Family Origin Ethnography

Family Origin Ethnography

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Family Origin Ethnography

Introduction

This ethnography explores the origin of my family from both my paternal and maternal sides. I have applied the use of direct interviews with some of the senior family members to seek clarification and information on the root of the family. I have also taken into consideration the use of open-ended questionnaires as well as observations to come up with precise information that pins the family history together without any gaps. Collectively incorporating the use of previous research and literature works on family ethnography, I managed to collect essential data on the different aspects of the family. Being a solid family, I have taken a close consideration of the paternal as well as maternal sides as a single unit. Well, I can say that my family is from a single ethnic background despite the fact that they moved from place to place in pursuit of better lives before finally settling in Chicago. In this paper, I emphasize my family characteristics through migration patterns, religious beliefs, child-rearing practices, and gender roles. Through the syndication of my ethnic influence, I have conducted a study of the impacts of these cultural values on the general family perspective in the social milieu.  

Migration Patterns

In considering my family history, I looked at the research on the families of both my mother and father. There were migration patterns from both two sides that led to the overall assessment of the family origin. My parents, Bent & Annabelle, migrated from Ghana to the United States in 1994. At the time, I was still a young boy who barely knew what was happening. They brought along three children, my two siblings, Annette & Victoria, alongside myself. The sole reason for the migration to the United States was to look for better ways to fend for the family. Initially, the family was made up of five individuals, but after settling down in Chicago, the family expanded with the birth of two other children, Mish and Joe, who were both born in 1997 and 2000, respectively.

Fitzgerald (2006) states that the liberation of the black Americans resulted in a shift in the movement from the southern areas of the country to the urban and northeast cities to look for jobs. The shift was so huge that it resulted in a mass reduction of the African American population in the South. The migration of the African American population to the urban areas in the search for employment opportunities increased the length of the working periods on a daily basis, resulting in a major disruption of the family structures as traditionally done (Wyverkens et al. 2015). Both my parents managed to get jobs to support the family. This meant that most of the time, we were left alone. During certain periods, my parents would go to work for about three months, missing from home. We got used to this as children, and we learnt how to always be there for each other in times of need in the absence of our parents at a very young age. According to Kawada & Kishida-Ellis (2019), the instability and disorganization of the African American families were brought about by the impacts of slavery in the 20th century. In the mid-20th century, there were increased immigration rates into the central areas by people searching for employment opportunities (Colin 2008). During this time, my family shifted from one place to another, moving from state to state. My family settled down and grew with the birth of my younger siblings. My mother always states that every decision they make as parents are for the family’s best interest, despite the challenges that the continuous migration brought along to us. In general, our socialization skills have always been low, and this is sometimes a challenge to us.

Gender Roles

Throughout my lifetime in the family, gender roles and responsibilities have never been an issue before. My parents both knew what each individual was supposed to do, given the circumstances. The fact that we did not have any extended family meant that each person played their role responsively, without question. When my parents were always around with us, my mother cooked meals and did the house chores through our assistance. My father did the compound work and always ensured that our house compound looked neat and tidy. My younger sisters were always with my mother, giving a helping hand in whatever she asked while learning from her what the females were always supposed to do in a family set up, given our African origin. On the other hand, being a male, I always assisted my father with his operations in the house, doing the manly jobs that were considered male-oriented according to the traditional values and cultural practices.

After our stay in the United States, we learnt that gender role were bisexual, and anyone could perform any duty, provided his or her helping hand was required in the house. According to Ashford et al. (2016), specific roles were gender-specific. Besides doing some of the tasks that were previously male-oriented, I also learnt how to cook and clean the house from my mom and my sisters. I have learnt to perform every domestic duty and will transform my knowledge to my house, ensuring that I assist my wife with her house chores. Since our entrance in Chicago, I have learnt to do every task without bias, and never have I ever felt as if I am performing duties that are extremely beyond the limits of my gender roles. This is because it has become a natural part of me to perform every task that is bestowed upon me within the household unit.

Child Rearing Practices

The research topic below seeks to assess diverse child-rearing practices people from my society are involved in. The methods I applied in gathering relevant information that applies to this case study include; Reviewing family documents and pictures, self-observations and conducting interviews on individuals in my society, particularly the elders. In addition to these, I took to reading research topics on child-rearing practices in other communities and books so as to broaden my knowledge on the relevant case study. Typically, we are blacks, with my ancestors originating from a small community in Ghana. My research speciality is child-rearing practices which refer to the specific method used by a certain community to raise up a child, I based my study on the pattern followed in raising up a child in my society. There are diverse child-rearing practices which include; Authoritative mode, permissive and authoritarian parenting style (Poulos 2018).

The authoritarian parenting style comprises strict parents who ring up their children under strict rules and regulations the kids have to adhere to. Utmost respect and obedience are expected from the children. Also, authoritarian parents tend to shy away from publicly showering their kids with warm gestures. Rather, they set rules which the child is expected to follow to the latter at most times. On the other hand, Authoritative parents give room for open discussion with their kids on the set rules/ guidelines (Zastrow et al., 2019). Also, they nurture and provide for their kids physical and emotional needs if need be. Lastly, permissive parents do not set expected rules and guidelines their children are expected to follow to the latter. Furthermore, they continuingly shower their kids with love, care and support.

