R By Sh Taiye Summary

Taiye talked about the question “where are you from?” She states that while she was on tour, many people asked her where she was from. She states that she had lived in many places, but she pondered on that question. She questioned if home was a physical place rather than where your life is. She questioned “to say that I came from somewhere, it would say a country was a constant thing, but was it?” She states that some countries don’t stay forever. What we call countries are actually various expressions of sovereign statehood, countries were invented. So she concluded that it was not where she is from, it is where she is local. Her reasoning for that statement is that the difference between those two questions isn’t the specificity of the answer, it is the intent of the question. When asking where someone is from, you’re asking for the location. But in actuality the person asking is wanting to know your nationality, which is really asking where real life occurs. For example, if a person lived in Alabama and Georgia in different times of their lives, they would say they are a local of Alabama and Georgia from their life experiences. These are places where memories happen and things that cannot be denied by anyone because that’s apart of you. …show more content…
The first “R” stands for rituals. What kind rituals do you do in your everyday lives, and where do they originate from? For example, some people may take their shoes off in their homes, something that is usually practiced in Asian countries.
The second “R” is relationships, and she isn’t talking about social media relationships. She means the people that you make it to a point to talk to, in person, at least once a week because those people are your real