Joebundus moved here from Georgia, he is originally from Nigeria. He lived in the villages when he was a young boy, the “war” drove his family from the city. “Joe” spent many years as a young adult in Atlanta Georgia. He first moved to the United States when he was in his early twenties, now in his early sixties, he attempts to retain as much of his home culture as possible. I first met Joe when he started working at the detention center, he was assigned to the unit I supervise for the day, to be trained in the basics of the juvenile unit. I have indirectly supervised him during the last several years of his employment. Joe calls himself a “Black African” or simply “African.” Joe told me he was raised Catholic, but is not a Catholic. He will …show more content…
Joe speaks of his family in Nigeria and maintains contact with them. He will tell stories of his father and uncles and how his father is the head of the family. He will also speak of his son and his grandmother. Awareness of the kinship value Joe places on his life will assist in sharing the Gospel as the story of the family of God it told. Familial relationships are relevant in Joe’s culture. Kinship Family values the family for several generations, three or more, four at least in Joe’s family. The Kinship Family structure tends to live closer together and consider the other members of the family when making decisions. The opposite of this is the Nuclear Family, consisting of normally two generations. The parents often have moved away from their parents and the second generation, their children, are the extent of the family in day to day life. Family history is not as important to consider. The focus is generally more on the individual and the task at hand, how does this affect me is a common question, rather than how does this effect my family. A Nuclear Family is more common in cultures where individualism dominates. America has a mixture of the two, rural areas having more kinship sympathies and cities being more nuclear. I can easily identify with Joe; my mother was very kinship orientated as is the custom in the Application mountain areas of America. My step-dad being from a …show more content…
A formal governance is valued by Joe, this likely came from the unrest in his county caused by the war he experienced as a youth and his many years in America. He is fond of saying “there are rules, ways we do things and they are written down here in America.” He would speak of how his uncle brought shame to the family for certain business dealings he had. Joe’s father sent the uncle away because of this business, the uncle only returned after the death of Joe’s father. Joe gives you the idea he values the formal type of government over the informal method of his home culture. Joe, personally, has high uncertainty
In his 1943 work, “Sex Roles in the American Kinship System,” Talcott Parsons addresses his beliefs that the individual gendered roles in the nuclear family are essential to creating a functioning family dynamic. During this time period, the United States was in between wars and working to recover from the Great Depression. These significant events greatly shaped society not only at the time, but for future generations as well. It is almost impossible for a theorist of this time, such as Parsons, not to be influenced by such drastic social conditions and changes.
Traditions are crucial to identities in order to preserve family values. Those values shape who we are. Without heritage and traditions, we are at risk of losing sight of who we are, and eventually those tenets will perish. In “Everyday Use,” by Alice Walker, three women internalize heritage differently; Dee doesn’t value her heritage, Maggie values her family’s heritage, and, in the end of the story, Mama realized the true embodiment and the meaning of heritage.
The two ethnic groups that the writer decided to observe are Italians and African- Americans’ families. In African-American families, the mother sometimes plays the role of the father and thus functions as the head of the family. This was the case of the family the writer observed. In addition, older children sometimes function as parents or caretakers for younger children. The concept of role flexibility among African-American families can be extended to include the parental role assumed by grandfather, grandmother, aunts, and cousins (Boyd-Franklin, 1989).
After reading different articles and learning more about African American culture, it made me want to find out more about my own family culture. There are different traditions that are pasted down in generations, which could have been a part of African culture that we don’t realize such as parenting styles. I don’t remember hearing too many stories about my past relatives growing up, so I had to find out more on my family experiences in the south. Also, I wanted to see how spirituality played a roll in my family choices. My goal in this paper is to show how I got a better understanding of the reason my family could be structured the way it is now.
What are family values? One hundred years ago I feel this would have been an easier question to answer than it is today. Changing family structures and social norms have created a more fluid form of what we envision as a family. Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary defines a family as both “a group of persons with common ancestry” and as “a group of individuals living under one roof.” As we have discussed in class, a family is not simply nuclear anymore. In the stories we have read we have examined nuclear, single-parent, extended, and community-based families. All of which held the same feeling of importance and love for the people in it. With every family being unique, each holds their own set of beliefs or values which poses the question, what
The Study of Kinship *Works Cited Missing* When studying kinship, it is needless to say that just one type of society can justify for kinship patterns; rather, to be able to identify and understand the differences of kinship systems, one needs to do a cross-cultural comparison. I’ve decided to compare the system of the Trobriand Islanders of the South Pacific, to the very loose kinship arrangement of the Ju’wasi San of the Kalahari. These two societies have been chosen as they represent different levels of social, cultural, and technological complexities. The Ju’wasi were gatherers and hunters, living in small, mobile groups; the Trobrianders were horticulturists living in villages of up to 400 people. The Trobrianders (Malinowski: early 20th century and Powell: mid 20th century) live in some 80 villages whose populations range from 40 – 400.
