"One of the anthropological terms I've learned that applies to all of these peoples is this notion of syncretism, that cultures and religions come together and forge new cultures and new religions and new languages. And this is really the sign of a living culture and a living history. People are trying to preserve the past and aren't happy with other people if they aren't doing everything the same way that their parents and grandparents [did them], and they'll say, "Oh, that's wrong. You're not doing it right." But the fact that languages change and people change and adapt to new environments is the sign of a living culture to me. I certainly mourn the loss of the heritage that has fallen by the wayside because it was tied directly to landscape. When people moved from the land, they lost that. I also have to admire the spirit of endurance that made people continue to remember."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Fantasy authorsNovelists from the United StatesEssayists from the United StatesShort story writers from the United StatesHistorical novelists
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Imported from EN Wikiquote
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Kathleen_Alcal%C3%A1
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Kathleen Alcalá
81 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Kathleen Alcalá →
Related Quotes
"as time succeeded time into a whirlpool of eternity."
"Once we lost the keys to our houses in Barcelona during The Plague, or the Inquisition or whatever other excuse was g…"
"She could drop her shyness the way she dropped it to recite a speech or a poem, then step back into it like a cloak."
"When children went every day to school to learn to live in a world that no longer existed."
"Tater was proud of her unusual name, and secretly hoped she was like them, ordinary at first look, but gem-like on th…"
"This is how they took back the world - step by step, song by song."
"This was new, the consciousness that she might have a future beyond herself."
"By becoming a writer, you can rewrite history. ("Your Grandmother Might Have Been Mayor, or Why Write?", 1990)"
"Writing about family history has taught me that much of who we think we are is based on the unexplainable. ("The Skel…"
"After all, what is the passing of time but a diamond turned to dust?"