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| Don't I look like a little Mexican girl? |
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| The town of Colonia Juárez (photo by my mom) |
My family is full of Mexican Love even though most of us are technically "white European mutts" by race. We are a tight knit family. My grandma, along with her 9 siblings, was born and raised in the Mormon Colonies. (As I side note: I actually went to the funeral of one of my great uncles today and was proud to be present to honor his remarkable life. I love my extended family.) My dad has over 50 first cousins on her side of the family. I have hundreds of 2nd cousins and have met most of them. Every 4 years, we usually have a reunion in Mexico. (although the last one was moved to Provo due to excessive drug cartel violence.) Because of these connections I felt drawn to learn Spanish.
I wish speaking Spanish had come with my folk knowledge inherited from my parents, but I only got the desire to learn–a desire to connect with my roots in Mexico–which I had to pursue on my own.
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| My siblings and I with our grandparents in Mexic |
I began taking Spanish classes in 8th grade and continued through my Senior year. My freshman year I temporarily gave up Spanish. However, at my cousin’s funeral in March of 2010, I felt a deep connection to the Spanish language and my ancestors and knew that I needed to learn Spanish, so I continue to pursue it today. I wish it were to the point where Spanish is like a folk knowledge to me, but I still struggle with complete fluency.
special places there, the Centro, etc. Not to mention they were serving a mission at the time, so they obviously were in a situation where they could not date.
Connecting this all back, Folk knowledge serves as a foundation for gaining more knowledge. Also, I think cultural identity is a type of folk knowledge. I never had to consciously think about my Mexico side. I grew up making home-made tortillas, learning some basic Spanish words here and there, and travelled to Mexico 3 times when I was young. I know many traditions from my Mexican side, but hardly anything from my Portuguese or English roots. How has your ancestral cultural knowledge shaped you?
This was a really cool story! It's awesome that you know so much about your (large Mormon) family and its history!
ReplyDeleteWhen I think about my own ancestors from France, I always think about this story my Grandma has told me countless times about how our ancestors fled during the middle of the night during the French Revolution because they were essentially marked for death. Also important to me, however, are the stories about how they and their descendents were simply hard-working, good people. I kind of got that feeling about your family too when reading, so that made it even cooler for me!
One question: what are the "Mormon Colonies" you're talking about? Do you just mean towns with lots of Mormons or is this something I'm completely ignorant about?
You make a good point about cultural identity being a type of folk knowledge. Culture can be considered one of those knowledge institutions that preserves and passes on know-how. It does stretch across time, and is often situated with both place and language, as you point out.
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