"Hey, Grandpa!"
During the recent podcast conversation with Jesse Phenow about his involvement in the Knyaw (Karen) and Karenni community in Minneapolis, I asked him to describe his experiences with the people and culture. Here is what he had to say.
“The other one is that Knyaw people are hilarious, and they do not take themselves too seriously. Just radically humble.”
“So many things, so many beautiful traits and realities in the Knyaw community. I think the one that jumps out to me right away is the familiarity, the real emphasis on family, and how that is not defined by blood. In the Knyaw language, and I'm sure that this is consistent [with respect to] other languages as well, but it's different in English, or maybe in our American culture that when you refer to someone, you call them by their name. But in the Knyaw community, and language and culture, you hardly use anyone's name. You would address someone as, ‘Hey, Big Brother,’ or, ‘Hey, Little Sister.’ ‘Hey, Grandma.’ ‘Hey, Grandpa.’ That's just one kind of element of this really deep sense of family and connectedness that you feel when you interact with the Knyaw people.
And also I think, as you're talking about it, of that sense of generosity, that's also there in the Knyaw community. ‘Of course, I'm going to share what I have with you; you’re family. You are Big Brother.’ And that has been such a powerful and transformative thing for me, where now I've even tried to integrate some of that language in into my own context here and try to refer to people as family when I can or when it feels appropriate. So, that's a big one.
The other one is that Knyaw people are hilarious, and they do not take themselves too seriously. Just radically humble. And, just deeply respectable in their way of not having such big egos. And being willing to poke fun at themselves or be goofy. Even people with really big jobs - things that they're involved with are a big deal - when you meet them, they just treat you like family. They just treat you like you've been around since forever. That's been my I experience. But I've also heard that that's pretty consistent with people who bump up to the Knyaw community as well. Such beautiful, amazing people, no doubt.”