September 30, 2025 • 28 mins
"When someone asks you where you're from, what's the first thing that comes to mind?" This seemingly simple question opens a window into the complex world of cultural identity for Caribbean people living in diaspora communities. Your answer likely depends on who's asking, where they're asking, and your unique migration journey.
The Caribbean Diaspora Experience Model (CDEM) provides a way for understanding how our cultural identities form and evolve outside the region. Unlike academic theories, this model emerges from real lived experiences – my own family's migration story, countless conversations with community members, and insights gathered through years of podcast interviews. It offers six interconnected lenses that help us articulate what many have felt but struggled to express about our complex cultural journeys.
In this deep dive into the first lens – "Where You Start Shapes the Journey" – we explore how your starting point profoundly influences your relationship with Caribbean culture. Whether you migrated as an adult with established cultural connections, came during formative teenage years like I did at 14, arrived as a young child with few concrete memories, or were born in the diaspora with varying degrees of cultural connection, each starting point creates a different foundation with unique challenges and strengths. The model acknowledges that even within families, different starting points create entirely different relationships to culture. My brothers and I all left Jamaica together, yet our age differences mean we each carry very different connections to our homeland.
The model also considers what was happening when your cultural journey began – the decade, political climate, and social context that shaped how freely Caribbean culture could be expressed in your new home. Someone who migrated during the dancehall explosion of the 1990s had vastly different opportunities for cultural expression than someone who arrived during earlier decades when Caribbean cultural visibility was more limited in diaspora spaces.
Understanding your starting point isn't about determining who is "more Caribbean" – it's about gaining clarity on your unique journey and extending grace to others whose experiences differ from yours. As we continue exploring the remaining lenses in future episodes, you'll discover how location, cultural anchors, identity shifts, professional expression, and embracing multiplicity all build upon the foundation established by where you began.
How has your starting point shaped your cultural journey? Reflect on this question as we continue unpacking the language and framework that helps us make sense of our beautiful, complex Caribbean diaspora experience.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
When someone asks you where you're from, what's the
first thing that comes to mind?
For me, it depends on who'sasking, where they're asking me,
and this nuanced answer startedthe moment when my family and I
moved to the US.
Hello everyone, welcome toanother episode of Carry On
(00:22):
Friends the Caribbean AmericanExperience.
In this episode I will be goingdeeper into the Caribbean
diaspora experience model, whichI call CDEM, and CDEM was
created by me through Carry OnFriends.
It is a simple yet powerful wayto help us better understand
(00:42):
how Caribbean cultural identityforms, evolves and expresses
itself outside the region and indiaspora communities.
Now, this model is grounded inreal-life experiences mine, my
family's experiences, myfriends' experiences, my
(01:03):
community's experiences andstories heard through the
podcast.
Seedm offers a simple,relatable way to explore the
complexity of identity withinour community, and it breaks
down a complex topic into sixrelatable real-world lenses six
relatable real-world lenses.
(01:24):
So SEDAM reflects what many ofus already know deep down but
haven't had the language todescribe.
This isn't theory, as I saidbefore.
It is a lived experience modelbuilt from years of observation,
reflection, introspection of mylife, my family's life, my
(01:45):
immigrant journey, conversationswith friends and community
insight.
This model doesn't tell you whoyou should be.
It helps you see who you are,where you've been and how your
identity has grown across time,place and relationships.
(02:05):
A few episodes ago I introducedthe Caribbean Diaspora
Experience Model, sedem, to theaudience.
If you missed that episode, notto worry, I'm going to do a
quick overview of the six lenseswithin the model.
Lens one where you start,shapes the journey.
There are six starting pointsidentified in the model.
(02:29):
So whether you were born in theregion, migrated at a young age
or were born in the diaspora,your starting point influences
and shapes how your identitydevelops and evolves.
There's a sub-lens and thatsub-lens 1 1.1, is what was
happening when you started.
Lens two is where you live pluswhat you seek, equals how you
(02:57):
connect.
This lens examines how yourlocation and personal drive to
connect or disconnect influenceyour access to and engagement
with Caribbean culture.
Lens three cultural anchors keepus rooted.
So we have tangible elements ofcultural anchors like food,
(03:20):
music, language, celebrations,family structure, church, even
podcasts, TV series, plays,movies, these types of things.
These tangible sensory visualexperiences help maintain
continuity across generationsand borders.
They preserve memory andidentity across time and place
(03:44):
and they ground us wheneverything else shifts.
Lens four your identity willshift.
That's the point.
And our identity evolve as weevolve.
As we grow through life stages,the way we connect with and
express our culture naturallyshifts.
(04:04):
That evolution isn't a loss,it's just a recalibration and
for this we have a sub lens 4.1.
And that sub lens is how youshow your identity also changes.
Lens five is cultural identityinfluences how we show up at
(04:26):
work.
