One of the central conflicts addressed in Julie Dash’s phenomenal film, Daughters of the Dust (1991) is that of holding on to the past in a vastly changing future. Freedom has opened the gate for progression for many formerly enslaved families and perhaps the Peazants are not at fault for pursuing opportunities on the mainland. Nana Peazant’s greatest fear, however, is that her family will go north into the industrialized, modern world and be unable (or perhaps unwilling) to hold on to what has sustained generations of African descendants since coming to the New World: the old ways, the African past.
We see this conflict readily unfold with Haagar’s character. She wants nothing to do with that “hoodoo, hoodoo, hoodoo mess”! She is so ready to embrace a new, modern way of life that she refuses to accept Nana’s blessing during the “root revival of love”–which, to me, symbolizes Nana’s attempt to reconcile the differences between “last of the old and the first of the new”. She combines a mojo hand (a small packet that she has filled with roots and herbs used in conjuring, the hair of her mother and a lock of her own hair to maintain the bond of blood) with the bible–a powerful symbol of the world on the mainland. She combines the old ways with the new.
Haagar, however, fails to realize how unprepared she really is to live in the modern, urban world. She has a great deal to say about leaving Ibo Landing behind, but when Yellow Mary appears on the island with “store bought biscuits” Haagar is so uncomfortable with the thought of processed food that she turns her nose up at it.
So, my question is this: Is it possible to maintain one’s cultural, traditional way of life in a modern world? Do you think the migrating Peazant clan will be able to preserve their way of life once they are away from the island?
I dare not say it is impossible to maintain one’s culture, but I am certain that it would be a tedious task. If we examine the ways in which life is lived today, we will find that quite often it is terribly hard to truly steer clear of doing “what everyone else does”. Consider technology and its constant advances. Many people fear and or loathe the ways in which our lives are heavily dependent on technology. Those people have two choices: adapt or be left behind. Tradition, in many ways, may be healthier or sturdier, but the speed and lure of technology almost always wins.
If by maintaining one’s culture you mean living life the same no matter the environment I say no, especially for the Peazant family. By leaving their home for the mainland, they sacrificed a large portion of tradition. They abandoned their home, the home of the foremothers and forefathers. It was before the abandonment that they decided tradition no longer mattered, tradition was not enough. Once the Peazant’s reach their destination, I think their family unit will fall apart. I think the stresses of what was then the modern world, will wear heavily on the members. Considering the time period in which they live, I think the evils that they will face will lead to regret and longing to return to the lives that they knew.
If while on the mainland the Peazant’s find themselves to be magnets for pain, they main plan to retreat to the lives they knew. They may find themselves praying for forgiveness and revisiting the spiritual traditions of the past. They might also find themselves fighting to connect to their true identities.
I think adopting the customs of another group takes away from the original strength and power of the assimilating group. Lost culture and tradition can lead to tragic happenings such as the effects that slavery then the civil rights movements had on Africans turned Africans Americans. The decline in culture and tradition and its effects can also be seen in second generation and beyond immigrant families and communities.
I would have to agree with Maria in that it would be very hard to live their lives exactly the same as they did on the island because of fear and technology. I would also agree that traditions can be lost with the second generation of Peazants that are born on the mainland. It depends on the stronghold that the entire family keeps on the traditions that were taught on Ibo Landing. If the family continues to pass on these traditions from generation to generation, the ways of the Peazant family on Ibo Landing can still be preserved. I believe the biggest concern of preserving their culture will be their religious practices. They would be seen as outcast or devil worshipers according to the masses. If you take Viola for instance her struggle with her newly found Christian religion and her religion of old when she came back to Ibo Landing.
what do you think about memory and its function of linking us to the past? Customs can be modified and adapted to those of others…Hybrid customs…What is your thought?
