Since their inception in the 1860s, family albums have played an important role as the promoters of familial ideology and treasures of familial memory. ‘Most family photograph albums in containing a great variety of items, both identified and unidentified, from different periods and of varying quality,’ held together by their collective identity with the family (Schoeman, 1996: 8). The function of familial photography is to ‘fix perception and memory, represent a method of preserving memories, document important moments and confirm social relationships and fact of belonging’ (Tobiassen, 1990). When photographs are stored in albums the process ‘resembles the writing of family history’ (Tobiassen, 1990), and are thus a resource constituting an important mnemonic aid in the construction of a family narrative, although Tobiassen omits any thought that the photograph album is probably the closest that most families will ever approach to narrativising and transmitting their individual and collective familial experiences for later generations. Early portrait photographers stressed the importance of the photograph as a moral stabilizer for families and the social fabric, "… family photographs sustained sentimental ties in a nation of migrants." (Alan Sekula, 1986) These sentimental ties, especially those produced by viewing photographs of deceased loved ones, enabled families to document their lives as they happened, and to remember those who had predeceased them, thus forming a seemingly cohesive "history" on which to build a nation. Therefore, family photographs can be considered cultural artifacts since they document the events that shape families' lives and so the recording of family history becomes an important endeavor. In many cases, photographs are the only biographical material people leave behind after they die (Boerdam, Martinius, 1980). However, the impact of family photo albums extends beyond merely recording history. Interpretation of family structures, relationships and self is possible through viewing family photographs.
Interpretation of meaning behind photographs assumes that they are a means of communication (Entin, 1979). Much like family storytelling, photographs indicate relationships within and among the family. The family photo album is indeed an easy way to initiate outsiders to family history (Boerdam, Martinius, 1980)...
... middle of paper ...
...separations and sibling rivalries needs to be studied. Historical documents, such as family photographs, can provide essential background information as well as indicate important people and relationships within a story.
References
Alan Sekula, "The Body and the Archive," 3-64, October, 39, Winter, 1986, p. 8.
Boerdam, Jaap and Warna Oosterbaan Martinius. (October, 1980). "Family Photographs - A Sociological Approach," The Netherlands Journal of Sociology, v16, n2, pp. 95-119.
Halle, David. (Summer, 1991). "Displaying the Dream: The Visual Presentation of Family and Self in the Modern American Household," Journal of Comparative Family Studies, 22: pp. 217-229.
Merz, Caroline. (August, 1988). "Smile, please," New Statesman & Society, v1, n10, p. 42.
Tobiassen, Anna Helene (1990) ‘Private Photographic Collections as an Ethnological Source.’ Ethnologia Europaea 20.1. 81-94.
Titus, Sandra L. (August, 1976). "Family Photographs and Transition to Parenthood," Journal of Marriage and the Family, 38: 525-530.
Trend, David. (February, 1992). "Look who's talking: Narratives of Family Representations," Afterimage, v19, n7, p.8.
Lasch-Quinn, Elisabeth. "Family." Encyclopedia of American Cultural and Intellectual History. Ed. Mary Kupiec Cayton and Peter W. Williams. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2001. Student Resources in Context. Web. 6 Mar. 2014.
Thru-out the centuries, regardless of race or age, there has been dilemmas that identify a family’s thru union. In “Hangzhou” (1925), author Lang Samantha Chang illustrates the story of a Japanese family whose mother is trapped in her believes. While Alice Walker in her story of “Everyday Use” (1944) presents the readers with an African American family whose dilemma is mainly rotating around Dee’s ego, the narrator’s daughter. Although differing ethnicity, both families commonly share the attachment of a legacy, a tradition and the adaptation to a new generation. In desperation of surviving as a united family there are changes that they must submit to.
Thomas Jefferson, a slave owner himself, originally wrote in the Declaration of Independence that all slaves should coexist with society, but he ended up revoking his opinions. Notes on the State of Virginia, written by Thomas Jefferson was a story that had conflicting ideas about African Americans and their role in society. During Jefferson’s time period, whites often regarded African Americans simply as slaves, or even a different species altogether. Slaves were regarded as culturally, physically, and mentally different from their white counterparts. Americans started to become dependent on their slaves, which made them want to keep their dominant relationship even more than before. Jefferson believed
The global climate changes have brought devastating geographical changes over the last century. With unfunded solutions and internal political conflicts driven by pure ignorance, our species has begun digging its own grave. Roy Scranton, author of “Learning how to Die in the Anthropocene”, has already begun contemplating the inevitable. By incaptivating his readers with his detailed description of his military past; he draws a parallel to the future he describes as inescapable. Using descriptive logic and overwhelming emotion, Scranton successfully convinces that in order to live in the new age us humans have forged, we must learn how to die.
Despite the similarities in the two texts presented by the authors and photographers, their work is presented in two various ways. Agee and Evans project was done after living with three tenant families and Evans photographs are completely separate from Agees text. There are not any captions or names and they do not tell us where the photos are taken or who the people in the pictures are. Lange and Taylor’s project on the other hand is written in a way that helps us read the photographs and it is easier to see the connections between the text and pictures. The captions underneath the photos are based on words formulated by the people in the picture. However, the photos that do not have any people in them still have captions, but in this case we can assume that someone has told the photographer or author what to write for each photo. By this method the true meaning of how the turmoil during this period affected the people in question is more precisely illustrated because it includes the words uttered by the people thems...
