Nocturnal Issue IV

A — AISHA S-M

A — JENNY BUI

A — ADE BELLO

A — ASHA JOHNSON GRINHAM

A — LOIS BRYANT

WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNT AND TAKEN AWAY FROM HAIRITAGE?

How much knowledge and hunger is out there for understanding this crazy world we live in! This experience has brought me closer to so many intelligent, passionate and talented young people who want to have their voices heard about theses important social, racial, cultural issues that are affecting everyone. I have taken away the courage to share, reach out more confidently and ask for and receive support that is there for me and everyone else who has the bravery to ask for it.

What other culture I am not familiar with goes through and how people with different ethnic background in the UK also share the same stereotypes places in them.

I felt Aisha did a great job on Hairtage, I think it taught me that speaking up about racial issues doesn’t have to be draining or negative. The filming experience was definitely fun and refreshing.

As a naïve, white brit, who was never really exposed to many different cultures whilst growing up, it has taught me a lot... mainly the way something like hair can be so specific to certain cultures, but it also taught me a lot about spoken word as an art form/medium/ means of communication, it seems much more raw than other forms of poetry.

WHAT EMOTIONS DID HAIRITAGE EVOKE WITHIN YOU?

Open minded and more conscious about different cultural background.

Joy, from the knowledge that other people I know care about the same things I do with regards to culture and race. It’s very easy to get swallowed up by your environment in the UK, to take things as is because no one else is asking the same questions as you. Working on Hairetage allowed me to discuss and lament about issues that face black people without coming off like I’m attacking anyone.

WHAT ATTRIBUTES DO YOU THINK DEFINES YOUR CULTURAL BACKGROUND?

Music and dance has a massive significance to my Gambian background. I feel music, dance and food all include similar traits of inclusion, nourishment & fulfilment that I associate with family and my African heritage.

My eyes, because i feel it very unique to my cultural background. It stands out and it what make our feature attribute distinctive. Family orientated trait. I feel in my culture we value the importance of family and how to honour it.

Pride and Respectfulness are a very big part of Yoruba culture

Some people would say it is the accent that defines Bristolians, I don't really like to think of that as a defining feature really as it has many negative connotations, such as being poorly educated.. in fact I know many people who purposely tried to loose their Bristolian accents so as to avoid these stereotypes.

HOW CLOSELY DO YOU IDENTIFY WITH AND AFFILIATE IN YOUR CULTURE?

Pretty close. I am always intrigued to learn more about my culture and I love to embracing characteristics of my culture like using chop sticks. I also wish to keep talking my culture language and continuing practising it's fundamental values. However at the same time, i don't always hold all of it's value and beliefs, my beliefs tend to be very influence by western culture. In addition to, I am oblivious to my culture background and people that impacted it the most.

Unfortunately, not as much I would currently like to, I have no one to blame except myself but I have been ignorant to huge parts of my culture for most of my life. I still affiliate myself to it and I am proud of it but I have recently started to understand that my affiliations to Yoruba culture have been through my family as proxy. I haven’t invested enough time to come to terms with my culture and history and what that means to me.

My grandparents are all Caribbean but I don’t feel like I identify with the culture much. I like the food, I sometimes listen to dancehall. Honestly, I feel more "Black British" than anything else.

WHO IN YOUR CULTURE DO YOU ADMIRE THE MOST?

She's not well known in my culture, but I always admire my mum. She particularly embraces our culture values on work ethics.

Hmm.. at the moment I quite admire April Jackson from The Apprentice. Saying that, there are good few inspirational people in Jamaica’s history, I don’t think I could ever say I admire one the "most".

HOW DO YOUNG PEOPLE IN YOUR CULTURE BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY TO OLDER GENERATIONS?

Younger generation tend to adopt the western culture values and behaviours. We are now very liberal towards sex before marriage, homosexuality and gender equality. The older generation in my family household are still very traditional, they believe every women is determined to be a mother and married to working man. They also very religious and superstitious, where most things are predetermined by the pattern in our palm or that size of our forehead.

IF YOU COULD COULD CHOOSE THREE ASPECTS OF YOUR CULTURE TO PRESERVE FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS, WHAT WOULD THEY BE AND WHY?

1) Large family gatherings with lots of food, food is such a huge part of any culture with so many positive connotations of warmth, nourishment, sharing & community. 2) Getting your hair done by a family member, I always love going to my cousins to get my hair done, just because she’s family and there’s slightly more pressure to do it nicely! 3) Story-telling from the motherland! Hearing about family escapades that happened or is happening thousands of miles away. I find it really interesting finding out who’s getting up to what

Language. This is because it what makes out culture distinctive and unique, what we can called ours and is not shared by other culture. Family values. This may be shared by other culture, but its a fundamental value that it built to make the culture cohesive.

Food. This is not shared by other cultures in which make it very exclusive. It is also a good representation for our culture through it flavouring.

HOW DO YOU FEEL WHEN YOU LEAVE YOUR NATIVE CULTURE AND ENTER INTO A NEW ENVIRONMENT?

