English | Guyanese
My Dad is from Guyana, my Mum is from England. They met in England through some kind of pen pal dating service. As my Dad is quite quiet and we very rarely went to any Guyanese social events, there wasn’t really a combination of cultures. But my Dad did tell us a lot of stories about growing up in Guyana, and occasionally we’d do something related to Caribbean culture like going to Notting Hill Carnival. I have lived most of my life in the UK so I am naturally connected to British culture, in terms of language, food and some music (like folk music). My Guyanese culture initially came to me through stories from my Dad and family meet-ups, but later through literature and eventually through living in Guyana for 3.5 years. I think now I weave it all together through the food I eat (everything from curry and roti to apple crumble), what I wear (Guyanese jewellery and London charity shop finds), music (increasingly soca and dancehall, alongside music from around the world), and the connections I feel in both countries. I recently returned from 3.5 years in Guyana where I was able to travel around the country, work, make friends, socialise, learn about the culture, attempt to learn some Creolese, and see the world from a non-European, former colonised, Caribbean, South American multi-racial angle. I feel much more comfortable now saying that I’m part Guyanese and feel more of my own connection to the country, not just an inherited one.
If I had the opportunity to be reborn maybe I could be born in Guyana this time. Would my tastes have been the same? Would I have migrated to England? Would I have felt ‘Guyanese’? Would I have felt being mixed-race (or a ‘red woman’ to use the Guyanese expression for someone of mixed Afro-Guyanese and European heritage) awarded me some social advantage? Would I have been able to get a visa to travel to England? I’m always curious at looking at the other perspective – maybe that’s another of the benefits of being mixed-race (although it can be exhausting trying to see everything from everyone’s perspective too).
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