toro/anglo/irish kid

My name is Maya Nell Murungi Abwoli Kairumba Burke. I was born in Frankfort, Kentucky to an Anglo-Irish descendant father and Toro/ Ugandan mother. My younger sister and I lived in Kentucky from birth till 2005, and moved with our mother to Kampala, Uganda, living there between the years 2005 and 2008. My mother's family (the Kairumbas) are from Fort Portal, a small town in Western Uganda. Fort Portal was founded as a British garrison in 1859, and is the only town in Uganda with an English name. Fort Portal is the seat of the Toro Kingdom. The Kairumba family is an extension of the royal family of the Toro tribe. The patriarchal heir lineage of our family is the ceremonial drum player for coronation and other sacred ceremonies.
While living in Uganda my sister and I spent a lot of time in Fort Portal, meeting family and learning about where our mother came from when she first left home for college in Berea, Kentucky.

My interests regarding this class are in global indigenous solidarity and indigenous-nonindegenous dynamics. As a recent descendant of indigenous people from another continent I am interested in how best to operate as a guest and in solidarity with the people who are indigenous to where I currently live. As half Toro/ half white American I am personally interested in how those two identities play out in my own life, and investigating questions of whether white people have lost and/or can reclaim/return to an indigenous way of being in the world. I am also interested in understanding violent behaviors of whiteness and anti-indegeneity and how best to diminish and/or stand up against these behaviors in my immediate spheres.