This lens explores how ourrelationship with work is deeply
tied to how we were raised,what we were taught to value and
how we express identity inprofessional spaces.
And lens six is you are noteither or you're both, and so
(04:47):
being Caribbean and American, orCaribbean and Canadian, british
, etc.
It's not a contradiction, it'sa reality.
This lens affirms that ouridentity is complex, it's
layered and valid in every way.
Complex, it's layered and validin every way.
(05:09):
This lens affirms themultiplicity of the diaspora
identity and helps people feelconfident in the complexity of
who they are.
This was a high-levelintroduction or overview of
Caribbean Diaspora ExperienceModel, cdem, which I will call.
See them from here on out.
Today we're diving deeper intolens one and its sub lens.
Where you start shapes thejourney and what was happening
(05:32):
at the time matters.
I opened the episode askingwhen someone asks you where
you're from, what's the firstthing that comes to mind?
And for me I said it depends onwho's asking where I am when
they're asking this question.
So for me I'm going to sayJamaica, because I was born
there.
But for my kids, some friendsand some past guests on the show
(05:57):
, they might say I'm born in theUS but my parents are from
Jamaica, which is what I know.
Many born in the diaspora sayFor me my family's unique
migration experience.
I didn't realize that it wasunique until it was much later
in life.
So, unlike a lot of friends whoI grew up with or went to high
(06:22):
school with, grew up with orwent to high school with, I came
to this country the same timemy mother came.
So my mother and my threebrothers and I all arrived in
the US at the same time.
Traditionally the parent comes,gets settled and then they send
for the kids.
That was just not my experience, because this was my experience
(06:45):
.
This shapes how I view culture,how I view my identity and, as I
mentioned before, we're divingdeeper into the first lens of
sedum and where you start shapeseverything that follows.
So there are six startingpoints in lens.
One Point one you're aCaribbean born adult migration,
(07:06):
which was my mom.
You're a Caribbean born nine to17 migration, so this was me
and my brother, who immediatelyfollows me in birth order.
And then you have Caribbeanborn under nine migration, and
these were my other brothers.
Then you have diaspora born andconnected to culture, so these
(07:30):
were my cousins.
And then there was diasporaborn and disconnected, and I've
met some people who are likethis mostly, as I started, carry
on.
And then you have transnationalor multi-location, and I'm
going to dive deeper into whatthis is because we all know
(07:50):
someone within these categories.
So why do these starting pointsmatter?
Each starting point creates adifferent foundation and
different sets of challenges.
It influences how we movethrough all the other lenses of
the model and how we even lookat cultural identity.
(08:14):
It sets the tone for our entirecultural journey.
So for Caribbean-born adultmigration, which is essentially
people who moved as adults fromthe Caribbean into the diaspora,
they have a very strongunderstanding of Caribbean life
(08:34):
and cultural norms, andmigration is a conscious
experience and a choice right.
Compared to me, when I moved, Ididn't have a choice right.
So when people ask me, why didyou move here?
I didn't have a choice.
My mom said we were moving, sowe were moving.
The challenge thatCaribbean-born adult migration
(08:55):
have is what is generally knownI didn't make this up is the
awareness of race.
So typically you're coming frompredominantly black countries
where race is very different,and how they experience that in
the global North countriesAmerica, canada, the UK,
(09:19):
elsewhere is very different andit's usually very hard to adjust
to because now they're awarethat they are, not that they
didn't know that they were Black, but a negative experience
associated with that.
(09:40):
And then the challenge isadapting their established
identity which was, yeah, I'm ablack person in this country,
it's not a big deal, you know tothis new location, to wherever
they move to, and so a lot oftime you say you know you grew
up in Jamaica and you moved toNew York when you were in your
(10:01):
20s or 30s.
You know, you know, or even youknow late 30s or 40s whenever
you moved.
And now you have to adjust howyou were back home into this new
place and that's a very hardtransition to make, especially
when you can't name what you'reexperiencing, and I think that
(10:28):
has been the challenge.
People have been experiencingit but they haven't been able to
name it.
Or they've said, well, auntieso-and-so, mama so-and-so, this
person come America, donkey,years long before me, and they
didn't have to deal with this.
So you know, maybe it's just meRight, and so a lot of times
(10:50):
that's how they are not brushingit aside, but trying to justify
not addressing it because theydon't know that it's something
to address, right, but it is acommon challenge.
So, as I mentioned before, I'min the 9 to 17 migration group
(11:13):
and I moved here when I was 14.
And at that age I moved herewhen I was 14.
And at that age I had alreadygone through high school up
until the ninth grade in Jamaica.
So I have very strong memoriesand connection to Jamaica.
When I moved here, because mymom did not come here and
establish herself in advance, Ihad to figure out how I was
(11:37):
going to navigate America.
At the same time my mom is alsonavigating America.
So just figuring out how tomake it fit, I'm still deeply
connected to Jamaica, my friends, like I said, I went to high
school.
