#but I want to first and foremost stay in my own lane and not insert myself where i dont belong
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As an autistic child who didn't fit in anywhere, I always looked at the people I knew with strong ties to their heritage with big ol sparkly eyes. I would constantly pester my family about our heritage. Of course, Native American would be included in the list. Potawatomi, I'd be told, "she was the daughter of the chief," someone claimed at some point... Then I grew up, learned history, studied anthropology, and all together came to realize that any native heritage I had (if I had any to begin with) was nothing more than a "fun fact" to my family. It didn't mean anything to anyone.
I was still curious, though, and through working on a family tree for a few years, I realized I did have "native heritage," an x-times great grandma who was Shawnee. It made me wonder a lot of things. Did she pass on any of her culture to her children, or, for any of the numerous reasons that would have prevented/pressured her to not, didn't? And if she did teach her children, when did it stop being passed down? At what point did she stop being our grandmother and start being a "fun fact"?
#disclaimer time#i do not in any way identify as native#and while I do want to learn more about her and her culture#I'm not seeking to “reclaim a culture I've been disconnected from” or anything like that#and honestly#even though I want to know these things#I more so would never want to impose upon people who have no obligation to teach me these things#Don't read anything deeper into this#because at the end of the day#I'm just an autistic nerd with special interests in anthropology and family history#admittedly#Curious if others have had similar experiences#but I want to first and foremost stay in my own lane and not insert myself where i dont belong#and the reason im “fixating” on this part of my tree#is that information#even further back#is easy to obtain for my ancestors#I'm very privileged in that regard#but all i have for her is a name. and i dont even know if it's her birth name#her story is just...gone...#musings#ramblings#heritage#anthropology#family history
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