Search Our Essay Database

Essay Instructions: Review the Strategy Questions for Organizing Your Argument Essay in Chapter 4, and then write a 1000-word response to the primary question of Chapter Activity #4 at the end of Chapter 8: How do family traditions and cultural legacies contribute to and/or inhibit an individual’s self- identity?

Chapter Activity #4:
How do family traditions and cultural legacies contribute to and/or inhibit an individual's self-identity? What do you know about your family history? How in this history shared, and how is it valued among individual family members? Beyond its literal meaning, what are the broader implications of the cliche' "keeping the family name alive"? Or has this cliche' outlived its validity? A number of readings in this chapter address an aspect of family tradition/cultural heritage and individual identity and fulfillment- for example, Walker's "Everday Use, "Heaney's Digging," Rich's "Delta," Kelly's "The people in Me," Walker's "Lineage." Drawing on evidence from several readings and your own experience and observations, write a claim of value argument about an aspect of family heritage and individual identity.

THE PAPER NEEDS AN INTRODUCTORY PARAGRAPH THAT SETS UP WHAT YOU ARE WRITING ABOUT AND CREATES A FRAME FOR THE ESSAY.

Essay Instructions: **A little background information about me**
- African-American/Cherokee female
- Born on Sept 21, 1983
- Born in Landstuhl, Germany but raised in Chicago, IL and Hampton, VA

**If you need anything else, please let me know. I greatly appreciate your help with this:)


**The format of this paper should follow the format above-with you writing out the questions and answering them (complete with your examples) below the question.**

Defining Culture as a Part of Identity

1. How do you define your culture?

Please Note: in answering this question consider the following: Usually we think of defining our culture in terms of nationality or a country of origin. One may say, for instance, I am Polish, or Polish-American. Groups of people may also define themselves in light of ethnic or racial characteristics. A person’s sense of identity may also be rooted in a religious heritage or any other demographic aspect such as gender, sexual orientation, social class or in light of membership in an age cohort. Sometimes, an organizational structure such as being affiliated with the military or a particular type of community such as a rural community or a vacation spot can also serve as a way of defining our culture.

2. Are there particular values that are especially meaningful to your culture?

Please note: Examine how Hofstede has contrasted two types of cultural orientations: Individualistic cultures emphasize the independence and autonomy of an individual. In individualistic cultures a person is self-directed and pursues individual goals or strives to please oneself. Collectivistic cultures emphasize the harmony of the group and the pursuit of group goals over individual endeavors. This may mandate greater conformity and concerns about the security of the group as a whole. Provide examples for your answer.

Family Structure and Traditions

3. What are some (list a couple) of the customs or family traditions that you have learned as a member of your culture? Provide some examples.

4. How do the rules and traditions of your culture affect the way that family members relate to one another? For instance, do people in the family have certain roles or particular levels of status based on cultural traditions? Provide some examples.

5. How do factors such as religion or a cultural philosophy of life affect family communication? Provide some examples.

6. How does your family culture affect the formation of gender roles? Provide some examples.

Culture and Speech Communities-Significant Symbols and Communication Norms

7. Is a language other then English used in your household? If so-what language(s) are spoken?

8. What are some examples of nonverbal communication that you can trace to your culture? For instance attitudes of what is required, expected or desirable nonverbal expressiveness, or rules that govern nonverbal behavior.

9. How does your family trace its roots? Is there, for instance, a story about how members of your family came to the U.S. or are there important historical events that led your family’s decision to immigrate? Are there specific places such as an ancestral home or particular hometown that members of the family relate to in order to find a sense of rootedness?

10. How does your culture teach you to relate to people in other communities? For instance, are there rules or expectations about how to relate to people outside of your own community?

Work and Leisure,

11. What are some of the values and attitudes related to work in your culture? What kind of work is meaningful? How important is work or professional standing in the ways that members of your community develop a self-concept?

12. How important is leisure? What are important games or leisure time activities that people in your culture enjoy? Do these activities teach attitudes and values?

Living in a Post-Modern World

13. How much does your cultural community embrace technology?

14. How adaptive is your cultural community to social and cultural changes, especially in light of issues confronted by living in a fast-paced, transient world on the move?

15. Are members of your culture able to preserve a sense of distinctive cultural identity in a pluralistic (multi-cultural) environment?

Summary

16. Overall, what do you think you like best about your culture? How is this a source of cultural pride?

17. What is the most important thing you learned about how your own culture affects your self-concept and how you communicate?

Essay Instructions: I would like to request the writer Cwanga. This paper is a continuation of the first paper that Cwanga wrote. The order number of the first paper was A2058285.

This paper is in regards to African immigrants to America as they compare to Black Americans whose ancestors came from Africa.


In this chapter, provide a more in-depth description of the development of the family life of the group, both before (if applicable) and after immigration to the United States. Specific family traditions, family values, and family roles should be explored as well as any interesting relationships between age groups or genders. The dimensions of culture provided in your reading from Chapter 4 in the Diller text should be very helpful in guiding your approach to this chapter.
Here?s one example of how you might approach this aspect of your paper:

In Thai families, one family tradition is the celebration of the Thai New Year, which occurs in April?the hottest time of the year in this tropical country. In Thailand, everyone participates in a celebration that lasts three days and that involves throwing water at each other and plastering each other?s faces with baby powder (to help keep everyone cool) as well as preparing scented water and Jasmine flowers to pay respect to the elders and ask for their blessing. In America, this tradition cannot be celebrated in quite the same way as it is in Thailand?particularly since April is still quite cool in many states, but most Thai families here do celebrate the Thai New Year. Usually, they do this by having large ?potluck? picnics at local Buddhist Temples and enjoying Thai dancing, laughter, and conversation.

