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Collected Item: “Christian Totty Oral History, 2022/06/16”

Title

Christian Totty

Who conducted the interview? List all names, separated by comma.

Kit Heintzman

Who was interviewed? List all names, separated by commas.

Christian Totty

Email Address(es) for all interviewers. Separated by comma.

kheintzman@gmail.com

Use one-word hashtags (separated by commas) to describe your oral history. For example: Where did it originate? How does this object make you feel? How does this object relate to the pandemic?

#acupuncture, #ancestors, #AsianAmerican, #Black, #crime, #gardening, #family, #gratitude, #grief, #Indigenous, #joy, #motherhood, #multiracial, #Ohio, #Pisces, #Qi, #queer, #race, #racism, #shaming, #TCM, #trauma, #twospirit, #vaccination

What is the format of your recording?

Video

In what ZIP code is the primary residence of the interviewee? (enter 5-digit ZIP code; for example, 00544 or 94305)? In what city/town/village does the interviewee live? In what country does the interviewee live? All comma-separated.

Lima, Ohio, Traditional land of Shawnee, Kickapoo, Miami, Wyandot Erie

What is the gender of the interviewee? Be sure to allow interviewees to self-identify their gender in the pre-interview or interview. *Do not assign a gender identity to interviewees.*

She/her

What is the age of the interviewee?

35 to 44

How does the interviewee describe their race or ethnicity? Be sure to allow interviewees to self-identify their race/ethnicity in the pre-interview or interview. *Do not assign a racial or ethnic identity to interviewees.*

Afro-Indigenous (Black and Cusabo)

Describe the oral history.

Some of the things we discussed include:
Connection to land.
Intergenerational trauma: descendent of sharecroppers, lost memories of place and connection; scarcity.
Traditional Chinese Medicine as an Indigenous medicine.
Learning about COVID-19 in Jan 2020 from a Professor of acupuncture at Johns Hopkins.
Acupuncturists work in a liminal space of health care. Closing acupuncture practice early in the pandemic; re-opening space; sometimes being the only person a client left their home to see; treating unvaccinated patients.
Nonprofit Board Member of Crime Victim Services.
Choosing to get vaccinated.
Losing an aunt in Jan 2020 after travel, uncertainty about cause of death.
Being bullied as multiracial; body image.
Connections with loved ones after death; receiving support from people after death.
Child (born March 2019), his first standard vaccines, answering to those who come after us; teaching a young child about health and safety.
Multi-generational household; living with people of different ideas about vaccination.
Morning ritual of giving thanks to all relations.
Changing relationship with partner.
Staying connected to colleagues and old friends virtually.
Breath and health in humans and other living beings.
Pollution, living near a refinery.
Rest, joy, and pleasure.
Both/and

Other references: adrienne maree brown, George Floyd, The Nap Ministry, Prentis Hemphill, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Mariame Kbba, Ayana Johnson, For the Wild Podcast, Influential Point lobbying to change the use of the term “Oriental medicine”, United Plant Savers

See also:
https://www.loamacupuncture.com/
https://rss.com/podcasts/thedecolonizingmedicinepodcast/259564/

On what date did you record this oral history?

2022-06-16T10:08
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