Posted by ANT1001 4:10 section (Aditi, Adiba, Fahim, and Marija)
We learned about nuclear families in this chapter. It is said that a person lives in at least two nuclear families during his or her lifetime. An American would be surprised to know that how many countries still live in extended family. I [Adiba??] remember living in an extended family when I was in India. Everyone member from the patrilineal side of the family lives in the same house and all the children in the house live as siblings, there are no cousins, its just a one big family. This type of living can be classified as an extended patrilocality.
Talking about the divorce rates in recent years, they have soared unbelievably. It is not only in Canada and the United States that these numbers have gone up, but, also in other nations which are becoming westernized. As a result of these divorces the number of single parents has gone up. There are still debates going on in the eastern world if this right or wrong. It is one of the favorite topics with that psychologists in the East discuss.
Another interesting topic that was discussed in this chapter was about descent and lineages or clans. I belong to a patrilocal culture and it was interesting to know from my fellow group members about the matrilocality descent lineage in their culture. The most interesting topic in the chapter was marriage. I could personally relate to this topic because it mentioned about the complicated marriage system that exists in India. Being a witness to endogamy and caste system, this section of the chapter made the most sense to me. Dowry and plural marriages have also been discussed in this chapter. Dowry has existed in the South Asian community since the civilization started. It still exits. Even though there are oppositions to it, but, still one can hear cases of suicide or murder due to dowry and bride wealth quiet often in India. The question that arises in relation to this chapter is, due to westernization of the world, many cultures are loosing their form of institution of marriage, kinship and parenting, is this the right way to go and what should North America adopt from other cultures in order to drop the soaring divorce rates?
Video on kinship and marriage-
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3590143710531876202&q=family+and+kinship&total=25&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=2
Funny Video of comedian Russell Peters speaking on relationship between immigrant parents and their kids-
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Nn5jlrxcpkI
Monday, October 22, 2007
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15 comments:
READING THIS CHAPTER HELPED ME FOCUS ON MY FAMILY MORE THAN USUAL, AND I APPRECIATE WHAT THEY HAVE TAUGHT ME, NOT THAT I TOOK IT FOR GRANTED BUT RATHER BECAUSE I LEARNED MORE
I care about my family more then anything else in my life. However, i was surprised when i first came here ; the idea of single parents and divorce were very misunderstood to me. Because in my culture, having children without getting married is not supported by our moral code and also divorce is not so popular over there as it is here. I think family relationship plays a very role in a persons life; it helps to build a persons personality and his/her way of viewing the world. However, I'm not saying single parenting or divorce is wrong, maybe our current society forced us to adopt this form of family.
After reading this chapter I realized how marriage and relationships vary between different cultures. What we in the US perceive as "normal" may be strange to those from tribes. I personally have experienced the common nuclear family of 2 parents and children, as well as divorce, and single parent household. I think that Americans are individualists, so when a relationship is not working for them they leave because it is not in their best interest to stay. I also found the idea of dowry interesting. I found it similar in modern weddings when the bride's family is suppose to pay for the wedding because the groom will have the burden of caring for her. Im not sure how so many vast views on marriage developed but why are they so strongly followed?
Family has always been my problem in life. I do not think that there is such a thing as a "perfect" family. In, my family most people find it easy just to leave in and out but to still believe that they can be connected. Personally it is difficult to connect with someone who is not there. Futhermore, sometimes it causes me, my siblings, or related cousins to feel abandoned. This chapter does not make it any easier for someone like me to understand because broken families change the point-of-views of people and currently my family is trying to rebuild itself but in a way it feels too late. Am I wrong for feeling this way?
