Knowing your roots: why understanding your cultural identity can help your mental health
Can you imagine travelling to a new destination without any form of navigation, no phone, no Google or Apple Maps?
No conversations with someone who has taken the trip previously? Just you alone facing a trip to the unknown?
Would you feel comfortable taking the journey? Would you feel safe taking the journey? Would you feel confident that you would reach your destination?
I personally know that a lack of information and direction would leave me lost and confused before I even embarked on my journey. Now imagine a race of people who have lived for hundreds of years with little to no understanding of their culture or heritage and the implications that this would have on their mental health.
Writer Sinai Fleary of the Voice Online used UNESCO ‘s 2021 UK National Commission in an article of the same year to ascertain that “Heritage is inextricably linked to mental health and well-being.” Fleary went on to state that “knowledge of your cultural background and history promotes a positive sense of self, and increases social support, solidarity and resilience”.
As the honourable Pan-Africanist Marcus Garvey once said, “A people without knowledge of their past history, origin and culture are like a tree without roots”. Black history is a beautiful, rich and vast history. Our roots are deep, and our existence and contributions deserve to be celebrated every day without apology.
How do we embrace such beauty when the roadmap to our culture was erased, edited and stained?
The ancient Egyptian concept of ‘know thyself’ teaches us the importance of acknowledging every aspect of our being.
Cultural identity is an important part of this acknowledgement and understanding. As the distinguished Black Psychologist, Na'im Akbar states in his book entitled Know Thyself, ‘knowing thyself’ allows us to achieve the ‘goals of identity and self-knowledge. Just like many other aspects of our lives, our childhood informs how we relate to the world as adults. I am a first-generation British black man born in the late 80s to two Jamaican parents, who immersed me in the sounds, sights and delicacies of Jamaica. I was taught about African History by my Father’s love for Roots Reggae which led to me developing my sense of culture from a young age. Despite experiencing various forms of oppression from a young age, my ‘roots’ were set in early on, informing me who I am today as Black Person.
We cannot, however, assume that every black person connects or was informed how to embrace their culture in the same way. For example in his book Natives: Race and Class in the Ruins of Empire the esteemed Akala speaks of the oppression he experienced as a mixed-race child, he discovered that his ‘light skin’ did not save him from experiencing racism. Nor did it prevent him from being seen as a ‘confused mixed race yout’ despite identifying as Black at an African Saturday school that he attended with his siblings.
Experiences such as Akala’s demonstrate how nuanced and diverse cultural identity is within the Black community. The analytical framework of Intersectionality as first coined in 1989 by American civil rights advocate and leading scholar of critical race theory, Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw teaches us that “People are often disadvantaged by multiple sources of oppression: their race, class, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, and other identity markers”. Intersectionality is therefore important in the quest to understand cultural identity as it allows us to recognise that all unique experiences of identity, particularly ones that involve multiple overlapping oppressions, are valid.
Connecting with culture gives us a sense of self-esteem, connection, community and many other positives. For example, the late great Chadwick Boseman’s portal of T’Challa in Black Panther gave the Black community worldwide an unprecedented way of connecting with a superhero.
On the contrary, disconnection from your heritage connects to Marcus Garvey’s aforementioned quote on feeling like a tree without roots. As a therapist my clients have mentioned low self-esteem, imposter syndrome, and isolation being at the root of their disconnection from their heritage.
A report from The Story Terrace as quoted by Sinai Fleary’s 2021 article ‘Knowing your roots can improve your mental health’ connects to the negative impacts of feeling disconnected to one’s culture. Fleary revealed that 21% of Black-British people feel that feeling disconnected to their “culture negatively affected their mental health, breeding feelings of guilt, imposter syndrome or loneliness”.
Signs that you may feel disconnected from your culture include feeling lost, loneliness, racial trauma, low mood and lack of self identity.
Tips on how we can go about understanding our culture and heritage –
Travel to Africa, the Caribbean, Brazil
Speak to the elders, relatives within the family and the community
Read books on Black History
Connect with a Black Therapist such as myself or the amazing therapists at Black Minds Matter provides.
Embrace aspects of the culture via food and dance, music
Attend black events and support movements such as Black Pound Day and Ancestral Voices.
Take a DNA to discover your cultural roots.
The fact that Stormzy’s latest video ‘Mel Made Me Do It’ has garnered close to 4 million views (at the time of writing) in a week alludes to Gil Scott-Heron’s point that “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised’. It will be online, on your phone, on the streets and anywhere it needs to be.
Stormzy’s video is the perfect summary for this piece as it highlights how nuanced modern black culture can be. It can be raw, it can be great, we can come together and we can celebrate who we are without apology.
Words and image by Daniel Harris, Counsellor and BMMUK therapist. Visit Daniel’s website here.