Caught In-between |
Brian Kamanzi
Cape Town, South Africa
Caught In-between.
So for the longest time. I had grown up thinking of myself as an “almost” Indian. A half-Indian. Half caste. Whatever the hell sort of awful approximation of an authentic identity I desired. Loathed. Loved. And pursued.
I had dealt with a lot of people who felt at complete ease telling me what it “is” that I am.
My Dad is black you see. And many attempts I’ve made to connect with my mother’s heritage sending me packing. As if somehow invoking the dominance of the influence of “the father” is going to resolve the annoyance of having to decide which “box” I’m allowed to be in. It was always a tricky thing to even communicate to my own mother, who was not a cultural woman herself and could not understand what I was looking for. She could not understand why their rejection of me mattered to me – and I couldn’t understand why it was I was being denied my authenticity…
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Tags: Brian Kamanzi, Mixed Humans, Mixed Humans ~ Reflections on occupying a space of inbetweenness. Persistently grappling with identity.