Home: Roots and Identity in Unfamiliar Soil episode artwork

EPISODE · Jun 2, 2025 · 13 MIN

Home: Roots and Identity in Unfamiliar Soil

from Can I Have a Word? | Culture, Identity & the Power of Language

What does it mean to build a relationship with a place you’ve never lived—but that somehow still lives in you?With a nod to exploring the roots of our identity, we examine the notion of "home" through the lens of memory, migration, and meaning. For many first-generation Americans, and particularly for Black Americans navigating the legacy of forced displacement, home is not always a fixed location. It can be a country your parents left behind, a village you’ve only seen in photos, or a continent you feel connected to in spirit but not necessarily in experience.In this final episode of the season, we dive into the emotional and cultural work of cultivating an intentional relationship with ancestral homelands—especially when that relationship feels distant, unfamiliar, or incomplete. What customs can you adopt? What stories can you reclaim? And how do you navigate the tension between longing and belonging?This episode invites listeners to reflect on the ways we build home—not just in geography, but in practice, memory, and spirit.Production Team Host/Creator - Carl James Lead Engineer - Josh Wilcox Mix Engineer/Technical Producer - Adam Goins Logo Design - Stephanie Cardenas Music - Yennaedo Balloo Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What does it mean to build a relationship with a place you’ve never lived—but that somehow still lives in you?With a nod to exploring the roots of our identity, we examine the notion of "home" through the lens of memory, migration, and meaning. For many first-generation Americans, and particularly for Black Americans navigating the legacy of forced displacement, home is not always a fixed location. It can be a country your parents left behind, a village you’ve only seen in photos, or a continent you feel connected to in spirit but not necessarily in experience.In this final episode of the season, we dive into the emotional and cultural work of cultivating an intentional relationship with ancestral homelands—especially when that relationship feels distant, unfamiliar, or incomplete. What customs can you adopt? What stories can you reclaim? And how do you navigate the tension between longing and belonging?This episode invites listeners to reflect on the ways we build home—not just in geography, but in practice, memory, and spirit.Production Team Host/Creator - Carl James Lead Engineer - Josh Wilcox Mix Engineer/Technical Producer - Adam Goins Logo Design - Stephanie Cardenas Music - Yennaedo Balloo Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Home: Roots and Identity in Unfamiliar Soil

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This episode was published on June 2, 2025.

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What does it mean to build a relationship with a place you’ve never lived—but that somehow still lives in you?With a nod to exploring the roots of our identity, we examine the notion of "home" through the lens of memory, migration, and meaning. For...

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