#grinnellcollegeyouthculture

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Talking Back-American Street

One of the ideas that I found really interesting from the “Do it Yourself” piece, was the idea that activism can be any element of yourself that you express. For Fabiola in American Street, this activism through expression was apparent in her language, clothing, and beliefs. One of the more interesting conflicts in the novel is her use of the word Matant, which is the creole term for aunt. I was shocked that her aunt was so opposed to her using creole language because she was creole herself, but I realized as the novel progressed that this forced version of assimilation was more a method of survival for her aunt. Even still, Fabiola persists in using the language that she grew up using in less an act of defying her aunt, but more as a way of self-preservation of her culture. I guess the thing that really struck me the most about Fabiola is, unlike her aunt who succame to the forces of assimilation, Fabiola truly tried to retain her origins even in a world that had taken away her mother (connection to Haiti), forced her to speak English only (literal erasure of knowledge as she struggles to find the correct words in English), and essentially forced her to be a different person than she would have been in Haiti. While it is considering a different medium, the DIY framework of challenging already established systems can easily be related to Fabiola’s life. Instead of being like her aunt and trying to forgo her life in Haiti, Fabiola tip-toes around the world of assimilation, and even if she is forced to learn the world of American street violence (often through her cousins and Dray), she is still able to ultimately remain true to herself, and even teach her cousins about the misconceptions of her life in Haiti. In that regard, using Fabiola as an example, I feel it is worthwhile to see DIY as more than a concept for art but also for culture as well.