My cousins and I agree on some things – we enjoy family dinners, somewhat sarcastic humour, and the antics of the newest generation of kids. When we gather for our annual food-focused gatherings, we talk about work and travels – and tend to avoid religion, politics, decolonization. This last few months, I’ve been talking a bit more about the family history project I’ve been working on.
Writing a family history isn’t usually a controversial – it’s a strange pursuit, an introvert’s dream, but not generally the kind of thing that livens up dinner parties. I’ve learned over the past while that taking on what I’m calling a ‘decolonizing’ family history has a whole different flavour. I’m in the process of connecting my family’s history the the histories and ongoing reality of colonization – and that means, as one cousin put it, ‘how racist our ancestors were’. Yup, that’s a bit part of the story.
It’s been one thing to write words that get a side of family history we don’t often talk about – and a whole other thing to then share that family history with the members of my living family.
I’m lucky to have one brave cousin who has read and given comment on a first draft version of the ‘Bain story’. I’m excited to read through and respond to his comments. Beginning these conversations, on paper and in person, is my version of the ‘truth-telling’ that Paulette Regan suggests is a starting place for decolonizing practice. I’ll begin with telling the truth about my family, with my family… and then I’ll go from there.