sites/angelique/accueil/indexen.html

http://hour.ca/2006/02/16/hang-fire/

Book Recommendation:The Untold Story of Canadian Slavery and the Burning of Old Montreal: The Hanging of Angelique by Afua Cooper (A must read: I was lucky enough to sit down and chat with the author back in 2005)

Cultural Photo Mosaic

Culture by Proxy

I was blessed enough to have travelled to Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing and Macau with my boyfriend Eric who is a Hong Kong born Chinese-Canadian The two of us made quite the stir in certain places. We are already seen as a unique culturally blended couple in Montreal but in Beijing:(which is a lot less metropolitan than HK) we were ALIENS...lol!

Guess who's coming to dinner? :) 

At the Great Wall!

I worked for the Delegation of Ghana for over eight years which allotted me the opportunity to widen my knowledge of West African culture as well as African culture on a whole. I do not have many pictures because they are now confidential property of the Delegation. I do however, have invaluable knowledge and memories as well as a much deeper understanding of historical and modern Africa, as well as their culture and customs. They are very much concerned with public appearance and saving face much like many Asians. Overt signs of respect, such as paying for a fancy dinner, giving gifts and using titles like His Excellency, Honorable or Ambassador is very important to them. 

Through some research, I found out that a large amount of Trinidadians can trace their roots to Ghana, so it's probable that my ancestors came from Ghana . As part of the African diaspora ( and one of the most massive conquer and divide  separations of a people) tracing my roots is rather complex. 

In the picture below, I am standing above a very high ranking Ghanian Director-General- I was overjoyed because she was the first woman to hold this post (she's the lady in the middle front row: Her Excellency, the Honorable Gloria Akuffo).

Cultural Cravings

Six years ago, I shocked everyone when I decided to go spend some time in India. I was often asked why I would want to go all the way to India by myself and the answer was that my soul had been called to. 

I was fortunate enough to travel to: New Delhi, Sarnath, Bangalore, Mumbai, Agra, Goa and Varanasi. I learnt a lot about myself and the other half of my culture, the Indian side. I worked briefly in an NGO and also spent some time in a Buddhist Monastery...I unfortunately do not have any of those pictures or any of my pictures from gorgeous Goa but I will never forget one bit of my amazing India trip. It changed me, it brought about a spiritual awakening and huge sense of peace. I have continued many of the practices that I picked up in India such as mediation and chanting mantras as well as OM- the primordial sound whenever in need of calm. India lives deep in my soul and is part of my culture though I have been separate from it family wise, it's still an obvious part of who I am. 

We are different- we are the Same

Being in an inter-racial relationship with someone from such a different culture from my own, has also been very eye opening. I think that not having such a strong connection to only one culture has enabled me to feel that I have lots in common with almost everyone. It was not fun being a bit of an outcast as a kid but as an adult, I have grown to love having the best of all worlds. 

The most profound thing that I've learnt from my cultural mis-mash of family, friends, travelling and life is that though we may be different in our norms, traditions and beliefs, we are all fundamentally very much alike regardless of cultural context.  Kids play where every you go, people joke, cry, play music, work, worry, fall in love, raise families, pay homage to their dead regardless everywhere. We are ALL unique and that is what makes us beautiful and special,but none of us is so unique that we cannot find a common ground. 

We do not have to assimilate to blend in with other cultures in order to get along, no way! We can embrace ourselves, our cultures and any cultures that we wish to with love and respect  for the grander culture of being a person on this journey called life.

We are one.

My Cultural Identities

In terms of Culture.. I resonate with so many different groups and have not ever been able to find exclusivity within just one... I'm a little bit of this and a little bit of that, not just culturally and ethnically but personality wise as well .

My mother and father are from the same country but could not be more different. The are from Trinidad  in the West Indies which is a multi-cultural country that is dominated by two primary cultures: blacks and the indians. I am the product of an inter-marriage and am of Afro- Indo descent, what is call Dougla in Trinidad- it is pronouced DOE-GLAH.