I feel like family is a beginning to be a lost concept for most. People have become so adopted to the idea of divorce that it seems not many people are motivated to keep a marriage from breaking. i come from a divorced family myself so i understand the hardships a marriage can have. i think marriage could 9most of the time) be worked on to make progress. it takes alot of time and energy but you get what you put in. Any relationship that is long term is work. you have to be willing to give if you want something back. i think people forget that fact and try to run away in hopes of finding new when they could have something great that's already in front of them.
i believe that family does play an important role in ones life, especially the nuclear family. I also believe that family does not necessarily make you who you are and just the people you surround yourself with shape the person you are. As in the patrilocal or matrilocal families it changes the persona of the child for life and in western world the nuclear family and friends are what make you who you are. This is why i believe people are so different around the world.
i believe that people are designed from the people they surround themselves with. That is why patrilocal and matrilocal families and western nuclear families are so different. They are surrounded by different things all their lives and grew up with different circumstances.
I believe that every type of family is unique in its own way and helps shape up the child's inner person. I belong to what it's considered the "typical" family, which is the Nuclear family. I live with my father, mother, and my older sister. As a child I always thought that all families had the original mom, dad, or sibling, or no sibling. But as I got older and met other friends, I saw how different their families were. Some of my childhood friends didn't have a mom, a dad, or neither...they simply lived with their grandparents, aunts/uncles...or whoever it may be. By reading this chapter I learned more about how families can be shaped as, and how the traditional family doesn't include both sets of parents...as long as there's love, caring, responsibility, and a lot of attention...I consider that the "PERFECT" family.
P.S....I also do believe that same-sex marriages should be allowed and that homosexual individuals are capable of raising children and creating their own families.
I believe there can be an infinant different type of families. Theres so many things these days that can have an effect on a family. Things like raising a family with a parent in jail or living in a family with gay parents. All of these factors makes each and every family unique. Each and every family is different and I dont think people should be limited to cultural definitions of family.
I like nuclear family, i think this is the best way to create a family.I think divorce is really bad for children's child hood and influnce their personality . If in a family the dad always beat the mom, theirs boy grows up and has his own family , he will beat his wife. This is a truth and happen to my family. Eventhough i am a girl , i feel i am easy to in bad mood . Because my parents always fight with each other. And my ex-boyfriend, his father beat him a lot when he was young, so he is like to yell and like to in bad mood too. That is why we seperate. So if i have a family, i wish i could control myself don't beat my kids.
In my opinion there shouldn’t be one definition of what makes a family. Every family is definitely unique. I believe that family is important in helping you to discover yourself as a person but I strongly believe that you are in control of your own destiny. My family definitely consist of members of an extended family. Being that my parents divorced I have a step mom, step dad, a step sister as well as a step brother and three half sisters. Being that I come from not such a typical family and still is loved and appreciated by all members of my family, I definitely don’t believe there is a need to have one definition of a “perfect” family.
~*Ashley Wright*~
Having a family is something that most of us may take for granted. young adults sometimes want to move out from their parents home, but when they do, they may begin to realize how having a family around them is important. i know many people like that and i sometimes feel happy that i wasnt in a rush to get out of my parents home to quickly. (eventually ill move out but not too soon :P). every member of my family is very important, even my annoying brother. and just him being annoying, plays one of the parts of what a family is.
Nicole Rosario
These questions are quite difficult. Globalization and mass media has influenced many other cultures our industrialized capitalist life style which at times does not show the importance of family. I dont think peripheal nations should adopt single parenthood becuase that is going to furhter increase the families living beneaeth the poverty line. I dont think North America needs to adopt anything particularly from other nations. I think when the core needs something from the peripheal it will adopt it but I dont know what works there will work here
Russell Peters stand up act is really funny to me because I know what he is talking about from experience. When I was young my parent's way of punishing me was to beat me, but in a way that would hurt and not injure my body. Coming from a predominitally White neighboorhood, it was so strange because when they got punished they really did get sent to their room. I always wondered how that could be considered punishment when they have cable, a desktop, and a nintendo.
It is very interesting that we exploring this subject in class. When i first met my husband i was amazed by the difference of values that we have in regards to family. This chapter really help me to identify those differences. I grew up knowing all my extended family. celebrating holidays together, helping each other and passing traditions from one generation to another. In my entire family there is one couple that got divorced recently. My husband in the other hand doesn't even know his father or mother's cousins, and that looked very strange to me. But now that i am living in the U.S. i see how this nuclear family is taking a place in my own private circle of life.
Nina Dekel
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