Essay on African American Culture Works Cited Missing African American culture is defined as the learned, shared and transmitted values, beliefs, norms, and life ways carried by this group of people, which guides their decisions, thinking, and actions in patterned ways. The individual in society is bound by rules of their culture. Culture of people are different in that the same events that maybe fear- inducing in one culture, maybe anger-inducing in another culture (Leininger's, 1991). The theoretical framework that I used for this paper is Leininger's Sunrise Model. It describes the factors that have to be assessed in order to provide competent trans cultural care for a culture. These include educational factors, economic factors, political and legal factors, cultural values and life ways, kinship and social factors, religious and philosophical factors, technological factors, generic or folk systems within a cultural care worldview (Leininger's, 1991). There is tremendous diversity among African Americans. They live in all areas of the United States and come from all socioeconomic levels. Approximately ninety percent of African Americans have some Caucasian ancestry and at least twenty-five have Native American ancestry. They are more present time oriented group of people. However, there may be strong future oriented behaviors as well. These include saving for college education for children, purchasing insurance policies to cover funeral and burial cost, etc. Elders may place a great deal of values on past experiences, which are frequently shared with younger individuals. The dominant language among African American is English. Speech may be accompanied by animated non-verbal gestures such as a hand movemen... ... middle of paper ... ...at prevented them to keep their appointments, make lifestyle changes, and take medications as prescribed. Positive influences were the support of close family members and also the presence of caring health care providers (Rose et al., 2000). The review of literature corresponds to the African Americans risk of getting hypertension. It showed that African American are at a higher risk for hypertension because many of them are unwilling to seek medical care and even when they do they do not take their medications as prescribed. Hypertension will continue to be a major cause of death all for Americans especially African Americans. Limitations in care for the under-served will continue to be a growing problem. Solutions must be made to provide the delivery of high quality, lower cost and especially effective primary care to the underserved populations.
Speech is a very influenced africanism in America. A word commonly used today by all races in America is the word “okay”, a Mande and Wolf term that means “that’s it” (Holloway 57). Ebonics is often tied back to african roots of west african language. Both lack the sounds and final consonant clusters (e.g. past), and that replacing or simplifying these occurs both in US Ebonics and in West African English varieties spoken in Nigeria and Ghana. Moreover, they argue that the distinction made between completed actions ("He done walked") and habitual actions ("We be walkin") in the Ebonics tense-aspect system reflects their prevalence in West African language systems and that this applies to other aspects of Ebonics sentence structure.
African-American is a politically correct term used to refer to blacks within the United States. The roots of many African-American rites can be traced back to African cultural rites. However, it is important to note that not all blacks in America identify with African cultural roots. Therefore, some of the rites found within what many in the United States call African-American culture stem from Caribbean and other cultural traditions. For this reason, when making end of life decisions or funeral arrangements the “cultural identification, spirituality and the social class” the individual identifies with must be taken into account. The black majority within the United States identifies with Afrocentric traditions and perspectives. For this reason the term African-American will be used within this paper to denote the black population found in America as comparisons are made regarding how end of life decisions are viewed and made by African-American culture verses the traditional western European beliefs of American culture (Barrett, 2002).
Heart disease is of utmost and imperative concern in the United States. It stands at the top of the list for causes of death in the U.S., and it can be absolutely devastating (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2013). In part one of the health disparities paper, disparity in relation to heart disease was pointed out in those of low socioeconomic status and/or minorities. Part two of this paper has been streamlined towards a more specific minority: African Americans women. The reason for focusing on the African American women population is that there is a huge amount of disparity seen specifically in this group. As of 2009, African Americans as a whole had 30% more of a chance of dying from cardiovascular disease than Caucasians (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Office of Minority Health [OMH], 2012). The rate of Cardiovascular Disease in African American women specifically is higher at 48.9% than the rate of CVD in African American men at 44.4%, showing even greater disparity in African American women (American Heart Association, 2013). The goal of this paper is to identify and appraise two different articles surrounding this topic. Both articles involve an intervention in which similar community prevention programs were implemented in hopes to reduce the risk of CVD in African American women.
Being African American means more than just having descendants from Africa or having distinct physical features. It is about a culture that has been resilient for hundreds of years in a country that devalued its people. The best word to describe African American or Black Culture is resourceful. There are aspects of this culture, such as the folk music and food that came about because slave used what they had available to them and made the best out of it. Now, it has grown to a culture that is not only valued by its people, but also is used by others that do not associate with being African American or
The African idea of the High God per Hopfe states that “there is a supreme High God who created the world and then withdrew from active participation.” (Hopfe, page 51, 20007), as well as that “there is a common belief that beyond all of the minor gods, goodness, spirits, and ancestors there is only one God who created and in some sense still governs the world.” African religions are generally considered polytheistic. In addition, it is also believed that this High God resides in a distant place and only returns when in time of need. Meanwhile the High God is so distant Hopfe states that the High Good is “too great to pay attention to prayers and petitions of human beings.” (Hopfe, pg. 53, 2007), therefore they rather pray to lesser spirits and ancestors.
