The United States of Aunties: The culture powering the Harris campaign

by Shefali Luthra for The 19th

For Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign, it was “grandmother” — the label she frequently turned to when defining herself to voters, attempting to show them who she was apart from her work in politics.

For Kamala Harris, it might be “auntie.”

Harris’s presidential nomination has made history several times over. She is the second woman,  the first Black woman and the first South Asian woman ever nominated for president by a major party. Now, as she pushes to break the nation’s highest glass ceiling, women — and especially Black and South Asian women, who already lean Democratic — have mobilized, donating to her campaign in record-breaking numbers, including the $1.6 million raised by Win With Black Women only hours after Harris declared her candidacy.

For those who, like Harris, claim the label of “auntie” — a term rich with meaning, particularly in the South Asian and Black communities in which Harris grew up — the moment is particularly resonant. “Auntie” is an honorific with a flexible definition, a word that’s used to define not just blood relatives, but older women in the community who help shoulder caregiving responsibilities, in a role that’s a lot like that of a surrogate or extra parent.

Harris claims that identity proudly in her social media bios, calling herself “Wife, Momala, Auntie.” Friends and family have been known to use the “auntie” label in addressing her. References to aunties — including “Auntie Kamala” herself — pepper Harris’ 2019 memoir, “The Truths We Hold.”

“In cultures where it’s not just the nuclear family, but more an extended family or even neighborhood kinds of community relationships, aunts play a really important role,” said Patricia Sotiriin, a professor emerita at Michigan Technological University, who has written several books on the role of aunts in America. “In terms of the vice president, it’s a really interesting identity to claim. When you claim the role of auntie, it’s a very empowered role.”

An “auntie” has a role less defined than a mother, Sotirilin noted. An auntie can have a career, be childless, be the keeper of family lore — or none of the above. But critically, she said, “aunts are makers of community. They hold the bonds of community together.”

Now Harris, in claiming that identity, is energizing voters who do the same.