{"id":55331,"date":"2022-06-13T03:11:42","date_gmt":"2022-06-13T07:11:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/?p=55331"},"modified":"2022-06-13T03:26:37","modified_gmt":"2022-06-13T07:26:37","slug":"doh-mess-with-ma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/?p=55331","title":{"rendered":"Doh mess with ma name"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
\nJune 13, 2022<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Dr.<\/a>Akan people of Ghana, from which my lineage springs, have a naming ceremony eight or ten days after a child is born. It is called the Outdoor Ceremony, where the child is brought into the outdoors to see the light of day.<\/p>\n

During that ceremony, the child is given a name that confers a specific identity upon him or her. Not a tear is shed if that child dies before the naming ceremony. It is as if that entity never existed, so precious is a person\u2019s name in that society.
\n
\nThe Hindus also have their own naming ceremony. It is called Namkaran (also spelled Naamkaan). It is one of the most important of the 16 Hindu \u201csamskaras\u201d or rituals that celebrate the different stages of life. In the Vedic tradition, Namkaran (in Sanskrit \u201cnam\u201d = name; \u201ckaran\u201d = create) is the formal naming ceremony performed to confer a newborn\u2019s name, using traditional methods and following the astrological rules of naming (Subhamoy Das, \u201cIndian Arts and Culture\u201d.)<\/p>\n

Namkaran is one of the most important Hindu rituals, and is held within 11 days after the birth of a child.<\/p>\n

Among the Hindus, a Rashi name is even more important to them. Generally, the Rashi name is not an additional name like one\u2019s middle name in Western culture. The main name is selected according to the newborn\u2019s Rashi, which is based on the position of the planets at the time of birth. Getting one\u2019s name according to one\u2019s Rashi or sign is auspicious, auspiciousness being a core concept in the life-cycle ceremonies for Hindus.<\/p>\n

Life-cycle ceremonies, therefore, are important to Hindus. They signify a person\u2019s life and his\/her moral purity. The name \u201cSusheila\u201d follows Kumbha Rashi (Aquarius). The letters of the alphabet associated with Kumbha are \u201cga\u201d, \u201csa\u201d and \u201csha\u201d. Thus, the name Susheila signifies someone of good character: (su = good; sheila = character). That is the name that Camille Robinson-Regis and her PNM colleagues were making fun of when they ridiculed Kamla Persad-Bissessar.<\/p>\n

The act of naming is serious business in African and Indian philosophical and theological thought. Therefore, it can be offensive and\/or insulting when we trample upon another person\u2019s name or \u201ccall someone out of her\/his name\u201d. So, when Camille and her friends called Kamla \u201cout of her name\u201d, she was justifiably insulted. After all, \u201cwhat is fun for little boys is death for crapaud\u201d.<\/p>\n

The disdain and mutilation of Indian and African names stems mostly from ignorance rather than malice. Even a sophisticated scholar such as Windford James, a linguist, fell into that trap recently. We also ridiculed former prime minister ANR Robinson when he was named Chief Olokun Igbaro by the Ooni of Ife.<\/p>\n

In her contretemps with Camille, Kamla erred not so much in calling upon Camille to cease distorting her name, but to counter-pose it with Camille\u2019s European name, which Kamla called \u201cher slave master\u2019s name\u201d. In doing so, Kamla appeared to have brought Camille\u2019s name (and her culture) into contempt by elevating her Hindu name and culture, implying that Camille\u2019s name\/culture were inferior to hers.<\/p>\n

Many Africans in the New World kept their African names in one variation or another (such as Cudjoe [Monday child], Cuffie [Friday child], Quamina [Saturday child]). In recent times, African-conscious groups such as the Nation of Islam (US) and NJAC (T&T) have cast aside their Anglo-Saxon names and opted for an \u201cX\u201d as their surname, or they adopted an African name. They\u2019ve also given their children African names.<\/p>\n

In condemning Kamla\u2019s unfortunate correlation, the PNM Women\u2019s League called her comment \u201cblatant race baiting\u201d and said that it not only mocks our \u201cAfrican ancestors\u2019 survival of brutality of chattel slavery but also denigrates their advancement beyond that\u201d. (Express, June 3)<\/p>\n

The prime minister responded as though he were driven into a frenzy. He drew upon the whipping of Kunta Kinte, a character in Alex Haley\u2019s Roots, until he accepted the white man\u2019s name, to demonstrate his disdain for Kamla\u2019s insult to his culture. He concluded: \u201cSusheila, that\u2019s how we got the name.\u201d Is this an accurate rendition of how most of us got our European names? Even in this missive, the prime minister continued to pour scorn upon Kamla\u2019s Rashi name.<\/p>\n

Laurel Lezama-Lee Sing, a PNM junior leader, couldn\u2019t resist the example set by her senior leaders. At the notorious PNM meeting, she thanked the lady vice-chairman (Camille) for \u201cproviding us with the full name (of Kamla)\u201d and informed her audience: \u201cAnytime you hear it, say, Shu Kamla, Shu Sheila from now on.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Legacy of Violence Caroline Elkins reminds us that a nation \u201cis a cultural construction comprised of ideas and sentiments… Nations are groups of people who see themselves as sharing a common language, religion, sets of traditions, and history\u2014or an identity\u2014that binds them together in an \u2018imagined community\u2019\u201d.<\/p>\n

This episode suggests that we need to learn more about one another\u2019s culture and religion if we wish to build a cohesive nation.<\/p>\n

I do not believe Kamla denigrated African culture by saying Camille possessed \u201ca slave name\u201d or indulged in race baiting. However, the venom that resulted from these exchanges reveals the thin veil of distrust that covers up the turbulent underbelly of our national lives. Uncomfortably of \u201cthe castle within our skins\u201d, we are unable to refrain from pelting big stones at one another.<\/p>\n

This unfortunate incident highlights the need for more education of our citizenry and the imperative that we show more respect for the cultures and religions of our compatriots.<\/p>\n

We can start this process by calling people \u201cin their correct names\u201d. It may help us come to terms with one aspect of our sordid historical past.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe June 13, 2022 Akan people of Ghana, from which my lineage springs, have a naming ceremony eight or ten days after a child is born. It is called the Outdoor Ceremony, where the child is brought into the outdoors to see the light of day. During that ceremony, the child … Continue reading Doh mess with ma name<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,30,7,154,632,142],"tags":[908,144,60,171],"class_list":["post-55331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general-tt","category-pnm","category-politics","category-race-and-identity","category-racism-watch","category-unc","tag-camille-robinson-regis","tag-kamla-persad-bissessar","tag-keith-rowley","tag-selwyn-r-cudjoe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=55331"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55331\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55333,"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55331\/revisions\/55333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=55331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=55331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=55331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}