Two of the Major Subcultures in Maine - Research Paper Example

?C. Concept Map: Yankees in Maine C. Concept Map: Maine Acadians D. Introduction This essay reviews and discusses two of the major subcultures in Maine, namely, the Yankees and Acadians. It investigates the core features of each subculture’s (1) arts and entertainment, (2) religious beliefs, and (3) family life. First, art and entertainment pertains to the artistic or visual aspects of the culture of a particular ethnic group. The Yankees and Maine Acadians exhibit stark similarity in this concept: both are passionate lovers of music. Second, religious beliefs embody a mental state that may involve the features, existence, and worship of a divine being, or practices and ideals focused on the teachings of a religious head. In terms of religious beliefs, the Yankees and Maine Acadians are mostly distinct. Third, family life involves several aspects of human development and belonging and living in a family. Both the Yankees and Maine Acadians highly value the family. This essay will also examine the similarities and differences between the two subcultures in terms of the three aforesaid cultural concepts. A significant selection of literature on the three cultural concepts is available hence they are selected. E. Results Section This section provides a general overview of the Yankees’ and Acadians’ arts and entertainment, religious beliefs, and family life. Yankees The Yankee musicians justify their musical interest on account of redemptive culture: the belief that the culture of music could revive the American soul (Moore, 1985). Yankees viewed themselves leaders of a revolutionary campaign distinctly American and, hence, collective. By openly experiencing the harmonious values of redemptive culture, people could make sense of the meaning of Yankees’ uniqueness as Americans (Moore, 1985). The Yankee musician, similar to romantics, perceived themselves to be ‘unacknowledged legislators’ (Fox, 1940, 57). However, they value culture through art and not art solely. Music preserved and was strengthened by the tradition of the Yankees, on the one hand, and by the visionary prospect, on the other (St. Andrews Review, 1974). Although the musician, as artist, embodies creative will, his/her will is conditional, accountable to a perfect past and a perfect future (Fox, 1940). The Yankee him/herself normally explains the visionary future, tradition, and music, in relation to each other. In terms of religious beliefs, Yankees in Maine are Puritans, among other things. They believed in deliverance or redemption, that the destiny of human souls was predestined by God (Wyatt-Brown, 1990). This means that God had preprogrammed as to the people who would be saved and who would not from the very beginning. Salvation was a private issue between the Saints and God. Saints were the saved (Wyatt-Brown, 1990). Yankees have faith in God and value the reading of the Bible because they believe that the task is the way to God. To become a Saint and be saved they perform a Covenant of Grace, a bond that pleads for salvation and forgiveness of sins (Library of Congress, n.d.). They believe that they have to follow by the example of God and virtually dedicate their live to Him. Religious beliefs of the Yankees are full of ironies. They oppose each other in order to form Utopia or an ideal World, a world that did not permit mutiny (Fox, 1940). The beliefs and purposes of Yankees generated an anxiety full of ironical issue. Humans should not commit sins, but they would sin nevertheless. Humans are obliged to forgive, but wickedness and temptations was omnipresent. Humans are pursuers of salvation, but are defenseless against vice (Wyatt-Brown, 1990). In relation to their religious beliefs, the Yankees believe that the family is very valuable. The Scriptures strongly claim that sex and marriage are gifts given by God (Moore, 1985). The Yankees believe that sex and marriage are co-existent for pleasure and reproduction. The Yankees also undervalue celibacy, view married sex as pure and important, value family life, support the principle of married love, and revered the wife’s responsibility (Moore, 1985). The Yankees exercised the biblical dogma of guidance for the father and the husband. Specifically, the father and the husband is the responsible guide for what happens in the family and is the breadwinner and guardian of his children and wife (Wyatt-Brown, 1990). The husband is accountable for the biblical guidance and religious development of the children and the wife. The Yankees valued the family as the society’s basic unit and aspired to transform their family into a little church with the husband as its minister and his children and wife as supporters (Fox, 1940). Yankee ministers believed strongly that the family is the heart of a godly community (Fox, 1940). Maine Acadians Folk songs in the French language remain as a living oral tradition for Maine Acadians (History, n.d.). They have poems from spoken tradition that often honor a disastrous episode, usually sung to the tune of religious chants. Many Maine Acadians stressed the evolution to more personally focused entertainment, like recorded music and television, in the contemporary period in comparison to past community music and