I feel part of two cultures that are often entwined, however when leaving my close community of white family who have awareness around systematic racism, cultural appropriation, micro-aggressions etc I can feel threatened when entering an all white environment, where there is potentially a lack of awareness regarding these issues. It could be anywhere I.e work, a new course, even a poetry group! Where I could be, 1) potentially the only black person 2) In a position where I’m on the defence against micro-aggressions, racist jokes and the constantly reoccurring greeting of “Hey Girllllllllllllllllllllllll” the very popular embodiment of the ‘sassy’ black woman stereotype. Ultimately the act of leaving my native culture is filled with discomfort and curious anticipation as to what I will be greeted with when arriving in my new environment.

It different for me, as i am brought into a household practising my cultural background's beliefs but I was born in England so i am very use to the western values, in fact I have internalised some of its values.

If my understanding of what you mean by native culture is correct then I’m constantly in a new environment (98% of the time). I’d like to believe I bring nuance (in relation to my culture) to that environment and its people. People tend to think in single faceted caricatures until they are confronted with the real thing.

Excited, intrigued, curious... when I go somewhere with a culture I'm not usually exposed to I just find that I want to learn more about it. maybe this is because I wasn't exposed to many cultures whilst growing up.

WOULD YOU PREFER TO LIVE IN A MONOCULTURAL OR MULTICULTURAL SOCIETY?

Living in a multicultural society that is at BALANCE and in equal respect for all cultures is a preferred society to live in yes, but our society is nowhere near that yet. Living in a society that is filled with equal respect for all cultures involved seems almost unattainable due to the fact that the history that traces a considerable amount of our modern social norms, rests on a system of mass exploitation, it seems how can we heal from this so much as to achieve the ultimate cultural understanding and not appropriation?

Multicultural. It is inspirational to learn and experience other culture. It also promote people to be more open minded and respect alternative perspectives.

I think multiculturalism can be a very good thing when done right. The UK is doing well in some places as a multicultural society and as new generations become more comfortable with sharing space with people from different backgrounds things will get better. London could be a good example but there are places in London that remain segregated. I believe teaching about Britain’s colonial past would help a lot of native British who feel their country is being taken from them.

I think there are pros and cons to both. I’ve always lived in a multicultural society which has taught me to be accepting of people who have different cultural norms. However, I think I’d like to give living in a monocultural society a try. Being surrounded by people the same as you could definitely take away feelings of alienation and being unaccepted away. It would just be an interesting experience.

Probably multicultural, I think if you are exposed to lots of different cultures from a young age you would learn more about other cultures and it wouldn't be as alien when you meet people from other cultures. to an extent we already are living in a multicultural society but I think for it to be truly multicultural, discrimination against minority cultures would have to disappear...!?

HAVE YOU EVER EXPERIENCED CULTURE SHOCK?

Yes, when I first moved here I realised the little amount of fear students had for their teachers. It was very surprising to see but I don’t know if it is necessarily a bad thing.

WHAT MISCONCEPTIONS ARE THERE OF YOUR CULTURAL OR ETHNIC BACKGROUND?

That we are introverts, good at maths, won't defend ourself, boring and traditional.

Moving to London, most black people around me were Nigerian. I was surprised at the stereotypes some of the older generation held about Jamaicans. One of my friend’s mum thinks Jamaican women "carry knives in their boots" ...maybe some do but no one I know does that hahaha

HAVE YOU EVER FELT CONFUSED ABOUT THE ACTIONS OF SOMEONE FROM ANOTHER CULTURE?

When hear about people perform rituals such as FGM, personally I think it wrong but i am confuse how people may think such activities are right.

There are some aspects of other cultures I find slightly odd, I read an article recently about a culture who preserve their dead loved ones and dress them up every year and take them for a walk around the town. I did find this pretty confusing, but I think one thing that is uniform in nearly every culture is the respect we have for the dead (dressing them up at a funeral, taking flowers to the grave.. walking them around the village)..

WHAT IS YOUR CONCEPT OF PERSONAL SPACE? WHAT IS CONSIDERED APPROPRIATE TOUCH?

My concept is personal space is trying to be aware of how I feel engaging with the person I’m talking to and how I interpret them to be feeling through their body language and eye contact. If I’m with friends what’s appropriate to touch changes to when you’re with strangers or people you're meeting for the first time. However, no matter who it is I think it’s important to speak when you’re feeling uncomfortable, when you feel your personal space is being disrespected. It’s your body and everyone has a right to protect themselves against any unwanted touch.

When it comes to stranger, 10 inches is close enough. People am familiar with, a hug is fine.

WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO THOSE MIGRATING TO THE UK FROM DIFFERENT CULTURES?

Keep an open mind and do not be judgemental. Definitely to not cause conflict through contrasting values and beliefs and don't force your beliefs onto another.

Know your history! It pretty much shapes everything you see now in some way

homosexuality and gender equality. The older generation in my family household are still very traditional, they believe every women is determined to be a mother and married to working man. They also very religious and superstitious, where most things are predetermined by the pattern in our palm or that size of our forehead.