In the fifty years from 1776 until his death Jefferson did little to end slavery or dissociate himself from his role as the master Monticello. Notes on the State of Virginia Law as name by it self says is about the certain laws of Virginia during 1781-1784. During that time deep- rooted prejudices entertains by the whites (T. Jefferson). Thousand whites did not want slavery to be abolished and many other circumstances, would divide slaveries from whites, and produce convulsion. In Jefferson’s memory it looks like slavery are equal to the whites, but in reality much different. It looks like Jefferson had the theoretical interest about abolition. However, he thinks that once they free slaves, they can’t keep them no longer in America because slaves will hold grudges against whites and whites will have prejudice against blacks. “For if a slave can have a country in his world, it must be any other in preference to that in which he is born to live and labor for another” (T. Jefferson). In addition, When I read this primary source for me it looks like Jefferson worries about international breading. For example, he mentions on primary source that “when freed, he (slave) is to be removed beyond the reach of mixture… and might mix”. Throughout his life Jefferson expressed his fears of white society through contact with
Bidwell, Lee D. Millar, and Brenda J. Vander Mey. Sociology of the Family: Investigating Family Issues. MA: Allyn & Bacon, 2000.
The genogram provided me an opportunity review my relationships with my immediate and extended families. The theory I would use with my family would be Reality Therapy because of the cognitive distortion we possessed going up in the household. Despite the negative cultural influences my parents were exposed to growing up. Corey (2015) discussed how individuals are not the cause for a particular family dysfunction. The cumulative effect of parents cultural experiences prohibited them from trusting Caucasians. My father was born in lady Island South Carolina and my mother was from Haskell Oklahoma a raised on a Native American reservation. Both were abandoned by their maternal parents. Both of their mothers died at a very young age. However, their father’s relationships were sporadic. I never met my dad’s father (Joe) and I visited my mother’s father (Calvin) a few times before his death.
It’s not easy to build an ideal family. In the article “The American Family” by Stephanie Coontz, she argued that during this century families succeed more when they discuss problems openly, and when social institutions are flexible in meeting families’ needs. When women have more choices to make their own decisions. She also argued that to have an ideal family women can expect a lot from men especially when it comes to his involvement in the house. Raymond Carver, the author of “Where He Was: Memories of My Father”, argued how his upbringing and lack of social institutions prevented him from building an ideal family. He showed the readers that his mother hide all the problems instead of solving them. She also didn’t have any choice but to stay with his drunk father, who was barely involved in the house. Carvers’ memoir is relevant to Coontz argument about what is needed to have an ideal family.
I am a second-generation American with both my paternal and maternal sides of my family originating from the Philippines but immigrating to the United States at different times. Synthesizing information from Family Life Now, by Kelly J. Welsh, this paper will attempt to describe my family of origin and analyze how it has influenced my social and moral development to this day.
Sontag, Susan. "Essay | Photography Enhances Our Understanding of the World." BookRags. BookRags. Web. 15 Apr. 2014.
Kradin, Richard. "The Family Myth: Its Deconstruction And Replacement With A Balanced Humanized Narrative." Journal Of Analytical Psychology 54.2 (2009): 217-232. Academic Search Complete. Web. 26 Apr. 2014.
The issue of abortion is a very controversial one. There are many opinions about it that are largely discussed. People have many ideas about abortion that are possible based on their faith and morals. Most women who are pregnant and go in for abortions do not receive all the facts. Their doctors should inform them about the extremely serious side effects that can come from abortion. Abortions cause women physical and mental side effects that can cause them great pain, complications, and even death. What is abortion, though? Abortion is the deliberate termination of a human pregnancy, most often performed during the first 28 weeks of pregnancy. Abortion procedures change according to the stage of the pregnancy. There are four main procedures that women go through when having an abortion. One being, the early medical abortion, which is usually from 0 to 9 weeks; this method is also known as the abortion pill but this is not a very accurate description, as it does not involve simply taking a pill. The next step is, vacuum aspiration abortion, which takes place 5 to 15 weeks. Vacuum aspiration simply means suction. The next method is called early surgical dilatation and evacuation, which is between 15 to 19 weeks. After the woman has been given a light general anesthetic, the doctor gently stretches the passage through the cervix until it is wide enough for narrow forceps to be used to remove most of the contents of the uterus. Then a tube attached to a vacuum pump is used to remove any remaining tissue. The final step is, surgical two-stage abortion or medical induction, which happens between 20 to 24 weeks. During a medical induction, the fetal heart is stopped and then the doctor uses drugs to induce premature labor. A surgical two...
Human rights, specially those belonging to the first generation, as they are expressed in "The Universal Declaration of Human Rights" of December, 10th, 1948, are the end product of a long...
While on one hand there is a growing consensus that human rights are universal on the other exist critics who fiercely oppose the idea. Of the many questions posed by critics revolve around the world’s pluri-cultural and multipolarity nature and whether anything in such a situation can be really universal.