Amy #mixedmonday

This weeks #mixedmonday is Amy.

I'm Amy (she/her) and I'm mixed. My mum is Gujarati Indian and my dad is White. I'm neurodivergent and I'm queer. I currently live in Buxton and will be moving to York soon with my partner and our family of rodents. The image of me with a rodent is one of our rodent daughters, Molly (she's a degu). I grew up near Birmingham and have moved around the country since I left home at 18. I started my career working at a women's centre that supports women to heal from trauma and many other intersecting issues. I loved this work. Since then, along with some friends we founded York Anti Racist Collective @antiracistcollective where we focus on healing through community, creativity and connection.

I set up @teapotcollective last year, where, with my partner, we work with organisations to support them with inclusion work. We practice a trauma-informed and intersectional approach. I'm also training to be a yoga teacher with @susannabarkataki and I've started offering lessons that focus on decolonising the practice and centering social justice.

How would you describe your ethnicity?

I would describe myself as a woman of colour, a person from the global majority and a mixed-ethnicity person - "I'm mixed". When I was younger I described myself as half Indian and half English, but I now understand that I'm not half of anything I'm both and more! I describe my ethnicity as Indian and British. I sometimes say I'm brown. Sometimes I say I white and brown. I find beauty in thinking about how I define myself and honour how that has changed and will continue to change as I move through life.

Has your mixed-ness influenced your career in any way?

My experience of being mixed has been a key part of my development as a person and in my career. Once I grappled with my mixed identity and what that really means to me, I've been able to use the lessons I've learned and apply it to my work. For example, for a long time I struggled with being not one or the other, I struggled with existing outside of the binary of being Indian or White. Healing this and finding peace in being both and more has meant that I am now able to hold multiple truths at once, which is very helpful when thinking about complex social issues and healing. I can hold multiple truths for things because I hold multiple truths about myself and my ethnicity. I'm a both/and person, not an either/or person.

If you could describe your mixed identity in one word, what would it be?

Queer. I see my mixedness as queer. Queer theory is all about questioning the perception that certain identities e.g. being cisgender, heterosexual, being only 1 ethnicity are seen as "standard" or "normal". Queer theory has taught me to not worry about whether or not I fit into a box as written by society. I can exist and define myself in any way I choose. 

What is the best thing about being mixed heritage?

Mixed people! Over the years while I've been focusing on healing the wounds of being mixed growing up I've met the most wonderful mixed people and built a community network of support where we can process experiences and feelings together. The moment you share something about being mixed and someone says "oh me too!" brings so much validation and heals the part of me that quite often felt that I didn't fit into either of my cultures. But, I now know I fit in here with my mixed friends. I also fit in with both of my ancestral cultures and to my culture of mixedness.