Within my family there is a huge difference in culture. Each side thinks, acts, and behaves very differently from the other and I am somewhere in between that culture with other added dimensions of culture in the mix.I don't have the endearing Trini accent that my parents still do, I cannot eat the copious amounts of pepper sauce that my mom does, I am not partial to calypso or soca music and I'm a lot more integrated than many of my family members (my group of close friends is extremely multi-cultural hailing from all ends of the globe- and I love it that way). I was born in Montreal and have only actually been to Trinidad 3 times in my life, for two of the 3 times. So why is it that when I am asked my background and say that I am Canadian : it doesn't seem to suffice?

WHO AM I?

Though I am bi-racial, it's not obvious by my appearance and I grew up in a black community and have always considered myself a black person. The Indian side of my family did not accept my dad and never had a relationship with myself  or my sister. On the other hand, I have always been welcomed with loving open arms into the black community as a result I strongly identify myself to that group. The experience of racism and rejection within my own family and the world  has greatly shaped my culture, fascinations and sense of belonging..but it of course is not that simple, I'm so much more than that still...

Yes, I am Canadian, Trinidadian and Black but that still doesn't even come close to explaining my culture on a whole or providing a definitive answer to the question :WHO AM I?

Being black is complex on more levels that I can even begin to touch upon within the realm of this journal, but I can start by saying that it entails a deep knowledge and understanding of the plight of my ancestors and it's ever present aftermath. When I talk about plight, I encompass slavery, segration, Jim Crow, racism, legal lynching (which is still happening), and the immense mental slavery that came along with it (for starters). For women a history of rape, self -hate, feeling inferior and unattractive is rampant. So here is another part of who I am a WOMAN, I purposely did not put black before the word woman because I am deeply empathetic to the struggles of all women and children. I've been called a feminist by many, I do not know if I am educated enough on global womens issues and rights to wear that title but I do embrace a feminist spirit...it's another huge part of who I am but still that doesn't capture all of who I am.

I'm a spiritual being having a human experience! Of all of my cultural identities, this is probably the one that I feel that I fit best into. It's raceless, genderless and cultureless. It's groups us all as ONE, instead of creating a divide, which perhaps some of the other labels of culture that I have can do. This is my strongest belief of who I am. It's made me the odd ball out in every single group that I adhere to. I do not beleive that we all belong to ONE group of anything and I do not believe in divides. I think that a sense of belonging to a comunnity is fantastic but that being a fanatic is not. Yes I am Afrocentik, I know and understand the history , news and issues of blacks extremely well and have so much love for my community BUT I have also debated with many within my community who do not believe in interracial relatinships or hold staunch views on homosexuality. Though I can debate the feminist agenda passionately, I will not join in man bashing (though it can be so easy to do so at times..lol). My family is Trinidian and all married to other Trinidadians and listen to traditional music from Trinidad butI 've broken the mold by committing my life to someone who isn't a Trini. This is a huge scandal for some in my community but just normal life for me. So you see, I'm a cultural odd ball. I have love for the in group and the out group because at the end of the day- we are all part of a large culture and one gaint in group! I think that's key to remember. I reject being put into boxes and get to sample the best of all worlds by being multi-racial and multi-cultural.

WHO AM I?

Here are my uncensored answers to the question WHO AM I (as per chapter 6 of our text book)?

1)I'm a woman
2)I''m a black woman
3)I'm an all natural anti-assimilationist sista
4)I'm a student
5)I'm a lover, not a fighter
6)I'm the best auntie ever!!!!!
7) I'm Eric's girlfriend
8) I'm Eugene's daughter
9) I'm an ackward goofball
10) I'm a citizen of the world who is different yet unseperate from everyone else
.............

I seem to be interdependant, in the way that my identity depends strongly on other people and?or belonging to a certain community. I'm also pretty independant as well in that I do consider myself to be creative, artisitc, giving, kind, patient, loving and tenacious...what I am is not who I am...none of us are that one dimensional....we are a little bit of everything a lot of the time.