I had very strong ties inchurch.
I still have those friendships,while also building
(12:00):
relationships with the cousinsthat I didn't really know until
I moved here and, of course,going to school, because we're
younger, we navigate thedisruption to identity very
differently.
In the development years weadapt maybe a little quicker.
But depending on where we livewhich I don't want to go too
(12:26):
much into, which is why I saidthe lens builds on each other
the adaption may be smoother.
So I'll just give a quick peekin here.
Moving to Brooklyn, new York, Ididn't have to adapt that much.
I just didn't Versus someonewho may have moved maybe to the
Midwest right.
(12:46):
So it's a very differentexperience.
It wasn't until I went toschool that I understood this
idea of barrel children Not thatI didn't see it growing up in
Jamaica, but I didn't know thatthere was this term for it where
the parent, whether it's themother or the father or whomever
(13:07):
, migrates first and then thechildren follow.
They'll have a very differentexperience.
Most of the time barrowedchildren are left home or left
back home with extended families, while one parent or both
parents migrate.
For barrowed children, inaddition to their starting
points, their experience in thediaspora and maybe how they see
(13:33):
themselves is going to be basedon their relationship with the
parents, or lack thereof, andthe situation they come into.
So for instance, I've heardthis story Many barrel children
come here and there's a siblingborn in America or foreign, and
so how does that impact therelationship with the diaspora
(13:55):
born sibling versus the mom?
So, again, just layers.
My experience is very differentfrom my brother's experience.
So my brother, who is two whenwe all got off the flight, has a
very different relationshipwith Jamaica.
He was too young to remember alot of things.
A lot of his connections arebased on the stories we've told
(14:18):
or when he's gone back and thatin and of itself is just a
different experience.
And we'll get into where hemaintains connections and that's
typically liking the anchors,the food, the music, et cetera.
Right, and for the otherCaribbean born younger, it's
just obvious that the youngeryou are, sometimes the memories
(14:43):
aren't as strong as you movedlater and there's this emotional
connection to a place that theyhave very few memories of that
place.
But there's a connectionemotionally and as we go through
(15:04):
the other lens in Seedem youhave like cultural anchors.
So, as you can see, my mother,my brothers, we all had
different cultural connectionsand we're in the same family and
that's all because of where wewere in life when we made the
(15:24):
move to the US.
So you have diaspora born andconnected to culture.
You all know it, you all see it.
That was my cousin.
You know, when I came up here,I remember one cousin asked if I
knew how to do the butterflyand my uncle said she just come
from Jamaica, she should beasking you if you know to do the
butterfly.
(15:44):
But you know, my cousins were abig dancer, dance by head top
butterfly.
They were really connected toculture, the food, the dance,
everything, the way they spoke.
Sure, sure, you understood thatyou could hear that they had
American accents but they weretalking the Patois.
Same way, right, the diasporaborn, connected.
(16:05):
You know, they're raised inhomes.
So inside the house they'reJamaican, they're Trini, they're
Bayesian inside the house andwhen they go outside it's
America.
They have a clear awareness ofthe cultural difference from
mainstream society, even thoughthere is always one incident
that brings this to theirawareness.
Michaela has talked about thelunch that she would bring to
(16:29):
school.
Or a past guest, malaney wouldsay that people would ask her
why her mom spoke funny and shedidn't think her mom spoke funny
.
Her mom sounded normal.
So they have a clear awarenessof the cultural difference in
mainstream society.
After one inciting incident orone incident that brings this
(16:52):
awareness to them, they're oftencomfortable, you know, going
back and forth in culturalcontext, because this is just
how life is.
And they visit back homeperiodically, often, maybe more
when they were younger and, youknow, as they get older, maybe
(17:12):
not as much, but often enough,or vice versa, but they go back
home.
And then, in terms ofmultinational, I wanted to take
some time to explain this.
So you might have cousins whowere born in the US and at some
point they were sent back hometo go to school and then at some
(17:34):
point they left back home andcame back to America.
Or you had some who were bornback home, came up here for one
reason or another, they got sentback home and they commute back
and forth.
So this is what I calltransnational, because they've
(17:54):
spent significant time in thediaspora and back home, wherever
back home is, and I'm notjudging the circumstance under
which they were sent back home.
Every family is different, forwhatever reason.
You know, sometimes the parentshad to work and you know, to
grow up in the Caribbean life orto have somebody watch them.
(18:15):
It was better they got sentback home so grandma, auntie or
somebody could watch them.
And you know, sometimes I'veheard people feel like they
could get a better schoolingback home.
So there were a variety ofreasons why this back and forth
movement was happening whenpeople were younger.
I just gave an example.
(18:35):
As for children, but even asadults, maintaining homes and
moving back and forth in thespace, and I get it, not
everyone has that luxury to dothat, but it does happen.