As noted, most elders and parents in my society incorporated the authoritative and permissible parenting approach on their children, with a few of them employing the authoritarian approach on their kids so that they can grow up to be good, successful people in society (Skott-Myhre et al. 2012). My mother resorted to the authoritative parenting style path. She raised up her kids the only way a mother knows how to: by caring deeply for the child in question. Despite the fact that she cared too much for her kids, none of all this showed in how she treated her kids. Rules and guidelines were set beforehand, and anyone breaking these laws had to be punished for their mistakes so that they did not repeat their mistakes. However, my mother majorly incorporated the authoritative parenting style, thereby ensuring that even though she set down relevant rules and guidelines with the emotive of educating her kids, her children had room to challenge the set rules and guidelines. I also noticed that there were parents who tended to be absent in their kids’ lives by involving themselves in the children’s activities like attending school meetings. Watching the child’s favourite T.V show with the kid mostly employed the permissible child-rearing approach. In this case, most times, the kids went unpunished anytime they did wrong, which is in total contrast to the authoritative and authoritarian method of bringing a child where a child’s mistake was greatly frowned upon and at times the kid at fault punished for their mistake.

Religious Beliefs

Our family’s religious belief system is embedded in Christianity. My family believes that God is the creator, and we have every reason to trust in Him. Our denomination is guided by the Seventh-day Adventist doctrines in which the bible is accepted as our only creed and holds certain fundamental beliefs to be the teaching of the Holy Scriptures. Growing up, my mother would never let us miss a Sabbath without going to church. Saturday is believed to be the Sabbath day instituted by the creator for all people as a memorial of creation.  And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made (King James Version Bible, 2011, Genesis 2:3).

The Sabbath is a day of delightful communion with God and one another. It starts on Friday at sunset till the sunset on Saturday. The family at this time engage in activities that keep our hearts at a holy place. We are also forbidden to work during this time as it defies the purpose of the Sabbath. Pershits (2011) affirms that body health is highly advocated for in the Seventh-day Adventist denomination as our bodies are considered to be the temple of God. In regard to this, foods such as pork are barred from consumption. Friday evenings are known for devotion in preparation for the Sabbath. During this time, the family holds prayers and carries out a spiritual study of scripture, usually led by one member.

In order to have a solid background in the Seventh-day Adventist values, the family looks into it that every child attends learning institutions tied to the teachings of the denomination. These institutions are from the lower elementary level all the way to colleges. We believe that the Bible reveals the Seventh-day Adventist faith as the remnant church. The church waits for judgement day by preparing for the second coming of Christ. Winddance (2006) elaborates that the Adventists faith and beliefs provide that the church is what remains in the prophecies of the Bible. Individuals from every race, nationality, as well, as language are included in the fellowship. Each child in the household is grouped according to their age in the church because teachings are different based on age groups. Furthermore, the family ensures the children actively engage in events organized by the church.

My mom often warranted us to always believe in prayer. Members of the church would also hold prayer meetings during Wednesday and Friday evenings as well as random home visits. This made us grow believing in the power of prayer. Being in a Christian family has contributed much to my core values and beliefs as of now.

Conclusion

Conclusively, my single cultural background constitutes the individual I am. The specific characteristics and ethnic background provide me with an exclusive stance on how things actually are and the reasons why we usually act in the social setting. I have developed a sufficient perspective on the origin of the family, taking into account the actions of the minority groups in the western environment. Through this research, I have come to terms with some of the challenges that we have faced from time immemorial and the way in which the family has always responded to them. The different cultural values of my family from our area of residence have come with great challenges, and the family trend has always been to stand together no matter the circumstances. I have understood how and why the current social structure and environment affect us at the moment and the responses that are relevant in the process to make us culturally competent. Even so, this analysis is vital in the social assessment of an individual, family, or group of people in providing appropriate direction on the solutions to common problems that are faced by the society in a general perspective.

References

Ashford, J., LeCroy, C. W., & Williams, L. R. (2016). Empowerment series: Human behavior in the social environment: A multidimensional perspective. Cengage Learning.

Colin, J. P. (2008). Disentangling intra-kinship property rights in land: a contribution of economic ethnography to land economics in Africa. Journal of Institutional Economics, 4(2), 231-254.

Fitzgerald (2006). Towards a theoretical ethnography of migration. Qualitative Sociology, 29(1), 1-24.

Kawada, M., & Kishida-Ellis, T. (2019). The origin of ethnography in Japan: Yanagita Kunio and his times. Routledge.

Pershits, A. (2011). Early forms of family and marriage in the light of Soviet ethnography. In Soviet Ethnology and Anthropology Today (pp. 123-132). De Gruyter Mouton.

Poulos, C. N. (2018). Accidental ethnography: An inquiry into family secrecy. Routledge.

Skott-Myhre, K., Weima, K., & Gibbs, H. (2012). Writing the family: Women, auto-ethnography, and family work (Vol. 80). Springer Science & Business Media.

Winddance Twine, F. (2006). Visual ethnography and racial theory: Family photographs as archives of interracial intimacies. Ethnic and racial studies, 29(3), 487-511.

Wyverkens, E., Van Parys, H., & Buysse, A. (2015). Experiences of family relationships among donor-conceived families: A meta-ethnography. Qualitative Health Research, 25(9), 1223-1240.

Zastrow, C., Kirst-Ashman, K. K., & Hessenauer, S. L. (2019). Empowerment series: understanding human behavior and the social environment. Cengage Learning.