dance occasions (United States National Park Service, 1994). Maine Acadians are Roman Catholics. Their ties to the Roman Church survived even during the challenging periods of resettlement in the 18th century, when religious services were conducted only during infrequent visits by Quebec’s missionaries (Brunvard, 1998). Without a priest, it is traditional for townspeople and villagers to attend church services for Sunday sacraments headed by a community elder (Seymour & Curtis, 2008). Even though conforming rigidly to the practices of the Roman Catholic Church, Acadians usually had a stubborn belief in black magic, relating sorcerers to the devil (Seymour & Curtis, 2008). Although cultural visitors and observers usually erroneously perceive Maine people as a homogenous racial group, Acadians in Maine acknowledge important distinctions among themselves (National Trust for Historic Preservation in the United States, 1992). They ascribe the differences to diversities in their family of origin (History, n.d.). Hence, Maine Acadians strongly value the importance of the family. As confirmed by the following meeting, recounted during a convention of the Maine Acadian Culture Preservation Commission, the site in Maine where one grew up is almost as vital in making sense of that person as recognizing his/her family ancestry (Seymour & Curtis, 2008): Well, I sat with [a man I’ve known since 1956 or ‘57], probably a day or two before Christmas, and I found a brand-new side to him. He made me aware that he was born in Daigle, Maine… a little community on the outside of Fort Kent. I always assumed [he] was from Fort Kent, but he’s not from Fort Kent, he’s from Daigle… And his mother was a Daigle and father was a Pelletier; so he was everything there was there (ibid, p. 82). This particular passage only shows the importance of that Maine Acadians place on family lineage. F. Discussion and Conclusions There are cultural similarities and differences between Yankees and Acadians in Maine. The two subcultures are both fervent believers of God, although different in their ways of expressing spiritual inclination. Their religious beliefs are always part of everything they do. They both try to involve their spiritual faiths in their private and public life. They both believe in the existence of good and evil. Another similarity is their love for music. Traditionally, both Yankees and Acadians in Maine express their happiness, sadness, fear, and other sentiments through music. They also preserve their most treasured culture and traditions through music. On the other hand, there are also differences between the two subcultures. The Yankees particularly place the father and the husband at the top of the family whereas Maine Acadians do not adhere specifically to this tradition. According to Nostrand and Estraville (2002), earlier studies show that two aspects of parenting, especially for fathers, support and control, are specifically relevant in the study of Yankees’ family life. For the Yankees the father and the husband is the foundation of the family; for the Maine Acadians the family is the core of everything. As stated by Jobb (2005), Acadians are more family-oriented than hierarchy-focused. The members of the family, for the Acadians, hold equal authority and power. Second difference is the extent of their religious belief. Although both subcultures believe in God, they apparently differ in how they express this belief. The Yankees have more rigid and specific religious guidelines whereas the Maine Acadians are casual church goers. According to Wyatt-Brown (1990), Yankees have three domains of worship: (1) in private, (2) in the family, and (3) in the local church. Of these three domains, worship in the local church is the most vital. On the other hand, according to Seymour and Curtis (2008), Maine Acadians are normally church goers who seem to follow traditional patterns in the sense that they are more likely to be elderly or middle aged, and women. In contrast, the Yankees are strict church goers, regardless of gender and age. Third difference is the level of involvement of religious beliefs in their everyday task. Those of the Yankees are quite ‘interfering’ that even the most personal aspects of human life, such as sex and marriage, are spiritually sanctioned. As claimed by Nostrand and Estaville (2002), many of the Yankees disapprove of premarital sex and highly value marriage. On the other hand, Maine Acadians simply let the general core of their religious beliefs to interfere with their everyday endeavors. For example, according to Jobb (2005), as for sexual morality and individual morality Acadians commonly obey the teachings of the Church on co-habitation and premarital sex. Yet, for others the influence of the teachings of the Church has weakened and the developing pattern of individualism in relation to what is morally good follows educational achievement and age. These similarities and differences can be used in the classroom in three ways: (1) as a basis of diversity curriculum; (2) starting point of materials development, particularly in the subjects of history and language; and (3) as a constructive point of debate among students. First, a diversity curriculum should embody the experiences and points of view of the