Ethnographic Narrative - Essay Example

? Ethnographic Narrative ETHNOGRAPHIC NARRATIVE In 1990, my minister father along with his wife and six children emigrated from Malawi. As one of their children, I have lived with them in the suburbs of Indiana into my forties, as I am unemployed. My family will be my ethnographic project for African Americans, especially my mother as an unemployed African American woman. My parents struggled to adapt to the US as traditional parents, especially having to raise one American born and six African born children, including myself. Enculturation, education and religion in both the United States and Malawi, are issues that create stress and concern among the immigrated parents, as well as their children. He decor in the house was of a Victorian nature with a cherry coffee table, pink floral couches, a dining set, a rug, lace doilies and silk floral arrangement that matched the sofa. I was concerned about this when growing up, and especially in my adulthood, as I expected a hint of culture reflected in their home decor. However, the house always had traditional food, as well as products, mostly from Central Africa. Tea was made in an African manner, meaning that it had a lot of milk and tea leaves. This was indicative of the manner in which most African American immigrants try to blend in with the society but still maintain their traditions (Greenhow, 2010). My mother is very open about the major differences concerned in raising her children in both the United States and Malawi. One of the biggest differences that she experienced had to do with her pregnancy period (Greenhow, 2010). In Malawi, her family and friends would gather and enjoy their time together, but there were no formal parties of this sort in the United States. The baby items that she received for her United States born child included clothes, bottle warmers, diaper bags, carrying packs, and strollers. She never utilized the stroller since back in Africa; she carried her children on her back, not pushing them from one place using a cart as she referred to the stroller. She had the opinion that, unlike back home where concern was more on caring for pregnancy and the mother, in the U.S., more time and money were allocated to acquire items, which were needed by the baby. With her first six children, I included, she felt that the surrounding culture in Africa benefited them more, with a native language, Christian values found in school, church and the community. Back, in Africa, not only were we able to make friends rapidly, but parents befriended the other parents and sometimes, they were considered as part of the family (Greenhow, 2010). Here in the United States, my youngest sister, Kate, has gone through a starkly different experience. Before Kindergarten, she only spoke Swahili in the house, watched minimal TV and asked for little. She made her best friends in the church, especially the few that spoke Swahili as she was encouraged by her parents. They had few worries regarding Kate’s interaction with the children that came to our Holiness church. She always emphasized the rest of her children’s strength in their grounding back in Malawi, as well as our strength in numbers. However, as she enters fourth grade, my mother has begun to worry more about her. Being raised almost as an only child because of the new environment she was born in, my mother feels that she possesses a more American outlook towards life. Kate also finds difficultly when socializing compared to us since my parents worry about her safety, when she goes visiting at a friend’s house or playing outside. A good example of a difference between American parents and African parents is their lack of concern for making friends with the parents of their children’s playmates. Kate is also increasingly influenced by fashion trends, unlike us who wear African apparel most of the time. The strength of growing up together is what creates a strong bond between African Americans and their culture (Greenhow, 2010). Therefore, most traditional parents will work hard to provide their young children with a sense of their culture. Education is also another increasingly influential factor in African American families, especially in the suburbs (Greenhow, 2010). My mother felt that the impact of increased distractions and a lack of cultural and community reinforcement had a significant effect on the education process of her older children. Most African American families have one breadwinner in the family and, as such, the impact of college education on their finances is significant (Greenhow, 2010). Her second eldest daughter never moved on to college, and her second born son never moved on past high school. Back home, her nephews never had to work immediately after high school to raise money to be used as their college fees. The financial burden they have had to shoulder with their two younger sons going to college would not have been as severe back home. However, she is hopeful that they will have the ability to aid Kate in college financially just as they have with her. A possibility exist that, in Malawi, all of them would have moved on to college after completing high school since education is viewed as a privilege in Malawi rather than as an entitlement. Kindergarten had much smaller classes in Malawi with an overpowering sense of the community in the classroom setting. The transition to speaking English and loosing that communal sense proved too difficult for us to continue school. There is an increased sense of loss of communal sense, especially in the church. Increasingly disillusioned by the direction of the neighboring churches my family moved to a holistic church on the other side of town, after my father took up a pastor position there. Africans introduce religion to their children at a relatively early age, and we were no different (Greenhow, 2010). Again, the sense of the community and ability to share a religion in one gathering place comes from having a similar background. Continuing to have the family rooted in religion and the holistic church as their children are born, provides a great foundation for them to pass their religious beliefs onto their children. It is also the parent’s greatest opportunity to provide her children with a sense of the community, as well as the African culture outside the home. African families also prefer their children to find spouses within the church, and two of her daughters are married to African American women whom they met at church. This increases the sense of togetherness in the community, as well as creating bonds between African families in the United States. However, my eldest brother married a Caucasian woman whom my mother says she does not feel any connection to her. She feels closer to her daughters and her sons-in-law instead, and this was reinforced during the birth of her three grandchildren. This experience reminded her of her relationship with her sisters, mother-in-law and mother back in Malawi. She understands that in American culture, unlike in African culture, the mother-in-law is not always involved in these matters. She hoped that she could have a greater role in their lives, as her mother back in Africa had done with hers as she had begun to grow her own family. However, as time goes by, her son has drifted further and further away from African family events and traditions as he is integrated into American culture. This was especially evident as he began to skip Christmas dinner to go on holiday with his wife. With this shift, more Africans are less likely to pass on African values to their children (Greenhow, 2010). My mother’s experiences are very similar to the experiences and challenges that I faced in my interaction with fellow African American friends of mine, both in the present and the past. Additional research can be carried out regarding the passing on of culture to the succeeding generations within immigrant families of the first generation. Religion, community, education and family are all factors that play a huge role in African culture, as well as African American culture. These factors have played a huge role in the evolution of family life in the United States for my family. Both my parents and siblings have had to struggle in order to keep their African culture while acknowledging its evolution. References Greenhow, Teria. (2010). An Ethnographic Study of African-American Women. 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