And there's a very differentexperience for people who have
lived in both places and they'veexperienced it differently.
(18:55):
And they're doing it I don'twant to say simultaneously, but
it's for short bursts of timeand it's interchange.
It shapes their experience muchdifferently.
Recently I had Stacey Lieberton the podcast, who is the CEO
of Grenada's Tourism Authority,and Stacey, I want to call her
(19:19):
out here because she had veryinteresting journeys.
So she migrated from Jamaicaduring her youth, so that puts
her in Caribbean, born the 9 to17 migration, and she's evolved
into transnational because she'sreturned to the region first
Anguilla and now Grenada forwork and life.
(19:40):
And her story illustrates howidentity isn't fixed.
It's evolved across location,roles, responsibility, and so
the important takeaway here isstarting points aren't permanent
categories.
You can, aside from where youwere born, you can find yourself
in the transnational categoryand you know this evolution
(20:03):
based on life choices andcircumstances show the dynamic
nature of cultural identity.
I also want to acknowledge thediaspora born and disconnected,
and there's usually areconnection journey.
I want to acknowledge thatdisconnection happens for a
variety of reasons and undervarious circumstances.
(20:24):
I'm not here to judge the why,but to acknowledge that it
happens and each person's familyor each person's situation is
different.
There is a growing reconnectionmovement, a trend where people
are seeking to reconnect withheritage, especially through
digital platforms.
I'm not saying that thatreconnection is easy, but just
(20:49):
acknowledging that it's a trendand more and more people want to
do it and oftentimes, you know,you find adults seeking
connection to parent orgrandparents or more connection
to culture they never knew.
This disconnection doesn't makesomeone less than.
(21:09):
It's simply a differentstarting point with its own
journey.
So it doesn't make them lessCaribbean or less, it just makes
their journey very different.
And so a quick recap we're inlens, one of Caribbean diaspora
experience model SEDEM, andwhere you start shapes the
(21:30):
journey, and in this you havesix starting points
Caribbean-born adult migration9-17 migration.
Under-9 migration.
Diaspora-born connected toculture, diaspora-born
disconnected from culture, andtransnational or multi-location
(22:01):
or multi-location.
So now I want to go into thesub-lens lens 1.1.
What was happening when youstarted?
So, in addition to where yourcultural journey began, this
sub-lens considers the social,political and emotional context
at the time.
Were you born pre or postinternet?
Did you migrate during a timeof political unrest or economic
hardship?
Did you come in the 80s or didyou move to the us in the 90s,
(22:24):
like I did?
Did your family feel safeexpressing culture or did they
silence it to protect you?
These historical and societalforces shape how families make
decisions about expressing theiridentity and see them honors
that layered complexity.
So when I moved to Brooklyn,new York, in the 1990s, there
(22:49):
was an explosion of dancehallculture.
I mean it was much differentthan my uncles who came here in
the 70s, his uncle before thatwho was here in the 50s and 60s,
or other cousins moving hereduring the 80s.
The decade of migration affectscultural expression and your
(23:11):
opportunities to expressyourself.
I've had guests on the showwho've said that their parents
did not allow them to speakPatois or for some people, they
couldn't speak Creole outside ofthe house, and this is why the
sub lens is important.
The decade you migrated whatwas happening at the time
(23:32):
politically, economically,socially is going to impact how
you express yourself, how yousee yourself.
In the different starting pointFor me, moving in the 90s and
born in Jamaica, I expressedmyself and culture in the level
(23:54):
of confidence where I know otherpeople who did not have that
same experience.
There is one other aspect thatis going into lens two, but I
want to mention it here.
So, in addition to yourstarting point and what was
happening when you started, thegeographic location is going to
(24:19):
impact your journey, right, andso I'll dive deeper into that,
into lens two.
So what does this mean forunderstanding identity?
Starting points createdifferent strengths and
challenges.
So no starting point is betteror worse, it's just different.
And understanding your startingpoint helps you navigate your
(24:42):
cultural journey with moreintention.
And that recognition that, evenwithin families, different
starting points create differentrelationships to culture.
As I mentioned, my mother, mythree brothers and myself the
five of us have very differentexperiences to culture.
What I remember and my brotherimmediately after me remembers
(25:06):
is very different from what mytwo younger brothers will even
remember or have a connection to.
All they have are the stories'mlike oh, is Imkomir young, so
(25:32):
certain things he's not going toremember.
So I have a little bit morepatience for when I have to
explain certain things or withmy kids.
The starting points are a wayto help us better also
communicate with each other andgive each other grace and some
understanding, because we knowthat their context or how they
see things is different.
It's not the same.
(25:52):
Even if we're in the samefamily.
It is not the same.
And so Lens One is where we aregrounded, we're rooted.
Everything else builds on lensone.
What was your starting point?
What was happening in the worldwhen your cultural journey
(26:14):
began?
And by cultural journeysometimes it's just when you
were born or when you migrated.