Maria makes some interesting points that I agree with. If the Peazants are coming to the United States of America, as in THIS country, their culture will not stand a chance. Demands to assimilate are exhausting here. The Peazant culture will be shamed in the mainland. They will be called savages, barbaric, and backwards. The film had living proof of this premonition in Viola, who used all of those words I believe. The way she shrieked at the farewell ceremony will be America’s collective repulsion at their culture. This country is so hyper-Christianized, it suffocating. Their belief system will not even have a chance to breathe, and especially not breath new life into future generations. Unfortunately, Nana Peazant’s fears will become reality, but I could be wrong. It just takes one person to reinvigorate the Peazant family back into the spirit of tradition. We shall see in the coming novel.
It is historically true that with time, and not alot of it, that culture can be obliterated when the people are taken out of the environment. The American slaves reminds us of this. Shoot, teenagers remind us of this. All of mommy and daddy’s doting and teaching means nothing when teens are around their friends. It is an entirely different person we’re dealing with. Back to the American slaves, certainly through each generation, a piece of their original culture has been lost due to changes in the environment. First it began with language. We saw some attempts to retain the language when the elder Peazant was teaching a few African words to the younger children, but the lesson did not go on for too long, because “that’s all she remembers”. What the Peazant’s had that other slaves did not was a similar environment of their ancestor’s African land. This was a major way traditions survived. What we see here is that there is an inextricable link between the environment in which one lives and the culture they embrace. I certainly hope the Peazants retain some of their culture, because it came so uniquely to them.
I believe it is possible and impossible to maintain one’s cultural traditional way of life in a modern world. Nana Peazant combines old ways with new, and I believe that is possible. The Peazant family can still cook, dress, and have the same attitudes. The issue with that is will the “modern” world be alarmed by their dressing style and different way to speak. America is “free”, but it is impossible to be exactly who you want in this society. A certain type of dress is required when we go to job interviews. Why is that? We are required in some way to conform to what society wants us to be. There is no way the modern world will completely accept the Peazant family, and there is no way th Peazant family will completely accept the modern world. I believe some of them will stay and some will return home. Because they are going North, life might be a little easier on them during this time.
I think that family tradition can be obtained but the family will have to work really hard on it (teach children language, rituals, traditions and make sure that their children will continue to teach their own children, that is the only way for African culture to survive in North). I do agree that in North things would be way different for Peazant family, but as an immigrant and someone who tries really hard to save my own religion and tradition I believe that is possible. They can accept the ways in North and also preserve their African roots.
And that is ,why I think, you have a mojo hand and a Bible in the same instance… I agree with your view of immigrants and their identity in the US
I also agree that their will be a struggle to preserve the traditions of the old in the new modern world up North. I believe that the family can still continue with the way they cook, dress, and language. They will have to adapt with society but amongst one another can still practice their cultural traditions. I would have to disagree that Nana Peazant combined both old and new ways. She was the most outspoken about her family’s departure from Ibo Landing. She wanted to continue the traditions that her ancestors had started and she was taught through her long life. She never once changed her position from staying on the island like some of the other family members did. Eli and Eullah, and Yellow Mary wanted to leave for new lives, but decided to stay back. It will be interesting to see what will happen to the family in the novel?
If the Peazant family does not accept modernity, how can they survive?
While the task may be an arduous one, it is certainly not impossible to maintain one’s culture (in this case) by migrating to mainland United States from a more remote island. While I understand what Marian, Tiffany and Brooke are saying, I think the scope in which the question was answered were a bit narrow. We have to remember that our day-to-day lives are not reflective of every nook in The United States. There are areas of Georgia that are extremely rural and maintain their own sense of culture completely cut off from the advances and forms of progress that we experience living in the metropolitan Atlanta area. Even in a broader scope, parts of Louisiana have maintained an extremely rich Creole culture even so much as to have their own language. The same can be said for those who live in parts of the Appalachian Mountains, where many do not even have access to certain resources and maintain a very traditional culture based on folklore and kinship.
While the odds of maintaining one’s culture are certainly going to change as one moves from their original area of inhabitance to another, especially in a “melting pot” environment like that of the United States, it does not make it impossible. As Sladjana said, it is up to the family to preserve their own culture and what the outcome is, is ultimately in their hands. There are many families who manage to fuse their own traditional values with elements of a more modern society and do so without comprising or diluting the value and richness of their own roots.
