{"id":776064,"date":"2025-10-03T09:03:30","date_gmt":"2025-10-03T07:03:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.servethecity.paris\/?p=776064"},"modified":"2025-10-03T09:03:30","modified_gmt":"2025-10-03T07:03:30","slug":"the-many-names-of-family-by-chenthura-p-balasubramani","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.servethecity.paris\/fr\/2025\/10\/03\/the-many-names-of-family-by-chenthura-p-balasubramani\/","title":{"rendered":"The Many Names of Family by Chenthura P. Balasubramani"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-start=\"272\" data-end=\"489\">During a recent pair program, a conversation stayed with me and led me into a moment of reflection. We spoke about how, in the parts of South Asia that we come from, family ties are described with remarkable detail.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"491\" data-end=\"886\">In our traditions, there isn\u2019t just a single word for \u201cuncle\u201d or \u201caunt.\u201d Instead, we have distinct names for each relationship\u2014whether a relative is on the mother\u2019s or father\u2019s side, and whether they are older or younger. A mother\u2019s sister has her own title, a father\u2019s sister another. Even brothers of our parents are named differently, and their roles in family life are not interchangeable.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"888\" data-end=\"1242\">These names are more than linguistic distinctions. They carry centuries of meaning, reflecting the roles each person plays in festivals, customs, and family responsibilities. A particular relative may have a ceremonial duty in weddings or a traditional place in celebrations. In this way, language becomes a vessel for tradition, honour, and belonging.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1244\" data-end=\"1458\">That conversation reminded me how deeply our identities are tied to the words we use for family. They are not just labels, but a recognition of the bonds and responsibilities that make up the fabric of community.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>During a recent pair program, a conversation stayed with me and led me into a moment of reflection. We spoke about how, in the parts of South Asia that we come from, family ties are described with remarkable detail. In our traditions, there isn\u2019t just a single word for \u201cuncle\u201d or \u201caunt.\u201d Instead, we have [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":115,"featured_media":776066,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-776064","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.servethecity.paris\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/776064","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.servethecity.paris\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.servethecity.paris\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.servethecity.paris\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/115"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.servethecity.paris\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=776064"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.servethecity.paris\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/776064\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":776068,"href":"https:\/\/www.servethecity.paris\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/776064\/revisions\/776068"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.servethecity.paris\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/776066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.servethecity.paris\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=776064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.servethecity.paris\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=776064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.servethecity.paris\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=776064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}