#i know her parents get like ... three mentions in the nart manga

[yinseal]

anyways time to talk about sakura’s xingese heritage and family while living in amestris and also how this ties in to her modern verse + her familial relationships, under the cut as always for length. art cred.

to sum up one of my earlier posts on sakura’s heritage, i personally headcanon that xing went through periods of political instability as a direct result of the heir deliberation         that rival clans competing to get their heir chosen as the next emperor could and did have adverse consequences on the population of xing. this would cause native xingese to leave the country for safer territory and,  knowing that there did at one point exist a trade route between amestris and xing,  many xingese would have escaped into amestris when the country was not yet closed off.  in amestris,  the xingese would form a close-knit community that offered protection and support for each other.

once amestris locked down and unleashed its full xenophobic and racist face,  many xingese and other minorities would have either fled the violence,  or settled deeper into society,  trying fervently to blend in.  once the trade route was destroyed,  the xingese in amestris likely had no other option but to hide their cultural identity,  maintaining links,  but otherwise spreading out to avoid detection from the amestrian dictatorship.

i headcanon that sakura’s paternal great-grandparents were one of the last xingese to come into amestris before the borders were locked down.  on both sides,  her family maintained links to their xingese culture,  but outwardly presented strong amestrian display.  

sakura’s parents met and married in amestris,  and outwardly presented a fiercely patriotic,  dogmatic stance in the amestrian military        prompted in large part by their residing in central,  which had the largest military presence and strongest anti-foreigner stance.  there had been discussion of moving elsewhere in amestris,  but their livelihood was tied in large part to the restaurant owned by them;  without guarantee of income,  success elsewhere seemed unlikely.  

many xingese born in amestris were given traditionally xingese names,  and more traditional  “amestrian”  names to blend in.  sakura’s parents were kizashi and mebuki haruno,  respectively;  they adapted the names  “hiram”  and  “margaret.”  this is keeping in with the jewish influence in the fma universe  (  hiram being a reference to the king of tyr and the ally of king david,  margaret  being of both greek and persian origin.  )   

notably,  kizashi and mebuki chose not to give sakura an amestrian name,  choosing instead to keep her xingese name entirely.  the elder harunos were notably terrified of the amestrian military and went out of their way not to provoke them,  so the naming was unusual;  nevertheless,  their daughter didn’t fit any whitewashed namesake,  and it felt like a small,  safe rebellion in an overly complicated and painful dictatorship.

sakura was raised in private xingese faith and cultural practice         she was fluent in xingese,  and lived as both a xingese woman and an amestrian.  she experienced a bit of a distance from her heritage as she grew older;  part of it out of natural caution towards the amestrian military,  but a part of it prompted too by the death of her mother.  mebuki was,  in many ways,  sakura’s foil and her twin flame;  both of them immensely stubborn,  both of them loyal and bound by their bonds,  both of them driven to succeed.  mebuki,  who had sacrificed so much of her own identity to stay safe and keep her family safe,  irked sakura as a child;  as an adult,  sakura could fully grasp just how much her family had suffered to live here,  and to give her a start.

living on her own in dublith,  sakura’s cultural ties to xing become reduced to small habits she never thinks about         brewing tea like her mother did,  her grandmother’s kimono kept safely in the attic,  swearing under her breath in xingese when she burned herself on the stove.  her heritage is placed on the backburner;  she did not,  strictly speaking,  look fully amestrian,  but she did not present as  “foreign,”  and her medical skills were such that anyone who might have asked questions chose to look the other way.  protected by both her own amestrian upbringing and her valuable skills,  sakura simply responds to anyone foolish enough to ask that she and her family were amestrian,  born and raised,  no other identity possible.

when the war in amestris ends and the xenophobic practices begin to fall away,  sakura finds herself for the first time free to celebrate her heritage and culture.  her father,  still cautious after so long,  never manages to discard his  “hiram”  identity,  but he delights in having grandchildren who learn their old language,  and xingese no longer being a dirty secret to hide.

sakura remains in touch with much of her family,  both maternal and paternal,  and writes to them on occasion,  but also forges new bonds as she opens her practice in dublith.  doctor marcoh becomes a surrogate father to her as they travel amestris;  discovering his betrayal is something that shocks and infuriates sakura worse than her own mother’s death.  sakura also becomes close with izumi and sig curtis,  who live just a few blocks down.  originally helping out as a doctor for izumi when her regular physician is off,  sakura becomes a surrogate daughter to the curtis’,  who gleefully accept her growing family as their own    (  including greed,  whom izumi never lets forget broke her hand.  )

ultimately,  sakura chooses to embrace both aspects of her identity         ethnically,  culturally,  and racially,  she is a xingese woman,  but she also firmly identifies as amestrian,  albeit an amestrian that  she  defines.

this translates over to modern verse,  where sakura is a japanese woman born and raised in america.  her father was first generation american,  and her mother was born in japan and moved to america;  sakura often navigates the divide of being a japanese-american,  and the frustrations that comes with.  although her family does not hide their japanese heritage,  sakura is encouraged to embrace american identity politics,  to give her an equal chance in a still prejudiced and racist society.  sakura is far more open and proud of her heritage,  but she does not like to be defined  solely  as a japanese woman:  like being a woman,  or a doctor,  or having green eyes,  these are  parts  of her,  but not the entire identity.