{"id":289287,"date":"2022-08-29T10:30:59","date_gmt":"2022-08-29T14:30:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/?p=289287"},"modified":"2022-08-29T13:07:22","modified_gmt":"2022-08-29T17:07:22","slug":"commentary-caribbean-identity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/commentary-caribbean-identity\/","title":{"rendered":"COMMENTARY: Caribbean Identity"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Azalia Joy Morancie<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When people ask me where I\u2019m from, I always seem to get a little tongue-tied. I\u2019m\u00a0 Caribbean. But I wasn\u2019t born in the Caribbean. I was born here, in the States. When people ask\u00a0 me where I\u2019m from, I tell them I\u2019m Caribbean, but part of me tends to feel guilty when I do.\u00a0 When I tell people this, I almost feel like I\u2019m catching myself in a lie, but then again, I don\u2019t\u00a0 know any other way to describe myself.<\/p>\n

I grew up eating Pelau and Brown Stew Turkey or Stewed Oxtail on special occasions. Bull Foot Souse and Pig Snout in Braf at parties while dancing to Soca late into the\u00a0 night. Parties every weekend – whether it be at my house, a cousins\u2019, or another one of our many\u00a0 family friends \u2013 while enjoying goat soup with a fresh cut habanero pepper in the mix.<\/p>\n

When I tell others that I\u2019m Caribbean I think of strong cultural ties, and how if we just\u00a0 state the last name \u201cDangleben\u201d around someone of Caribbean descent, they can trace all the people they know to our own family. I think of Carnival, and the people of our island dancing in\u00a0 the street to the songs of the most famous Calypso songwriters we know. I think of telling others that we\u2019re Dominican, and then having to correct them about the fact that the Dominican\u00a0 Republic and Dominica are two completely different places. About how many times our flag is\u00a0 left out of events meant to represent different nationalities, and the small number of people under our country\u2019s title at the Olympics every 4 years. About how even the language we speak is derived from our ancestor\u2019s best attempt at communication because of slavery on our island orchestrated by the French all those years ago.<\/p>\n

When I am asked where I\u2019m from \u2013 who I am \u2013 I think of all these things, and I almost feel unworthy. Unworthy because the question that usually follows is \u201cWhere were you born?\u201d.\u00a0 Unworthy of telling them that \u201cI\u2019m Caribbean\u201d,\u00a0 because, despite all of that, It\u2019s not my\u00a0 birthplace. Then when someone asks where I\u2019m from I must take the time to elaborate and\u00a0 explain how despite all of the culture that I have been surrounded with, I\u2019m American. Born here, raised here, and am still living here.<\/p>\n

But that\u2019s all before I figured out something. Something that broke that weird, guilty, unworthy feeling, and that\u2019s discovering not just my culture, but my definition. My Identity. The\u00a0 fact that I am not just \u201cwhere I\u2019m born\u201d, but I am what I know.<\/p>\n

I am at parties late into the night while dancing to Soca music, and Carnival down the streets, and telling others how the Dominican Republic and Dominica are two different places, and the beautiful broken-French language of Kreyol developed by my ancestors to form unity.\u00a0 To form culture. To form Identity.<\/p>\n

So when I am asked, \u201cWho are you?\u201d or \u201cWhere are you from?\u201d I say what I think \u2013 the\u00a0 food, the songs, the island \u2013 I am Caribbean.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

ABOUT AZALIA JOY MORANCIE<\/p>\n

Azalia is the daughter of Dale and Evarus Morancie of Castle Bruce and Grand Bay respectively, who along with Azaliah also share daughter Shekinah and son Chaika. She has an older sibling, Leanne ‘6Stalight’ Morancie.\u00a0 Azalia is a Junior (11th grade) at Kempner High School in Sugar Land, TX.\u00a0\u00a0Her favourite class at school is Public Service\/Health and she enjoys crocheting, playing her cello, drawing and singing.\u00a0\u00a0When she makes her first visit to Dominica, she looks forward to meeting family,\u00a0\u00a0visiting beaches and eating local food.<\/p>\n

\"\"
From left: Shekinah, Azalia, Evarus, Dale-Marie and Chaika<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When people ask me where I\u2019m from, I always seem to get a little tongue-tied. I\u2019m\u00a0 Caribbean. But I wasn\u2019t born in the Caribbean. I was born here, in the States. 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