Over the years we have heard the cries,
"We need more African history taught in our schools.
Enough with this European, colonial system thing I say.
What good does learning about Christopher Columbus,
De Poincey and Sir Thomas Warner do? It is an insult
to us as a people, to continue teaching this to our
children."
We lament, "We need to know where we came from."
We have even started movements with the objective of
getting our voices heard on this matter. We have asked
for repatriation, chanting "Back to Africa, back
to Africa we demand to go." We have quoted the
many songs of Brother Bob, "In this bright future
you can't forget your past."
We have parroted the great scholars, "A society
that does not know its past will perish. It can never
prosper in the future." Over the years there have
also been cries to teach our children regional and local
history. We want them to learn more about the West Indian
luminaries, the trade unionists, those who have changed
the West Indian landscape, and those who have made the
West Indian archipelago one steeped rich in visionaries
and Nobel Laureates.
We want our children to become more nationalistic and
more civic minded. Do you know what? I duly support
this. Over the years there have been studies conducted
by the various historical societies across the region
to map our African lineage.
If one has the time he or she may even investigate which
tribe in Africa his or her people were descended from,
as records of this have been unearthed. We have also
invested heavily in historical archives and museums
in order to preserve our nation's history. I applaud
these efforts. They are actually quite fascinating.
Do you know what I find quite perplexing? With all of
the efforts to learn so much about our history as a
people, many of us are still quite ignorant of our immediate
familial history? I know that there are mothers who
would implore the fathers of their children to tell
those children who their siblings are so that they would
not grow up to "friend" or get involved with
their own brother or sister. I am not only referring
to this linkage.
I am discussing family linkages as a whole. There are
some of us who have such limited knowledge of our ancestry.
As we move more towards the nuclear family and single
family headed households some of the benefits of having
that extended family have been diluted. There are no
great-grandmothers, grandmothers or Tanties who would
sit and map out our family tree with us, and even if
there are we have grown so individualistic that we no
longer see the need for such information.
For whatever reason, maybe because family members 'had
a falling out' years ago, maybe family members migrated
overseas or even migrated within St. Kitts and Nevis
and as a result the family connections got 'watered
down' or even lost, these linkages are not communicated.
It may even be a case of people assuming that these
family truths are common knowledge, so there is no need
for discussion when in fact they really are not.
As we migrate to other villages, towns, regionally and
internationally those family linkages may become weakened.
Our children and our children's children may have no
idea of the origins of their family. Do you remember
that "once ago," you would visit or take an
outing to see your grandmother's sister and her family
who lived in Tabernacle or Mansion? The relatives who
had moved to Basseterre would return on the weekend
or on a holiday to visit.
Do you remember when parents used to send their children
to visit their families in the country-side or Nevis
for Christmas, Easter or summer break? I often wonder.
Is this practice still prevalent? This was done not
only to show the children how you grew up but to also
to maintain the family linkages. I schooled with individuals
whose parents were "from country" but trust
me they could not tell you who their families were "from
Adam."
I can recall being in the same class with a girl, with
whom I shared the same maternal great grandmother. Our
grandparents were siblings, raised by and derived from
the same mother's womb. Our parents were first cousins,
blood inked from the same lineage, yet neither of us
knew this. It was only after my mother saw her and mentioned,
then I told her and her response was a naeve but age
appropriate one, "but you from country and I am
from town."
I have seen and heard of this happening with other family
members and friends. The sad thing however is that some
of them learnt this information just by stumbling upon
it. Too often you hear, "I didn't know that he
was my brother, she was my sister, uncle, aunty, grandmother,
grandfather or I didn't even know that them there was
something to us." Isn't this a travesty? Some people
may tend to equate this to the matriarchal society that
we live in, thinking that this is something that is
only akin to paternal or father's side of the family.
It can be said that family linkages by one's mother's
side are stronger and much easier traced than those
by the father's side.
This may be attributed to the composition of the society
we live in, where more households are headed by a female.
Although this is true, lack of knowledge of one's ancestry
is becoming more prevalent on the mother's side as well.
Both parents are guilty of not revealing family linkages
to the younger generation. It was only recently that
I heard of an incident where two young men were involved
in an incident. It resulted in the death of one of the
young men. The elderly lady with whom I was having a
conversation lamented in anguish, "Massa God, look
me sin and trouble ya? Them there is one generation,
it can't wash out, and them young neagre don't even
self know it. Them there mother and father is two sister
children that you know, look there the boy life gone
now, this ya just like Cain kill Abel." Who knows,
if they knew of this linkage that fatality could have
been prevented.
Conversations that I have had over the years have sparked
my interest in this issue. A few years ago in a conversation
with my caretaker/adopted Aunt Pearlita (Baby) Francis,
she began mapping out her family history for me. I must
admit, I knew who her brothers and sisters were but
the many linkages that there were and the connections
that she had with other families in the village were
astounding. I became quite engrossed in the conversation,
as she also began to relay other family linkages in
the village. I sat in awe. I exclaimed, "Oh but
I didn't know I just thought that they were good friends.
I didn't know that they were brother and sister, aunt
or uncle, cousin. I didn't know that they were something
to each other me arm." The issue came up again
recently when I was "old talking" with my
friend Benrick Francis who hails from the same village
and he began to trace his family linkages, again I was
in awe. I know these people but for the most part I
thought that they just got along very well. His sisters
are great friends with this lady and I thought that
that was all to the relationship. I did not know that
they were all sisters who shared the same father. I
thought, "well isn't that something!"
There is a lot that can be learnt from these linkages
that may assist in our present and future relationships.
After having my son my interest in this issue grew tenfold
because some day I would have to sit and trace his family
tree with him. Both of his parents are from the same
village. His maternal grandmother and his paternal grandparents
are also from the same village. In reflecting on my
conversation with Pearlita, who I discovered is his
relative, I began tracing those linkages and I was totally
in awe. When I was finished, I took a deep breath and
exclaimed, "no matter how you turn it, my child
has a linkage to almost every family in this village."
What I found interesting however is that I relayed some
of these linkages to his father, and I realized that
he too was ignorant to a lot of this information.
The thing that alarms me however is
that with many of the older heads passing on to the
great beyond, and with this widening gap between that
generation and ours, this bit of our very important
history is being lost. There is nothing wrong with
learning about European, African, West Indian or national
history. If we really want to know who we are or from
whence we came we should really put some effort into
tracing our immediate history. If we take the time
to trace our ancestry we will discover that there
is really just the illusion of a watered down society.
We are really one people, one blood, and one generation.
|
