Tuesday, May 10, 2016

Kinship Interview

    1. For my kinship interview, I chose my mother as my subject. From the perspective of my interviewee, she gave me a lot of information about her. My mother was born in Encino, California in 1956. She comes from Welsh and french descent and grew up in a Caucasian middle class family in a suburban neighborhood. My mother was raised by her father and mother and she has two younger sisters and one older brother. Also. she was raised with no religion and grew up with an American culture. Since then, she has moved to Santa Clarita and has lived here for 28 years. Now she is retired from court reporting and has a very close relationship with her family.

   2. When I was conducting the interview, I felt very comfortable  throughout the whole interview. I did not experience any discomfort or awkwardness with the subject matter because we talk everyday and have a very close relationship. Because of this, it helped me to get all the information that I needed and both of us were comfortable. The fact that I was interviewing my mom made it so much easier than if I were to interview a total stranger. It would make it more difficult to interview a stranger because I would not be able to ask certain questions about his or her family. I think there would be many more awkward moments through the interview for the both of us. The fact that I would not have much knowledge about someone unrelated to me would make it extremely difficult to ask personal questions about themselves and their family.

   3.  When analyzing the kinship pattern of my family, I found some patterns dealing with family size,closeness, and socialization levels.There is more emphasis on the maternal lines because we are of patrilineal descent because my family comes from a western society. The attitudes toward older and younger individuals in my family remains the same because each age group is treated equally. Although the younger family members to look for advice and guidance in the older family members. I noticed that the size of my family is very small and seems to continue this way. My mother has two younger sisters and one older brother, of those siblings only one of her sisters has two children. Most parts of my family have two to three kids. My grandmother and grandfather only had one or two siblings. I saw a trend that most of my family's size is small and was passed on from generation to generation. I am not sure why this is but I think that it might be because of religion or just the fact that my family members do not want many kids or big families. My mother also has two daughters including myself. My mother is very close to her children and grandchildren but not very close to her nephews. My family and their kindred are very similar ethnically which creates no social impact on the family's relationship with one another. 

   4.  I learned a lot of information after interviewing my mother for this kinship blog. I do not know many relatives from my father's side of the family well. We only talk via the internet and have never really met each other. I know my mother's side of the family very well and we get together quite often and talk on the phone or via the internet. I do not socialize equally with them because I did not grow up around them as much as my mother's side of the family. My grandfather, my mom's dad, has the most influence on our family and makes most of the decisions for us. I think this because he has always been there for our family, especially my mom, and we all trust him in making the right decisions. My grandfather is the eldest and has more experience and wisdom. He is also very well educated and has raised all of us. Family members that are married into our family are treated somewhat differently in the sense that they are not well known yet. There is more harsh judgement towards this person married into our family. There are no different attitudes towards family members based on gender in my family. I believe that everyone is treated equally despite of their gender. I have learned how small my family is and how close my mother's side of the family is to each other. I have also learned what kinship is and how much I don't know about my family, for instance, I did not know that most of my family members either have no children or one to two kids. It was very interesting to learn more about my family during this kinship interview with my mother. 


8 comments:

  1. Hello Julianne, I thought it was nice that you got to learn more about your family from this exercise or assignment. Your description on your mother's familial background was very good and kept me interested, though I would have liked to know more of the gender roles within your family as well as the difference between the older and younger members of the family. Like are there any stereotypical roles within your mother's family while growing up or has it always been very equal and if so do you think whatever way she was raised has effected the way she raised you and siblings by influence of any certain beliefs or rules of life when she was growing up. Lastly, I thought your post was put together very well just maybe some more detail.
    Chloe

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  2. Good introduction to your mother.

    " It would make it more difficult to interview a stranger because I would not be able to ask certain questions about his or her family. "

    Do you know this from experience or is this a guess on your part? Careful about making these assumptions as you might be surprised to find out that this isn't usually the case. Many people find it uncomfortable talking about personal issues with family members because of their connection to the family and possible bias and the off-chance that information might leak out to other family members. In contrast, outsiders with the appropriate authority (doctors, lawyers, cultural anthropologists asking respectful questions and promising anonymity) can often be easier to open up to.

    "There is more emphasis on the maternal lines because we are of patrilineal descent because my family comes from a western society. "

    I don't think I understand. Why would your family emphasize matrilines if they practice patrilineal descent?

    Interesting discussion on the issue of small family size. It could have origins in religion but small family size is usually also associated with higher socioeconomic status and/or educational levels. Would either apply to your family?

    Good final discussion. The one person missing from your discussion is your father, who you only briefly refer to in the final paragraph. Wouldn't he be an key person (for good or for bad) in your mother's life? Was he excluded intentionally from the discussion or does this truly represent his role in her life?

    Otherwise, well done.

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    Replies
    1. That must have been a typo, I meant to say "There is more emphasis on the patrilineal lines.."

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    2. Okay. Thanks for the explanation.

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    3. Hi Julianne,
      I found it interesting how daughters tend to gravitate more towards their mother's side of the family than their father's. I am also closer to my mom's side of the family and I find it is because of the close bond she and I share. My mom shares the same bond with my grandmother(her mom). I can understand why it might be difficult to interview a stranger, but that very reason can be a benefit because there is no doubt or fear from the interviewww that his/her personal thoughts and feelings will be shared with anyone undesirable. Overall, I enjoyed reading your post and learning about your family.

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  3. Hello, I enjoyed reading your post because it showed the closeness you felt towards your mother. Did writing this make you wonder anything else about the relationships you have with your family? Do you think part of your grandfather's influence also comes from him being the eldest? I agree that talking to a stranger about family would be very awkward because, like you said, you don't know their background at all.

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  4. Hello Julianne,
    I noticed the pattern of the females in your family having a closeness to the mother's side of the family. This is also true in my family. My siblings and I have a closeness to my mother's side of the family also. I contribute this to our fathers side of the father living far away from us. I live in California, a brother in Texas and two (2) siblings residing Alabama.

    I found it interesting that your grandfather seemed to be the decision maker for the family. Do you believe that because of his age this would be the reason?

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  5. Hello Julianne,
    I noticed the pattern of the females in your family having a closeness to the mother's side of the family. This is also true in my family. My siblings and I have a closeness to my mother's side of the family also. I contribute this to our fathers side of the father living far away from us. I live in California, a brother in Texas and two (2) siblings residing Alabama.

    I found it interesting that your grandfather seemed to be the decision maker for the family. Do you believe that because of his age this would be the reason?

    ReplyDelete