Families are valued in Thai culture, which is, according to Geert Hofstede (1980), a collectivist culture, which generally means that Thais place the needs of the group over the needs of the individual. In Thailand, extended families often live together in the same compound, and adult children often remain with their parents throughout their lifetime, with the adult child taking over the role of caregiver as his/her parents age (Tomizawa, 2004). In the Suppipat family, the second generation, most born in Thailand, still keeps to this custom and continues to value the extended family environment. As Thongchai Suppipat (2012), a second generation immigrant, explained: ?For us, parents must be honored because of the debt we owe to them for giving us life.? Thongchai was born in Thailand and immigrated to America with his parents when he was ten. He is forty years old now, and his three children, who were born and raised in America, share his love of family but also value independence and individualism. ?My children, they all left home by the time they finished college!? Thongchai (2012) lamented. ?I encouraged them to stay with me and their mom, but they all refused. They wanted to live on their own. Not like me. Not like Thai families. They are too American now!?
When writing your paper, remember to use APA format. A guide has been provided in the introduction to this course. When looking for books and articles, try to find materials written by authors who are members of the group you have targeted. Make sure to document all sources, including interviews, in APA format, in a bibliography at the end of your chapter.

Essay Instructions: Hi,
Since I am Chinese, so i prefer the life course interview story (fact) to be more like Chinese culture because the target somewhat a person have a relationship with the interviewer. Detailed guideline is provided below. If you have any questions, please email me or contact me asap :).

Instructions:

Task
To interview an older individual and conduct a sociological analysis of how the individual’s past family life and current attitudes toward family life were influenced by the historical time in which he or she grew up. For this project, you should make use of the Life Course Perspective from the course. This assignment may have more meaning to you if you interview an older family member, however, you may find it more interesting to choose to interview an unrelated older person.



Guidelines
The paper should be no longer than five pages, double-spaced, in length. References from the text and/or reader are sufficient.


Overview
The life-course perspective views personal experiences through the prism of history to better understand why one generation differs from another. The unique historical experiences of older people have made them who they are today. The forces of history include all encompassing cataclysmic events such as foreign wars (WWII) or economic crises (the Great Depression), as well as more particular occurrences such as the immigration experience and the social conditions that existed while growing up. Your assignment is to elicit stories from your subject that reflect on his or her earlier family life and how those experiences influenced attitudes toward family life today. While the subject will provide you with their memories and opinions, feel free to guide the discussion as well, remembering that not all historical events will be relevant. The conversation with your subject represents your data that will be organized, analyzed, and interpreted along the lines listed below.



Ethical Issues
The identity of your subject and the information he or she provides in the interview should be kept absolutely confidential--even if the person is a family member. Whatever transpires between you and those you interview should remain private from other family members and your peers. Please respect and protect the confidentiality of the people you interview. In your paper, please refer to your interviewees by a fictitious name or initials only.



Procedures
You do not need to tape your interview, but if you choose to do so, be sure you get the permission of the subject, keep the tape confidential, and erase/destroy the tape after completing this assignment. Suggested interview questions are provided below. You may do your interview over the telephone, but this is generally not preferred. Interviews will naturally vary in length depending on the subject, but it is expected that one hour will be more than sufficient.

The most provoking questions may be those that ask your subject to remember what family life was like when they were your age and how this differs from the present. You may want to introduce a topic that can provide a way for them to be specific in their responses, such as asking them about contemporary issues of gay marriage, single-parenting etc. and how their attitudes were shaped (positively or negatively) by their past experiences. Note that it is fine if your subject experienced family life primarily outside the U.S.

Analysis
Your written paper of the interviews should have the following sections:

Introduction: Discuss the general purpose and goals of the paper (<1 page)

Method: Introduce the subject, their background, relationship to you, how you approached them, how long you interviewed them, what you generally asked them (1 page)

Results: Identify themes that appear in the subject’s narrative that relate to their past family life. Discuss how their past experiences have influenced their current attitudes and behaviors related to family life. Use quotes where appropriate. (2-3 pages)

Conclusion: Conclude what you learned from this interview of an older adult in terms of gaining a historical understanding of families (<1 page)

You will need to carefully organize your paper and express your ideas succinctly. You should cite materials from the text or reader.



P.S
Life Course Interview and Suggested Topics and Questions



Background

· Gender, ethnicity, current age

· Past and current marital status

· Number of children

· Where did you grow up?

Childhood

· Who raised you? What kind of childhood did you have?

· Did you live with grandparents or other extended family members when you were growing up? If so, why?

· What did you think you might be when you grew up? How was this related to what your family wanted you to be?

Adulthood

· At what age did you get married? Did you feel this was the right age to get married?

· Did you/your spouse work outside the home after you were married?

· Did you ever have a hard time making it financially? What did you do to get by during

those times?

· Did you ever get divorced? (If yes, did you remarry),

· If you could do it over again, would you have done things differently about marriage and children?

Currently

· Are there any family traditions or ways of doing things that you try to make sure your children and/or grandchildren know about?

· Overall, what would you say were the hardest times in your life? How was your family involved?

· Overall, what would you say were the best times in your life? How was your family involved?

· What do you think younger people should know about the time when you grew up?

· What do you think are the main challenges facing families today?

· How do these challenges differ from when you were growing up and having a family?

· Is there anything else you’d like to share?