Yankees and the Maine Acadians. Developing an inclusive diversity curriculum requires making use of readings and texts that show new studies about ethnic groups in Maine. Attempt to reconstruct the course content so that the experience of one group, either Yankees or Maine Acadians, is not considered as the criteria against which everybody else is characterized. Second, if a particular form of cultural knowledge is a requirement to successfully completing the curriculum, consider giving a pretest to identify the awareness of students about the culture of the Yankees and Maine Acadians. Apparently, the teacher may decide to mention events or individuals the students are familiar with. Third, the teacher can stop prevent individuals or group of students from dominating the discussion by his/her involved participation in the debate. Motivate students to respect observations and listen to comments coming from points of view other than their own. G. References Primary sources Yankees Fox, D.R. (1940). Yankees and Yorkers. New York: Greenwood Press. Library of Congress. Local Legacies. (n.d) http://www.loc.gov/folklife/roots/ St. Andrews Review. (1974). St. Andrews Review, Volume 3. The University of California. Maine Acadians History. (n.d) http://www.maine.gov/portal/facts_history/history.html National Trust for Historic Preservation in the United States. (1992). Historic preservation forum: the journal of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The Trust, Volumes 6-7. United States National Park Service. (1994). Implementing the Maine Acadian Culture Preservation Act: Draft Conceptual Framework/Environmental Assessment. North Atlantic Region: U.S. Dept. of the Interior, National Park Service. Secondary sources Yankees Moore, M.S. (1985). Yankee Blues: musical culture and American identity. Indiana University Press. Nostrand, R.L. & Estaville, L. (2002). Homelands: A Geography of Culture and Place across America. Baltimore, Maryland: The Johns Hopkins University Press. Wyatt-Brown, B. (1990). Yankee Saints and Southern Sinners. Louisiana State University Press. Maine Acadians Brunvard, J.H. (1998). American Folklore.. New York: Routledge. Jobb, D. (2005). Acadians: A People’s Story of Exile and Triumph. Canada: John Wiley & Sons. Seymour, T. & Curtis, W. (2008). Maine Off the Beaten Path, 8th. Guilford, CT: GPP Travel. H. Personal and Professional Relevance In gathering the materials, the author used public libraries, university libraries, online libraries, and websites. The author used a thorough literature review of the available resources. Basically, the method used was entirely descriptive and library-based. In using the Internet and online libraries, the author keyed in relevant keywords such as ‘culture of the Yankees’, ‘culture of Maine Acadians’, ‘religion in Maine’, ‘family life between Puritans and Catholics’, etc. In public libraries, the author asked local library personnel about relevant magazines, newspapers, videos and CDs. The local library staff directed me to their online services where I searched their catalogue for any references pertaining to the Yankees and Acadians in Maine. The most important references the author used are the Library of Congress, the Maine government website, and the book of Richard Nostrand and Lawrences Estaville entitled Homelands: A Geography of Culture and Place across America. The Library Congress has detailed descriptions of major cultures and subcultures currently living in North America. Similarly, the Maine government website presents a rich collection of documents about the history of the Yankees and the Acadians, as well as their current status in Maine. Lastly, the book of Nostrand and Estaville provides a wide range of discussions, specifically studies, about the cultural aspects of the Yankees and the Acadians in North America. Descriptions and facts collected are sorted out based on relevance to the subject, particularly to the three main cultural concepts. The Yankees and Maine Acadians were chosen as the subcultures to be discussed because of the availability of literatures on them. The author considers the findings of this paper quite important to his/her personal and professional growth as a teacher. Personally, this strengthens the understanding of the author of the importance of valuing cultural diversity. This then will definitely influence the way s/he interacts with people belonging from other cultural groups. And consequently, this personal understanding will largely influence how s/he develops her/his lectures and instructional materials. This essay is an attempt to understand the cultural narratives of the Yankees and The Acadians in Maine. There are a lot more facts to know and realizations to attain. Individuals experience and view their world in distinct ways and we require knowledge and vocabulary that enable us to make meanings in a different way at different periods. The implication of this research for future teaching experiences, at the very least, is the need for students’ exposure to an array of ‘instruments, various possibilities, symbols, and language; an array of discussions in reality, about diversity, culture, identity, and difference so they are capable of selecting the appropriate instrument for the task at hand. Read More