Why should we nurture and honour our roots?

Roots. Heritage. Ancestry. Words that all represent that we are much more than our current selves. That we come from somewhere and that it should play a part in who we are. But why is that important?

I’m half-Indian and was brought up by my Indian single parent father.

I can’t speak Hindi or Pahari (his ancestral, regional language). I barely know any religious Hindu practices. We lived in a very white neighbourhood. I was 27 when I first went to India and that was to take my father’s ashes to his village, so he could finally return home.

But almost a decade later and I could not be more proud or aware of my roots. I don’t know whether it was his death that made me realise what I had lost, or some other coming of age moment that made me connect with my ‘true self’ but the further I have delved into my roots the more I have felt a sense of identity. I realised that whilst it is important to have awareness of your own identity, it also impacts how others interact and engage with you, as well as the impact you make on the world.

Many people I know from the Indian diaspora cannot speak Hindi, Punjabi, Urdu or whatever their ‘mother’ tongue is. Some have specifically said ‘what’s the point?’ and have declared they definitely wouldn’t teach their kids. Others are very au fait with wedding or temple practices but couldn’t tell you what any of it actually means, apart from a great excuse for a party. But they (mostly) still identify as Indian or Pakistani and acknowledge that it shapes their lives, relationships and their place in society. This semi-attachment to roots is something that is common across other diaspora communities, from Black African and Caribbean to South Asian to those from the Middle East, and this attachment is often complex.

Some might argue that after the third or fourth generation someone is surely British, not Indian, not Caribbean, not Chinese. However, identity is often judged by others based on your skin colour and that does not change. Many people of colour can repeatedly state that they are British-born but that doesn’t matter to those that see differences based on the colour of our skin. And that is just surface level. Being non-white means that you are regularly treated differently from the get-go, and that sense of otherness is often what connects people, even if they do see themselves as British over something else. The roots still exist and should be honoured and explored.

My father travelled to the UK as a Commonwealth citizen in the 1950s, not long after India had gained independence from the British Empire. His journey is one that countless others did, not just from the Indian subcontinent but from across Africa, the Caribbean and other former colonised nations, as part of his right to travel to and live here. It has been over 70 years since India and Pakistan were partitioned during Independence, and even more recently many other countries gained independence from Britain: Cameroon, Barbados, Libya, Zimbabwe, Palestine, Kenya, Malta, The UAE - the list goes on. Yet still, colonialism is not taught in schools. This is not just the history of the former, mainly Black and brown, subjects of British rule but that of white ancestors who were the colonisers and rulers and everyone who lived through those times.

We can all learn from our roots. Ancestral trauma has a story to tell - in more ways than one. The struggles that our forefathers went through for us can be bound with a lot of emotion and making sure that this is understood is vital. Since travelling to my father’s homeland I can somewhat imagine what he went through - literally trekking across hills to get some provisions; making the long journey down from the Himalayas to Delhi to work and then eventually further south to Bombay to take the fourteen-day boat journey to England. He put a lot of effort into getting to the UK and he did so for a reason. He wanted to create a better life for his family - present and future. That alone is worth honouring, let alone any of the struggles that his ancestors would have gone through from living in a country run by imperialist Brits.

It must also be remembered that a lot of people came to Britain to help rebuild the country after the war - the Windrush generation arrived with hope and promise of a positive future but instead many didn’t get the jobs they were qualified for and faced hardship, discrimination and further trauma. The entire Windrush scandal of recent years in the UK is just one signifier that divisions still run deep in British society.

For the families and ancestors of anyone that has migrated, particularly in difficult circumstances, it’s so important to find out their stories so that we can honour their roots and pay respect to them and the others that have gone before us. This month (18 July - 17 August 2020) is South Asian Heritage Month, exploring issues around partition, colonialism and independence in the Indian subcontinent. Many of the voices of people that went through partition have already disappeared and it won’t be long until there are not many more living survivors. This is the same for all countries that were colonised. I see it as my duty as a British citizen, not just the child of a migrant, to educate myself about this period of history that has almost been erased yet is so vital to understanding the country that we live in.

I often realise that I engage differently with my Indian heritage than my Scottish. Sure, I’m fiercely patriotic but I haven’t gone to the lengths to read about the customs, traditions, history and politics of Scotland in the same way I have about my Indian roots. I feel that I have more work to do here - that it hasn’t been given to me on a plate and that I have something to prove in terms of my Indian heritage. This may resonate with other people of dual heritage who don’t quite fit in one place or another, or even second or third generation individuals who feel detached from a part of their ancestry. Afua Hirsch’s book BRIT(ish) is an excellent read for anyone wanting to read about the challenges of being mixed race in the UK and many of the microaggressions that go hand-in-hand with it.

We have the opportunity to rewrite the narrative and I say we as a generation. Right now we take what we want from various traditions and cultures across the world - food, fashion, music and more, with the line between cultural appropriation and appreciation (I discussed this in relation to food recently) being thin. We live in a society where we are living with coloniality - the results of colonialism, and the cultural hegemony we live within needs to be challenged. With respect and genuine understanding of our own roots, and those of others, is where we can push these actions towards a positive. What makes the UK a rich country to live in is our diversity and whilst that’s clearly not a positive to all of our population (hello, Brexit), this diversity is largely due to the actions of previous generations. Great Britain is no longer so great, but if we can unite to celebrate, support and empower the voices of those that have played a role in part of its greatness then we can create a wider community that is more understanding and welcoming to all.