Right?
How is understanding yourstarting point help you make
sense of your culturalexperiences?
What aha moments you've gottenfrom this, if any?
So I'll be diving into eachlens in individual episodes.
(26:38):
So the next episode I'll betalking about geography and
motivation, and each lens feedsor builds into the other lens.
So we talked about againstarting points and what was
happening.
This feeds into the next lensof geography and motivation.
I would like you to reflect onhow your starting point has
(27:01):
shaped your journey.
Now that you have thisawareness, how has it shaped how
you carry yourself in thisworld?
If you're not subscribed to theCarry On Friends newsletter,
please do and I think you'llenjoy it.
Sedam is a life's work and I'mreally proud and excited to
(27:24):
share this awareness and thislanguage, because once I
understood I saw myself how Icarried myself, it was very
different.
So I can't wait to continue tobreak down the lens and explore
more with you.
If you have questions, pleasesend them and, as I love to say
(27:47):
at the end of every episode,walk good.
When someone asks you where you're from, what's the
first thing that comes to mind?
For me, it depends on who'sasking, where they're asking me,
and this nuanced answer startedthe moment when my family and I
moved to the US.
Hello everyone, welcome toanother episode of Carry On
(00:22):
Friends the Caribbean AmericanExperience.
In this episode I will be goingdeeper into the Caribbean
diaspora experience model, whichI call CDEM, and CDEM was
created by me through Carry OnFriends.
It is a simple yet powerful wayto help us better understand
(00:42):
how Caribbean cultural identityforms, evolves and expresses
itself outside the region and indiaspora communities.
Now, this model is grounded inreal-life experiences mine, my
family's experiences, myfriends' experiences, my
(01:03):
community's experiences andstories heard through the
podcast.
Seedm offers a simple,relatable way to explore the
complexity of identity withinour community, and it breaks
down a complex topic into sixrelatable real-world lenses six
relatable real-world lenses.
(01:24):
So SEDAM reflects what many ofus already know deep down but
haven't had the language todescribe.
This isn't theory, as I saidbefore.
It is a lived experience modelbuilt from years of observation,
reflection, introspection of mylife, my family's life, my
(01:45):
immigrant journey, conversationswith friends and community
insight.
This model doesn't tell you whoyou should be.
It helps you see who you are,where you've been and how your
identity has grown across time,place and relationships.
(02:05):
A few episodes ago I introducedthe Caribbean Diaspora
Experience Model, sedem, to theaudience.
If you missed that episode, notto worry, I'm going to do a
quick overview of the six lenseswithin the model.
Lens one where you start,shapes the journey.
There are six starting pointsidentified in the model.
(02:29):
So whether you were born in theregion, migrated at a young age
or were born in the diaspora,your starting point influences
and shapes how your identitydevelops and evolves.
There's a sub-lens and thatsub-lens 1 1.1, is what was
happening when you started.
Lens two is where you live pluswhat you seek, equals how you
(02:57):
connect.
This lens examines how yourlocation and personal drive to
connect or disconnect influenceyour access to and engagement
with Caribbean culture.
Lens three cultural anchors keepus rooted.
So we have tangible elements ofcultural anchors like food,
(03:20):
music, language, celebrations,family structure, church, even
podcasts, TV series, plays,movies, these types of things.
These tangible sensory visualexperiences help maintain
continuity across generationsand borders.
They preserve memory andidentity across time and place
(03:44):
and they ground us wheneverything else shifts.
Lens four your identity willshift.
That's the point.
And our identity evolve as weevolve.
As we grow through life stages,the way we connect with and
express our culture naturallyshifts.
(04:04):
That evolution isn't a loss,it's just a recalibration and
for this we have a sub lens 4.1.
And that sub lens is how youshow your identity also changes.
Lens five is cultural identityinfluences how we show up at
(04:26):
work.
This lens explores how ourrelationship with work is deeply
tied to how we were raised,what we were taught to value and
how we express identity inprofessional spaces.
And lens six is you are noteither or you're both, and so
(04:47):
being Caribbean and American, orCaribbean and Canadian, british
, etc.
It's not a contradiction, it'sa reality.
This lens affirms that ouridentity is complex, it's
layered and valid in every way.
Complex, it's layered and validin every way.
(05:09):
This lens affirms themultiplicity of the diaspora
identity and helps people feelconfident in the complexity of
who they are.
This was a high-levelintroduction or overview of
Caribbean Diaspora ExperienceModel, cdem, which I will call.
See them from here on out.
Today we're diving deeper intolens one and its sub lens.
Where you start shapes thejourney and what was happening
(05:32):
at the time matters.
I opened the episode askingwhen someone asks you where
you're from, what's the firstthing that comes to mind?
And for me I said it depends onwho's asking where I am when
they're asking this question.
So for me I'm going to sayJamaica, because I was born
there.
