What's In The Name

 "You need to know your history in order to shape your future."

Earlier this year I was visiting a friend and as we were talking my blog came up and he asked me "What's the name about? Why Uncultured Hybrid? What does it mean?" And I said to him "I am sure a lot of people are wondering, I actually want to do a blog about that..." So he said, "That should have probably been your first post!" I said, "I wanted to keep people wondering..." Then I went on to explain to him how I came up with the name.

When I was doing my undergrad, I had intercultural communication as a course. One of our assignments was to evaluate how we effectively communicate with people from different cultures. So before I get into it, I need to give you some contextual history...

I was born and lived in Angola for 7 years of my life. Angola was colonized by the Portuguese so our national language is Portuguese. There are other languages and cultures in Angola which are the Kimbundu, Mbundu, Kikongo, Chokwe, Ngangela, and Kwanyama; of which I speak none. Due to colonization many people my age who live in the capital province, Luanda, only speak Portuguese and live according to their custom.  Growing up, I was never defined by culture because I had no culture. My grandmother is from Ndalathando and speaks Kimbundu. I don't believe that culture is something that you inherit because your family may belong to a certain culture but if you are not shaped by those cultural norms you can't just claim to belong. It's like saying I am a non-practicing Christian (I claim to be Christian but my behavior, beliefs, and norms say otherwise). 

With that little history in mind, I began to identify myself as uncultured because I did not have a culture that I could claim to be my own. I am just a cultural product of colonization. This wasn't a problem when I lived in Angola but when I moved to South Africa the exposure to so many strong cultures and official languages was sort of a cultural shock. People would often ask me "So what is your mother tongue." I would respond "Portuguese" and they would say "No, what African language do you speak?". "None" that response was always followed by comments like "She is a coconut!" or a shocked facial expression from people. Then the realization that I had no culture became surreal. I envied every South African, that despite colonization and apartheid, still had something that was passed down to them (culture and native languages). 

During my media studies course in undergrad, I was exposed to the 'Global village' concept. Only then did I realize that I had become an amalgamation of different cultures. Due to my long years of exposure to a diverse environment I had become a cultural hybrid. The same can be said with many of us living in the digital age, due to technology and the global village we are exposed to an array of cultures. We pick up things here and there and adapt it to our own lives; thus, creating a being that is no pure cultural breed.  Yes you may be Zulu, but due to the television programs you watch you have adopted a bit of the western culture, the food you eat helps you adopt the Asian culture and the friends you have (and other people you interact with) who share their culture with you; made you adopt the bits that you like about that culture. 

I like to say that in another life I was Indian because I love spicy food. We live in a world that celebrates diversity and people who become melting pots of culture. We are exposed to so many different cultural groups that we cannot stay pure. Even within our own cultural groups there differences in belief, behavior, and norms. I have seen this a lot in South Africa where coloreds from Cape Town don't really consider coloreds from other places actual coloreds. Zulus from Kwa-Zulu Natal will say that the Johannesburg Zulus are different from them, even in the way they speak. This is because we have learned to adapt and accommodate. 

So with that, I decided to entitle my intercultural communication presentation Uncultured Hybrid. Unculture because I have no culture of my own and hybrid because I am a product of my adopted cultures. My presentation went something like this:

This is me! As we know I have no culture but that doesn't mean that I do not have my own set of rules, norms, values, and behavior. Living in a foreign country entails getting acquainted with people from a different culture than mine. That is not easy, especially in South Africa where there are 11 official languages and people are really proud when speaking them. Often people do not see me as an African because I do not speak any African language. Well, I do not feel less African simply because I speak western languages. I often find it difficult to verbally communicate with South Africans who like to impose their language on others. Like I said South Africans are very proud of their languages and are never shy to speak it. What can be a bit enervating is when you are at the store or just in public and they start speaking to you in their language and you say "Sorry, I don't understand..." or "I only speak English". It's like you have insulted (especially if you are black), they will ask you what other (African) language you speak. They will ask you why you don't speak an African or they will simply continue speaking to you in their language, or just go on ranting about how you are speaking the 'white man' language. 

When I had an encounter with people from other countries, in South Africa, they were very comprehensive. They didn't make me feel less African because I did not speak an African language. Being a cultural hybrid is a new culture, this is a new age and intercultural competence and acceptance are what sets you aside from the masses.  I am not saying that we must not embrace and commemorate our Africanicity, I am saying allow us to share it. This heritage month let us celebrate the fact that we are allowed to represent whatever culture we want without segregation nor exclusion. 

I am an uncultured hybrid and I am proud to live in a world in which that is acceptable. So when I was creating the logo for my brand and wanted something that would represent diversity. So I added the different colors in the center to symbolize the different cultures I have adopted and the black spiky circle to symbolize my Africanicity.