I grew up in West Virginia (USA), a rural and culturally homogenous region. My memory is of my mom putting me on the phone to talk to the utility bill person when I was around 8 yrs old, because she thought my American accent would be better understood than her Filipino accent. I was taken aback that I was a child suddenly placed in an ‘adult world action,’ then later understood why and thought it very strange. I have always been aware that accent, language, communication, and perceived identity influences action (for better or worse). I later studied politics in university and work with environmental politics for marginalized groups.
Related
Last autumn we ran an experimental online public engagement series called 'earliest political memories'. We collected a total of 68 memories that were generously contributed by members of the public. You can read all the contributions here. The series caught the attention of our colleague Rachel O'Connell in the School of English who…
In "earliest political memories"
When I was younger I had lived in the Philippines; and with my English accent I had always been the centre of attention in schools.
In "earliest political memories"
My family talked about politics a lot. My earliest political memory is watching the Watergate hearings while my father yelled obscene things at the TV. It was very exciting to hear that much cursing in the house. My family also had a celebratory watching of Nixon's resignation speech, and I…
In "earliest political memories"