Connecting the Americas
A note on heritage, language and English ignorance
I’ve always thought of myself as very academically curious. I guess just curious in general. From a young age, I had been known to irritate my teachers and elders with persistent questions and incessant ‘whys’. I always wanted to know more about the world, how it worked and my place within it. I believe this feeling was amplified in my adolescent years. I grew up a young black girl of English Caribbean heritage in predominantly white environments. I realised quickly that I would feel unsatisfied by identifying myself purely through my external environment so I expanded my sense of self through exploring the history of my grandparents and their islands. This self-appointed research really enabled me to feel a sense of identity during the years when I spent a lot of time questioning my own.
When I reached university, however, I realised how limited I was in my curiosity. I spent four years studying Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies and was quickly made aware of how I only invested in and researched histories related to English speaking communities. Learning languages exposed me to an ignorance that I realise myself and many other English-speakers have…