But for my kids, some friendsand some past guests on the show
(05:57):
, they might say I'm born in theUS but my parents are from
Jamaica, which is what I know.
Many born in the diaspora sayFor me my family's unique
migration experience.
I didn't realize that it wasunique until it was much later
in life.
So, unlike a lot of friends whoI grew up with or went to high
(06:22):
school with, grew up with orwent to high school with, I came
to this country the same timemy mother came.
So my mother and my threebrothers and I all arrived in
the US at the same time.
Traditionally the parent comes,gets settled and then they send
for the kids.
That was just not my experience, because this was my experience
(06:45):
.
This shapes how I view culture,how I view my identity and, as I
mentioned before, we're divingdeeper into the first lens of
sedum and where you start shapeseverything that follows.
So there are six startingpoints in lens.
One Point one you're aCaribbean born adult migration,
(07:06):
which was my mom.
You're a Caribbean born nine to17 migration, so this was me
and my brother, who immediatelyfollows me in birth order.
And then you have Caribbeanborn under nine migration, and
these were my other brothers.
Then you have diaspora born andconnected to culture, so these
(07:30):
were my cousins.
And then there was diasporaborn and disconnected, and I've
met some people who are likethis mostly, as I started, carry
on.
And then you have transnationalor multi-location, and I'm
going to dive deeper into whatthis is because we all know
(07:50):
someone within these categories.
So why do these starting pointsmatter?
Each starting point creates adifferent foundation and
different sets of challenges.
It influences how we movethrough all the other lenses of
the model and how we even lookat cultural identity.
(08:14):
It sets the tone for our entirecultural journey.
So for Caribbean-born adultmigration, which is essentially
people who moved as adults fromthe Caribbean into the diaspora,
they have a very strongunderstanding of Caribbean life
(08:34):
and cultural norms, andmigration is a conscious
experience and a choice right.
Compared to me, when I moved, Ididn't have a choice right.
So when people ask me, why didyou move here?
I didn't have a choice.
My mom said we were moving, sowe were moving.
The challenge thatCaribbean-born adult migration
(08:55):
have is what is generally knownI didn't make this up is the
awareness of race.
So typically you're coming frompredominantly black countries
where race is very different,and how they experience that in
the global North countriesAmerica, canada, the UK,
(09:19):
elsewhere is very different andit's usually very hard to adjust
to because now they're awarethat they are, not that they
didn't know that they were Black, but a negative experience
associated with that.
(09:40):
And then the challenge isadapting their established
identity which was, yeah, I'm ablack person in this country,
it's not a big deal, you know tothis new location, to wherever
they move to, and so a lot oftime you say you know you grew
up in Jamaica and you moved toNew York when you were in your
(10:01):
20s or 30s.
You know, you know, or even youknow late 30s or 40s whenever
you moved.
And now you have to adjust howyou were back home into this new
place and that's a very hardtransition to make, especially
when you can't name what you'reexperiencing, and I think that
(10:28):
has been the challenge.
People have been experiencingit but they haven't been able to
name it.
Or they've said, well, auntieso-and-so, mama so-and-so, this
person come America, donkey,years long before me, and they
didn't have to deal with this.
So you know, maybe it's just meRight, and so a lot of times
(10:50):
that's how they are not brushingit aside, but trying to justify
not addressing it because theydon't know that it's something
to address, right, but it is acommon challenge.
So, as I mentioned before, I'min the 9 to 17 migration group
(11:13):
and I moved here when I was 14.
And at that age I moved herewhen I was 14.
And at that age I had alreadygone through high school up
until the ninth grade in Jamaica.
So I have very strong memoriesand connection to Jamaica.
When I moved here, because mymom did not come here and
establish herself in advance, Ihad to figure out how I was
(11:37):
going to navigate America.
At the same time my mom is alsonavigating America.
So just figuring out how tomake it fit, I'm still deeply
connected to Jamaica, my friends, like I said, I went to high
school.
I had very strong ties inchurch.
I still have those friendships,while also building
(12:00):
relationships with the cousinsthat I didn't really know until
I moved here and, of course,going to school, because we're
younger, we navigate thedisruption to identity very
differently.
In the development years weadapt maybe a little quicker.
But depending on where we livewhich I don't want to go too
(12:26):
much into, which is why I saidthe lens builds on each other
the adaption may be smoother.
So I'll just give a quick peekin here.
Moving to Brooklyn, new York, Ididn't have to adapt that much.
I just didn't Versus someonewho may have moved maybe to the
Midwest right.
(12:46):
So it's a very differentexperience.
It wasn't until I went toschool that I understood this
idea of barrel children Not thatI didn't see it growing up in
Jamaica, but I didn't know thatthere was this term for it where
the parent, whether it's themother or the father or whomever
(13:07):
, migrates first and then thechildren follow.
They'll have a very differentexperience.
