Meet me at the "As Culture" Essay Series
This is the seventh post about Black Bear | Wild Weed.
What + Why: Part 1. Part Archivist, Part Futurist.
What + Why: Part 2. Black Woman, Big Talk, Small Island
Chapter 1: Part 1. Walking in...Funeral Day in the South
Chapter 1: Part 2. These Knees and Needs...Pt 2 of Funeral Day in the South
Chapter 2. Language and the Amazon Jungle
Chapter 3. Medicine Woman at Lake Tahoe
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Now, this post you’re reading serves as the introduction to Chapters Four, Five, and Six, collectively titled the “As Culture” Series. This series investigates the details of how my experiences with music, food, and language as cultural practices have influenced my parenting, my spiritual exploration, and all of my relationships with people inside and beyond my home.
In Chapter Four (coming next), we headin’ back to the 90’s to explore Dancehall Music, because it was such a significant part of my actions, aesthetic, and mindset. The creative lyricism and rhythmic beats of artists like Bounty Killer and Spragga Benz captivated teenage me. As I grew older, I began to recognize and wrestle with the problematic themes that were also undeniably present in my beloved bruk out music. It required me to reflect on how cultural patterns and beliefs show up not only in music, but also in our homes and communities. Through my experiences with Dancehall, I learned the importance of questioning and challenging cultural practices that no longer aligned with the values I grew to accept, celebrate, and embody.
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Similarly, my relationship with food has also been a significant part of my cultural journey, so Chapter Five will get all up in the details of that. As a Jamaican, food is not only about sustenance but also about love, and connection. However, I had to confront my biases when my daughters' nutritional needs and my own health concerns required me to rethink what we ate. I had to detangle myself and my children from cultural expectations that didn't align with our values while still honoring our culture and the significance of food in our lives.
Language, as I’ll share in Chapter Six, is also an essential aspect of culture. The way we communicate with one another impacts our understanding of each other's needs and boundaries. As an unschooling parent, I learned how to prioritize understanding my children's mother tongues, not just the words they use, but also how they communicate their needs. I recognize the impact of colonialism and religion on language and how they influence our communication, so it became crucial to challenge the dominant culture's expectations and create space for diverse ways of communicating and expressing needs.
Basically, the As Culture series is where I unpack how my experiences with music, food, and language have shown me the importance of questioning cultural practices and beliefs that don't align with my values. As unschooling continued to shape my partner and me, we found it essential to create space for diverse ways of living and communicating that honor our culture and values while also challenging harmful cultural norms. In doing this, we aimed to contribute to a world where our children can grow up to be free and authentic beings who are connected to their roots and their communities, not strangled and suppressed by them. Nameen? More soon.
