Our last experience blog.
Gulp.
I am taking a break from working on my video presentation to write this. As I do so, my fingers shake a little more than usual. Tomorrow we head back to Lima, and then, I inevitably go home and put my time in Peru behind me.
I remember when I first found out about this trip, when I asked Ben from the Latin-American Studies department what the trip was going to be about.
“It’s about you!” He said.
This confused me at the time. I had no connections to Peru. I do not consider myself to be Indigenous anywhere. How could this trip be about me?
But it was, a bit. I’ve always been intrigued with the question of identity, so much so that I mention it a handful of times in my video project. I say this in my project, but I may as well reiterate it here — as a double-diasporic (and then some) human being who has no ties to one of the places I associate with based on blood or growth, how is it determined that I have any claim to association to that place at all? How do we determine who is part of a group? I talked about this in my application for this course, and it’s still something I wonder. Is association to a group based on blood? Culture? Land? Birth? All of the above, or none of them? You can ask these questions of many groups, including the Indigenous peoples of the Andes. The answer to who belongs where is subjective, and I guess it’s a question we can all ask ourselves in reflecting on our own identities.
As Jon said, we might leave Peru with more questions on Indigeneity than we started with. In my situation, he was right. I still have no idea who has the right to call themselves Indigenous. Being in Peru makes it clear that the definitions of Indigenous are different here than in Canada. Canada’s definition is attached much more closely to race, which is based on, well, DNA. Peru’s definition seems much more connected to culture. I don’t think I have the right to suggest which one of these is “correct,” nor do I claim to know the answer. Maybe we can just settle on the fact that two different things can be true in different places (Huh, maybe I should add this point to my video presentation! I think it fits).
Despite not having a clear answer on many things, I am very happy I got to come to Peru. I feel enlightened on many topics, regardless of any further questions I may have on other ones. I also feel like I personally grew, aside from everything we may have learned. As I suggested in my introductory blog, I’m a pretty rigid human being that needs things done in specific ways. Sometimes, regardless of my attempts, things weren’t exactly as I felt I needed, and I survived (even when I was sick in Aguas Calientes AND had to shower in cold water at the same time! ????)
Thank you, Peru. I have so much more to say, but I guess my video presentation will have to do it all justice. I had a marvelous time 😀
6 replies on “Final Experience Blog (Oh My!)”
“ `It’s about you!` He said.” Ben was right, Jon was right: this journey, as it has become, is about questioning ourselves. We have learned a lot about Peru and indigenous communities, but we are increasingly aware that we know less about them. Thank you for your participation with so much enthusiasm, despite difficult times.
so what youre saying is …
delinquente internacional
….
Jokes aside, I share many of your reflections and I appreciate you sharing them. I also feel I have less of an idea about Indigeneity then when I started but I think this is progress in and of itself. Sometimes you have to unlearn things to start to reconstruct your own narrative.
I am sorry to hear about your COLD and SICK shower in aguas 🙁 that’s truly horrific
Hey Yasmine:)
Great blog post! I also feel that I have grown and learned a lot, while still having many more questions. I feel that one of the main distinctions how indigenous classification between Peru and Canada is the active participation of indigenous practices here and genetic identity in Canada. Its interesting that extractive colonialism didn’t fully wipe out cultural practices. In Canada where a lot of cultural practices were erased due to settler-colonial practices, it seem that we need to use genetic identity in order to determine who to grant benefits and allowances to because their culture was stolen away from them.
Hi Yasmine! I’m glad you have recovered from the frigid temperatures and moist atmosphere of Aguas Caliente. I think being “correct” is overrated because we can have multiple truths, our conception of indigeneity can include both racial and cultural components. I don’t see how being dogmatic brings us any closer to an “answer”. Judging from your blog here, it seems like you have lots of interesting things to share in your video so I am very excited!
Yasmin knowing you were writing this and working on your project at the same time is so tragically comedic in the present moment knowing what was to unfold. Moving on from that though, it’s really cool to reflect on the journey of the course. When you said Ben I of course thought you were talking about Fuzzy Little Head but regardless I think the implication we are studying you is brilliant. Reflection is so critical and we’ve all grown so much. Thank you for sharing!