Most of the time barrowedchildren are left home or left
back home with extended families, while one parent or both
parents migrate.
For barrowed children, inaddition to their starting
points, their experience in thediaspora and maybe how they see
(13:33):
themselves is going to be basedon their relationship with the
parents, or lack thereof, andthe situation they come into.
So for instance, I've heardthis story Many barrel children
come here and there's a siblingborn in America or foreign, and
so how does that impact therelationship with the diaspora
(13:55):
born sibling versus the mom?
So, again, just layers.
My experience is very differentfrom my brother's experience.
So my brother, who is two whenwe all got off the flight, has a
very different relationshipwith Jamaica.
He was too young to remember alot of things.
A lot of his connections arebased on the stories we've told
(14:18):
or when he's gone back and thatin and of itself is just a
different experience.
And we'll get into where hemaintains connections and that's
typically liking the anchors,the food, the music, et cetera.
Right, and for the otherCaribbean born younger, it's
just obvious that the youngeryou are, sometimes the memories
(14:43):
aren't as strong as you movedlater and there's this emotional
connection to a place that theyhave very few memories of that
place.
But there's a connectionemotionally and as we go through
(15:04):
the other lens in Seedem youhave like cultural anchors.
So, as you can see, my mother,my brothers, we all had
different cultural connectionsand we're in the same family and
that's all because of where wewere in life when we made the
(15:24):
move to the US.
So you have diaspora born andconnected to culture.
You all know it, you all see it.
That was my cousin.
You know, when I came up here,I remember one cousin asked if I
knew how to do the butterflyand my uncle said she just come
from Jamaica, she should beasking you if you know to do the
butterfly.
(15:44):
But you know, my cousins were abig dancer, dance by head top
butterfly.
They were really connected toculture, the food, the dance,
everything, the way they spoke.
Sure, sure, you understood thatyou could hear that they had
American accents but they weretalking the Patois.
Same way, right, the diasporaborn, connected.
(16:05):
You know, they're raised inhomes.
So inside the house they'reJamaican, they're Trini, they're
Bayesian inside the house andwhen they go outside it's
America.
They have a clear awareness ofthe cultural difference from
mainstream society, even thoughthere is always one incident
that brings this to theirawareness.
Michaela has talked about thelunch that she would bring to
(16:29):
school.
Or a past guest, malaney wouldsay that people would ask her
why her mom spoke funny and shedidn't think her mom spoke funny
.
Her mom sounded normal.
So they have a clear awarenessof the cultural difference in
mainstream society.
After one inciting incident orone incident that brings this
(16:52):
awareness to them, they're oftencomfortable, you know, going
back and forth in culturalcontext, because this is just
how life is.
And they visit back homeperiodically, often, maybe more
when they were younger and, youknow, as they get older, maybe
(17:12):
not as much, but often enough,or vice versa, but they go back
home.
And then, in terms ofmultinational, I wanted to take
some time to explain this.
So you might have cousins whowere born in the US and at some
point they were sent back hometo go to school and then at some
(17:34):
point they left back home andcame back to America.
Or you had some who were bornback home, came up here for one
reason or another, they got sentback home and they commute back
and forth.
So this is what I calltransnational, because they've
(17:54):
spent significant time in thediaspora and back home, wherever
back home is, and I'm notjudging the circumstance under
which they were sent back home.
Every family is different, forwhatever reason.
You know, sometimes the parentshad to work and you know, to
grow up in the Caribbean life orto have somebody watch them.
(18:15):
It was better they got sentback home so grandma, auntie or
somebody could watch them.
And you know, sometimes I'veheard people feel like they
could get a better schoolingback home.
So there were a variety ofreasons why this back and forth
movement was happening whenpeople were younger.
I just gave an example.
(18:35):
As for children, but even asadults, maintaining homes and
moving back and forth in thespace, and I get it, not
everyone has that luxury to dothat, but it does happen.
And there's a very differentexperience for people who have
lived in both places and they'veexperienced it differently.
(18:55):
And they're doing it I don'twant to say simultaneously, but
it's for short bursts of timeand it's interchange.
It shapes their experience muchdifferently.
Recently I had Stacey Lieberton the podcast, who is the CEO
of Grenada's Tourism Authority,and Stacey, I want to call her
(19:19):
out here because she had veryinteresting journeys.
So she migrated from Jamaicaduring her youth, so that puts
her in Caribbean, born the 9 to17 migration, and she's evolved
into transnational because she'sreturned to the region first
Anguilla and now Grenada forwork and life.
(19:40):
And her story illustrates howidentity isn't fixed.
It's evolved across location,roles, responsibility, and so
the important takeaway here isstarting points aren't permanent
categories.
You can, aside from where youwere born, you can find yourself
in the transnational categoryand you know this evolution
(20:03):
based on life choices andcircumstances show the dynamic
nature of cultural identity.
I also want to acknowledge thediaspora born and disconnected,
and there's usually areconnection journey.
