Alex Johnson

MWF 9-10
Dance 1010
Salt Lake Community College

Life History Interview

For my Life History Interview, I chose to interview one of my friends from high
school and someone whom I know very well. My interviewee is an African American
whose mother is Jamaican and whose father is a Native American from the Navajo
Tribe. This was a very different kind of interview for me because of the context and the
surroundings that my interviewee was enthralled in. Specifically, how he sees himself
and how his family is involved in their different cultures.

Preparing for this interview, I thought that I had a fairly solid grasp on my
interviewee and his history. I have known him since Jr. High and have played high
school football with him since that time. However, as I began to create and ask
questions for the interview, I realized just how complicated his situation was. To fully try
to create a subversive interview I held brief interviews with his parents and his cousin.
The importance of the latter will come into full view later in the paper. I also read up
briefly on the histories of his ancestries, Jamaican and Navajo. This was also dually
fascinating because both share deep histories of displacement by whites. This creates a
very diverse culture for him and his parents.
He is by all means American, in this sense he is extremely diverse. His father is
of the Navajo Tribe, and that side of his family is extremely active in that community.

Alex Johnson
MWF 9-10
Dance 1010
Salt Lake Community College

That side of his family organizes and attends many cultural gatherings held for Native
Americans. His cousin is very active in their community, often going to Pow Wows and
dancing there. His cousin is a very gifted dancer. I remember in Jr. High and High
School for almost every talent show he would do one of the traditional Navajo dances.
When I would talk to his cousin you could feel the pride that emulated from him when
talking about his Navajo roots. However, when I talked to my interviewee and his father,
this same spark wasnt there. In every interview that I conducted, both with his father
and without his father, it seemed as though this Navajo side of him was something he
was uncomfortable talking about. While I did not want to directly ask why this was, I did
hint at it several times. The best answer he gave me was that I just wasnt brought up
around it. My dad really doesnt talk about it that much, which I kinda think alienates us
from that part of the family. When I reflected on this, it kind of is a microcosm of a large
problem in the Native American community. This problem is keeping traditions going.
While many do participate actively in this community, many for a multitude of reasons
do not. This was very evident in my interviewee. He simply wasnt familiar or really
comfortable on the topic, which in many ways is very sad.
Before I speak about his mother and that heritage and culture, I believe it will be
very useful to know more about my interviewee. My interviewee is 21, hes a rugby
player, and he loves gaming. He grew up in and around Holladay. In case you dont
know, Holladay is on the east bench of the Salt Lake Valley and is very upscale. More
than anything, growing up here has somewhat put him in a bubble, and he admits that.
His teachers are white, his religious figures are white, and the majority of his friends are

Alex Johnson
MWF 9-10
Dance 1010
Salt Lake Community College

white. In many ways, he has a much harder time being around other African Americans.
To be more specific, he has a harder time being around people he calls other black
people.
My interviewees mother is from Jamaican. She came here at the age of 10, and
since she has moved to the United States she has lived in Utah. With her, she brought
her family and cultural values, which she still practices today. When I asked her about
these values, she repeatedly went back and spoke about Jamaica. She was born in an
area around Kingston, Jamaica. She spoke of her mother a lot, and how close they
were. More than anything, I got the feeling that she was trying very hard to employ this
within her own household. His mother has a great pride in her culture and heritage, and
she tries to take her family back as often as possible. She is extremely accepting of her
roots and embraces them to the fullest. On a personal note: as a history major this was
absolutely fascinating. While both her husband and herself both were affected by
European colonialism, they both seemed very distanced from it. She was absolutely in
love with her countries, both Jamaica and the United States.
In the overall perspective, my interviewee is the embodiment of acculturalization.
While he has adopted many cultures, he is the master of none. Unfortunately, this has
resulted in the deculturalization of his Native American roots. Whether it was for his own
personal reasons, or his families, his Navajo roots have trickled down and trickled out of
him. While other members of his family do actively participate, he does not. In the most
unfortunate of way, he is a child of our society. There is a reason why so many cultures
who migrate here fear for the watering down or devaluing of their cultures. While

Alex Johnson
MWF 9-10
Dance 1010
Salt Lake Community College

communities such as the Italians, Vietnamese, Chinese and others may group together
within certain areas in their cities; Native Americans many times do not. Being placed on
reservations has effectively alienated the Navajo and other Native Tribes from our
society. In many ways, they are on the back burner of our minds and conscience. While
we in Utah may be familiar with certain tribes, they are often associated with only the
University of Utah. In fact, my interviewee really only attributed his culture to the
educational opportunities he has been provided through them. When asked about
whether he felt that this was a small attempt at compensation for the centuries of
prosecution he merely shrugged. Though this was odd, it truly embodies the fact that as
we progress as a society many things will be lost.

In conclusion, my interview with my friend was absolutely fascinating. Not only

did it provide me an opportunity to talk in depth with someone I have known for nearly a
decade, but it truly opened my eyes to his life. It helped to awaken me to more than his
struggle, but the struggle of the societies from which he comes. It helped me to fully
understand his culture, though not directly through him. That was truly the awakening
part of this interview, the fact that he simply was not involved in his own cultural history.
He is acculturated, but to the point at which he knows little about his own heritage. It
was fascinating to learn about his island roots, no matter how many thousands of miles
away they are. More than that, it was interesting to see just how much his mother
wished to bring that culture to her family. Another interesting aspect was just how he
viewed himself as an African American. Growing up in the area that we did, race is

Alex Johnson
MWF 9-10
Dance 1010
Salt Lake Community College

never discussed, though that may not be a good thing. He recognized that certain
people will be discriminated against, but above all he believed himself to be a product of
his community. Many times when I tried to direct the interview towards more topics that
involved the African American community, he would direct them back the opposite way.
It was interesting to see just how life is for him every day and how different it was than
how I thought it would be.