I do believe that it is possible to maintain a culture or tradition while living in a modern world, after all, inhabitants of the United States do so all the time. In fact the immigrant population in America is, in my opinion, solely responsible for the uplifting cultural manifestations that exist in the United States, and without them the country would lack the ever present array of culture. If we look back at the history of the US, it is clearly noted that this countries foundations were built upon individuals bringing their traditions from their homelands into the “New World” and continuing to uphold their country’s traditions while also adopting new traditions of neighboring cultures. There is no doubt that along the way, individuals are quite vulnerable to losing themselves among a vast majority, but it is my belief and from personal experience that I can attest to the ability to not only practice cultural traditions but to remain deeply embedded in them while living in modernity. We see this in the highly celebrated Carnival celebration that exposes Caribbean Isle traditions, little Italy and Chinatown in New York City, and the growth religious mosques among major cities and small towns alike. These examples indicate that upholding traditions is very possible.
As far as the Peazants are concerned, I believe that they will be able to preserve their way of life after they leave the Sea Island. In viewing their last family gathering before migration, seeing the foods they eat and they way they interacted with each other, it reminded me of African American southern cooking and was reminiscent of the black family reunion that we see today. In fact their interaction reminds me of how gatherings are with my own family, which goes to show that maintaining cultural traditions is very possible.
Family and tradition go hand in hand, no? Hopefully they will not loose the sense of family and its importance
I believe that it is very possible to maintain one’s cultural traditions in a new modern world. I believe that the easiest aspect of cultural that one can continue in a modern world will be food and language. Though you may be required to learn the language of your new surroundings, one can continue to speak in their native language amongst family and others from the same culture. The foods that one cooks, and the way in which one prepares it can also be carried with them into a new modern life. The carrying of the traditions also depends on how the elders instill these traditions into the next generations. If this passing of the guard continues the traditions of old will also continue in the new world.
I believe that the Peazants will be able to preserve their traditions because of the time in which this story takes place. I believe that they would be able to preserve more of their traditions back then, than in a technology driven society such as today. At the time of their journey many blacks as well as other immigrants were coming to this country all with many different cultural traditions. They may have not accepted one another, but you had your side of town and I have mine. You had the ability to live your life the way you wanted to along side others who may have had the same traditions. It is that same isolation that allowed the Peazants to maintain their African culture on Ibo Landing.
I can personally relate to this issue of maintaining cultural traditions. My grandmother and mother were born in the Phillipines. My grandmother passed away before I was born, but passed on the traditions of food and language down to my mother. Till this day I still embrace my filipino heritage and cultural traditions. I continue to eat and prepare the same foods as my grandmother, and continue to speak Tagalog. Being from California it is more accepted to have different cultural traditions due to the diversity that California is made of. If I eventually have children I will continue to pass on the traditions of my ancestors.
Can you please extend your reflection on cooking and language? What does these acts involve?
I think it’s very possible for one to maintain tradition, it’s just up to the will of the family (or individual for that matter). As mentioned by Jerray and Maria, fear is the determining factor. Many cultures have managed to preserve some traditions still today through language, food (both previously mentioned), remedies and even belief practices. Unfortunately families have began to break down into individual units and spend less time as a whole. The youth don’t know of family history beyond their grandparents and everyone focuses on adapting to technology (the future).
Parents no longer just talk to their children about their history, the children have to ask (I was a child that asked questions, afterwhile my mom would just sit and talk).
You don’t have to miss out on time by holding on to traditions, which is the fear I feel many people think will happen as we seen in the movie.
I believe that the Pezeant family will struggle with their tradition in the North, especially with the heavy influence of a respected family member (Viola). However I also feel that a few of them will recognize the strenght in their tradition and be able to perserve it will staying North (I think a few will move back to the Islands).
Well, I think that the reason that the Peazant family (and others like them, I suppose) were so rich in tradition and heritage is BECAUSE of their isolation from regular, westernized, American life. I think that it would be almost impossible for the family to move to the mainland and still hold on to the Ibo/African traditions. Especially considering that in 1902 many African Americans had almost lost all of their conscious links to Africa…