"Hispanics have more deaths from diabetes and chronic liver disease than whites, and similar numbers of deaths from kidney disease" (CDC, 2015). Even though the percentage of Hispanics suffering from high blood pressure is 17% in comparison to 20% of whites. Hispanics are 68% who suffer from poorly controlled high blood pressure compared to whites which are 54%. Health risks may vary among Hispanic subgroups and whether they are US born or not. Lower death rate is suffered by the Hispanic than whites.
African Americans face a multidimensional health care crisis that affects the young or old, rich or poor. Too many African Americans are uninsured or underinsured. The elderly cannot afford long-term health care leaving the family to care for them. Health care cost is constantly rising and are out of control, reform is the only way out.
It seems quite safe to assume that all human beings desire peace. What is not always very clear is what each person means by peace and how it can be attained and maintained. Religion and peace in an African culture have been almost natural companions in the minds of humans in different periods of history and in different cultures of the world. This is because, although far too many adherents and leaders of the different religions in the world have disrupted the peace in the society by promoting violence and wars, the vast majority of believers still hold that true religion is a source and guarantor of individual and societal peace. The positive side of holding peace together is the knowledge and values that are giving to a person in order to carry on tradition of your principals, especially your culture. Many Africans practices these very simple tasks today. They are taught to be kind, respectful, loving and many more positive attitudes that most Americans should abide by.
Despite the restrictions imposed by slavery, African Americans have made significant contributions to American culture in music, literature, and cuisine.
The aspect of African-American Studies is key to the lives of African-Americans and those involved with the welfare of the race. African-American Studies is the systematic and critical study of the multidimensional aspects of Black thought and practice in their current and historical unfolding (Karenga, 21). African-American Studies exposes students to the experiences of African-American people and others of African descent. It allows the promotion and sharing of the African-American culture. However, the concept of African-American Studies, like many other studies that focus on a specific group, gender, and/or creed, poses problems. Therefore, African-American Studies must overcome the obstacles in order to improve the state of being for African-Americans.
Everyone is raised within a culture with a set of customs and morals handed down by those generations before them. Most individual’s view and experience identity in different ways. During history, different ethnic groups have struggled with finding their place within society. In the mid-nineteen hundreds, African Americans faced a great deal of political and social discrimination based on the tone of their skin. After the Civil Rights Movement, many African Americans no longer wanted to be identified by their African American lifestyle, so they began to practice African culture by taking on African hairdos, African-influenced clothing, and adopting African names. By turning away from their roots, many African Americans embraced a culture that was not inherited, thus putting behind the unique and significant characteristics of their own inherited culture. Therefore, in an African American society, a search for self identity is a pervasive theme.
Transcultural nursing requires us to care for our patients by providing culturally sensitive care to a broad spectrum of patients. The purpose of this post is to describe cultural baggage, ethnocentrism, cultural imposition, prejudice, discrimination, and cultural congruence. I will also give an example of each term to help you understand the terminology related to nursing care. I will define cultural self-assessment and explain why it is valuable for nurses to understand what their own self-assessment means. Finally, I will describe the five steps to delivering culturally congruent nursing care and how I have applied these concepts to my nursing practice.
Vicki is a 42-year-old African American woman who was diagnosed with Hypertension a month ago. She has been married to her high school sweetheart for the past 20 years. She is self-employed and runs a successful insurance agency. Her work requires frequent travel and Vicki often has to eat at fast food restaurants for most of her meals. A poor diet that is high in salt and fat and low in nutrients for the body and stress from her job are contributing factors of Vicki’s diagnosis of hypertension. This paper will discuss the diagnostic testing, Complementary and Alternative Medicine treatments, the prognosis for hypertension, appropriate treatment for Vicki, patient education, and potential barriers to therapy that Vicki may experience.
Diabetes has become an epidemic that has become rampant within all ethnic groups. However, African Americans are more susceptible to the chronic illness and its ill affects especially males. Approximately, 4.9 million African Americans are currently battling the chronic illness that can be easily maintained and or prevented with the help of educating the importance of nutrition and exercise (Chow, Foster, Gonzales, & McIver, 2012). Currently, with the rising epidemic of diabetes the cost of medical bills has risen substantially. Research has suggested that medical bills that relate to diabetes have cost insurance companies approximately $245 billion dollars, while the direct hit to the consumer is approximately $76 billion dollars (The cost
The Africana experience refers to the difficulties African American people have encountered throughout history. Racism is displayed through stereotypes, representational systems, music, politics, and several other ways, all shaping African American people. Racism began to rise in the early 1900’s and continues to affect African Americans in society today. Through popular music and popular entertainment, African Americans have continuously been misrepresented and segregated against in America. Although there are many changes in the way African Americans are represented, racism may still be present.