It is often said that the toughest part of being a kid is fitting in. The United States is a diverse country with many cultures; consequently, it can be overwhelming for adolescents to feel accepted for who they are and where they come from. Amy Tan is an American writer with traditional Chinese parents. She focuses her writing on mother-daughter relationships. Specifically, Tan’s article, “Fish Cheeks,” published in Seventeen Magazine, describes her struggle as a 14-year-old girl in America trying to establish her identity and fit in. Tan is in love with the minister’s son, Robert. For Christmas, Tan prays for Robert and a slim new American nose. Tan’s parents invite the minister and his family over for Christmas Eve dinner. Under those circumstances, Tan is overwhelmed with fear of what Robert will think of her family’s shabby Chinese Christmas. Tan’s mother prepares a strange Chinese menu consisting of prawns, fish, tofu, and squid. Tan is ashamed of her family because she thinks they are loud and lack American manners. After dinner, Tan’s mother tells her to be proud of who she is and where she comes from. Nevertheless, it took many years for Tan to appreciate her mother’s lesson. For Christmas Eve that year, Tan’s mother made all of her favorite foods. Amy Tan writes this article using different literary devices suggesting that family plays a fundamental role in forming one’s identity.
Nothing is a better experience for a parent than watching their child grow into who they were taught to be. It turns out that 66% of parents intend to and do raise their children with the same life lessons, good or bad, that they were exposed to when they were young (Murray). Raising a family requires values, which evolve into ethics, and are crucial to a successful family. This shows that values are what keep the family in their desired lifestyle. Diversity of values in American families, through morals and tradition, is key to what makes this country so unique.
In 2009, American Broadcast Channel changed the way America viewed families with the premiere of the hit television show Modern Family. The show follows three families, Jay Pritchett’s and his two children, from his first marriage, Mitchell and Claire. Jay is married to a much younger woman, Gloria, who has a child from a previous marriage, named Manny. Mitchell lives with his partner Cameron and they have an adopted Vietnamese daughter, Lily. Claire’s family is the most like the traditional family. She is married to her husband Phil Dunphy and together they have three kids, Haley, Alex, and Luke (Modern Family). The show exposes the families’ struggles to get along and survive with such a different way of living. With that said, their family picture demonstrates very well all of the strong personalities and roles of each family member.
In order for society to meet the basic social needs of its members, social institutions, which are not buildings, or an organization or even people, but a system whose of social norms, mores and folkways that help make people feel important. Social institutions, according to our textbook, is defined as a fundamental component of this organization in which individuals, occupying defined statues, are “regulated by social norms, public opinion, law and religion” (Amato 2004, p.961). Social institutions are meant to meet people’s basic needs and enable the society to survive. Because social institutions prescribe socially accepted beliefs, values, attitudes and behaviors, they exert considerable social control over individuals.
Family has played an intricate role in the development of the society in which we live. The diversity in which families are formed is now becoming even more diverse with the American culture, which is changing at a rapid pace. Diverse cultures coupled with social economic challenges are key contributors to the dramatic change to the institution of family. With these challenges facing the institution of family, this closely tightknit unit which has been the cornerstone of American society has diminishing from a traditional standpoint. Non-kinship family networks like the one described in Karen V. Hansen’s “The Cranes, An Absorbent Safety Net,” goes against the norm of the common institution of family within America. Although the Crane family
What do you personally believe are the most important functions of family? Why or why not be specific. The most important functions I will say is social unit. This shows a person from a child to adult what it means to be part of society. There not just one specific function that makes a perfect family. There are many factors that help make a better family. According to www.hrsbstaff.ednet.ca_of_the_family.htm “ A functional family is one in which family members fulfill their agreed upon roles and responsibilities, treat each other with respect and affection, and meet each other needs. To better understand family functions Talcott Parson a sociologist stated “that the main functions of the family were, “ to ensure that new babies actually
“When someone has the good fortune of still belonging to a family, every possible effort should be made to bring that family together” (Tapper 3). This sentence describes that people are lucky when they are not alone, they have their family to support and cheer on every moment. Thus individuals should do everything to increase their family bond. Family tradition is one of the valuable things which connect all members in the family close together. Traditions are various and depend on a specific family. For my family, though all members are usually busy with our work, we still gather and enjoy doing our traditional celebrations in some occasions such as the lunar New Year holiday, Christmas Eve and birthday parties of each member in my family.
Family is the basis of life and is a basis for what a person learns as they grow into adulthood. Family Values are what your family teaches you. Family is similar to school in the fact that your family teaches you about the world and how every human interacts with others. Gender Roles are the hierarchical basis of a family; the father is the bread winner, mother makes sure dinner is on the table at eight p.m., and the children are straight A students and incredibly popular. I believe that gender roles are not influenced by family values; I believe gender roles are nothing but prejudices under a different name.
This assignment was quite interesting as I had a chance to sit down and actually talk with my parents about their specific views and attitudes on several topics. The values that I believe in play a very important role in my life. These important values have been greatly influences by my family. Our parents are the ones who first instilled values into us. As I grew up, where we loving our friends and life experiences helped us refine our own values.