I want to acknowledge thatdisconnection happens for a
variety of reasons and undervarious circumstances.
(20:24):
I'm not here to judge the why,but to acknowledge that it
happens and each person's familyor each person's situation is
different.
There is a growing reconnectionmovement, a trend where people
are seeking to reconnect withheritage, especially through
digital platforms.
I'm not saying that thatreconnection is easy, but just
(20:49):
acknowledging that it's a trendand more and more people want to
do it and oftentimes, you know,you find adults seeking
connection to parent orgrandparents or more connection
to culture they never knew.
This disconnection doesn't makesomeone less than.
(21:09):
It's simply a differentstarting point with its own
journey.
So it doesn't make them lessCaribbean or less, it just makes
their journey very different.
And so a quick recap we're inlens, one of Caribbean diaspora
experience model SEDEM, andwhere you start shapes the
(21:30):
journey, and in this you havesix starting points
Caribbean-born adult migration9-17 migration.
Under-9 migration.
Diaspora-born connected toculture, diaspora-born
disconnected from culture, andtransnational or multi-location
(22:01):
or multi-location.
So now I want to go into thesub-lens lens 1.1.
What was happening when youstarted?
So, in addition to where yourcultural journey began, this
sub-lens considers the social,political and emotional context
at the time.
Were you born pre or postinternet?
Did you migrate during a timeof political unrest or economic
hardship?
Did you come in the 80s or didyou move to the us in the 90s,
(22:24):
like I did?
Did your family feel safeexpressing culture or did they
silence it to protect you?
These historical and societalforces shape how families make
decisions about expressing theiridentity and see them honors
that layered complexity.
So when I moved to Brooklyn,new York, in the 1990s, there
(22:49):
was an explosion of dancehallculture.
I mean it was much differentthan my uncles who came here in
the 70s, his uncle before thatwho was here in the 50s and 60s,
or other cousins moving hereduring the 80s.
The decade of migration affectscultural expression and your
(23:11):
opportunities to expressyourself.
I've had guests on the showwho've said that their parents
did not allow them to speakPatois or for some people, they
couldn't speak Creole outside ofthe house, and this is why the
sub lens is important.
The decade you migrated whatwas happening at the time
(23:32):
politically, economically,socially is going to impact how
you express yourself, how yousee yourself.
In the different starting pointFor me, moving in the 90s and
born in Jamaica, I expressedmyself and culture in the level
(23:54):
of confidence where I know otherpeople who did not have that
same experience.
There is one other aspect thatis going into lens two, but I
want to mention it here.
So, in addition to yourstarting point and what was
happening when you started, thegeographic location is going to
(24:19):
impact your journey, right, andso I'll dive deeper into that,
into lens two.
So what does this mean forunderstanding identity?
Starting points createdifferent strengths and
challenges.
So no starting point is betteror worse, it's just different.
And understanding your startingpoint helps you navigate your
(24:42):
cultural journey with moreintention.
And that recognition that, evenwithin families, different
starting points create differentrelationships to culture.
As I mentioned, my mother, mythree brothers and myself the
five of us have very differentexperiences to culture.
What I remember and my brotherimmediately after me remembers
(25:06):
is very different from what mytwo younger brothers will even
remember or have a connection to.
All they have are the stories'mlike oh, is Imkomir young, so
(25:32):
certain things he's not going toremember.
So I have a little bit morepatience for when I have to
explain certain things or withmy kids.
The starting points are a wayto help us better also
communicate with each other andgive each other grace and some
understanding, because we knowthat their context or how they
see things is different.
It's not the same.
(25:52):
Even if we're in the samefamily.
It is not the same.
And so Lens One is where we aregrounded, we're rooted.
Everything else builds on lensone.
What was your starting point?
What was happening in the worldwhen your cultural journey
(26:14):
began?
And by cultural journeysometimes it's just when you
were born or when you migrated.
Right?
How is understanding yourstarting point help you make
sense of your culturalexperiences?
What aha moments you've gottenfrom this, if any?
So I'll be diving into eachlens in individual episodes.
(26:38):
So the next episode I'll betalking about geography and
motivation, and each lens feedsor builds into the other lens.
So we talked about againstarting points and what was
happening.
This feeds into the next lensof geography and motivation.
I would like you to reflect onhow your starting point has
(27:01):
shaped your journey.
Now that you have thisawareness, how has it shaped how
you carry yourself in thisworld?
If you're not subscribed to theCarry On Friends newsletter,
please do and I think you'llenjoy it.
Sedam is a life's work and I'mreally proud and excited to
(27:24):
share this awareness and thislanguage, because once I
understood I saw myself how Icarried myself, it was very
different.
So I can't wait to continue tobreak down the lens and explore
more with you.
If you have questions, pleasesend them and, as I love to say
(27:47):
at the end of every episode,walk good.
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