Anthropology exam

profilexixi
SexMarriageandFamily2.docx

Kinship and Family

“Social relationships are at the heart of life. We are all social beings who exist in a web of social relationships that shape who we are”….”cultural meanings are expressed in and through our relationships with others.” (Anthropologist Carole Delaney, in Investigating Culture, 177)

1. As this chapter is about kinship and the family i.e. about “relationships” this is a good opportunity to get to know people in the room. Once in your group introduce yourself:

· by name,

· major,

· where you were born, and

· if you grew up primarily in one place or if you moved around a lot…what kept you put, or why did you move around?

2. Who did you consider a part of your family growing up? Who did you interact with most frequently? Fairly frequently? On occasion? What shaped family structure and relations growing up?

3. Did you have any animals or pets? Did you consider them a member of the family? Why/ why not?

4. How would you define a “family”? (Do you know where does the word “family” come from? Do you think there is any such notion as the “historic family”? )

5. Most people still think of a “family” as Mom, Pop and kids. This type of nuclear family only represents 1 out of every five households in the U.S., today. That means that 4 out of 5 family structures are different from the nuclear type family. What are some contemporary examples of the modern family in the US?

5. Anthropologist Carol Delaney has written about the “quincineara” a ritual where Hispanic girls are presented to the community as “marriageable”. Getting tattooed performs the same function for both boys and girls in Samoa, Hawaii and Tahiti .What were you like at 14-15? What sorts of messages did you receive about relationships, dating, and marriage?

6. In the Trobriand Islands,young womenoften have their face painted and are given adornments by their fathers to make their appearance as attractive as possible to become marriageable or to obtain a mate. How does this compare to your own society? Were there some strategies that were encouraged or discouraged in your family or in the community where you grew up?

7. How do people attract mates in a Western culture? How do people meet to date, now? What is your opinion of electronic dating sites? What do you even consider a “date”? How would you define it?

8. What are some things to consider regarding socialization into sex and sexuality? . For instance, culturally speaking, does it make a difference whether middle schools and high schools adopt policies and curriculum that advocate abstinence only or sex education? Which approach do you think is better? Explain.

9. In a Philadelphia Inquirer article of 2/21/2016, “As honor killings go on, Afghan couple’s story resonates” by Trudy Rubin (C1), the author discusses the case of “Zakia and Ali who grew up on adjacent farms in Afghanistan”. As youngsters they played together, but when she reached puberty, strict custom forbade them from having any contact, but he smuggled her a cell phone and took an unprecedented step of proposing a love marriage to her parents. He is from a Shiite Hazara sect; she is a Sunni Tajik…her family forbade the union. But they eloped. The rest of the article discusses their life “on the run” and her family’s efforts to kill her for the dishonor she supposedly brought to the family. While many young women can be jailed for immorality, and even killed by male family members to restore family “honor”, but ironically the family can forgive the male who carries out the killing. How might this be pertinent to matters of “cultural relativity” and “critical cultural relativity”? Do all cultural practices deserve to be continued and upheld, or is intervention needed to shape cultural change?

10. How do anthropologists define marriage? What are some forms of marriage discussed in the chapter that are forms of recognize d marriage around the world? What are some other forms of marriage to consider?What are endogamy and exogamy? Define and give an example.

11. Henry Lewis Morgan, a 19th century lawyer and early pioneer in kinship studies and often considered the “founder of kinship studies” did what was common for many in the 18th and 19th centuries in the US…he married his first cousin. Cousin marriage acceptance differs from one U.S. state to another ranging from being legal to a criminal offense. For instance, first cousin marriage is permitted in Alaska, Hawaii, California, New York among other states, but it is banned in Pennsylvania, Washington, Oregon and Louisiana among other states, and it is considered a criminal offense in Texas and four other states. What stereotypes do you have about people who marry their first cousins? What are your thoughts on this practice?

12. What is “co-habitation”? Do you think that there are different concepts of co-habitation? Would it shape or influence a relationship if different people in the relationship had different conceptualizations of co-habitation?

13. Did you know that co-habitation is considered illegal in some states in the US? Would that/ could that influence where you might accept a job, go to grad school, move into a cohabitating household?

14. In doing fieldwork in Turkey, anthropologist Carole Delaney said that she met people who were adamant that marriage was not a union, but a “contractual relationship for economic and sexual benefits, the two individuals remained distinct and valued separateness” (Delaney, 187) Is this similar to or different from your ideas about a good marriage?

15. Delaney also said that when she was in Turkey she noticed that is a husband did something stupid it did not reflect on the woman-his behavior had nothing to do with her. On the other hand her behavior seriously reflected on him; she can tarnish his honor (or her or his family’s) if she raises suspicions that she looked at or talked to another man” (187) What are your thoughts on this? Is this similar to or different from your experiences and expectations?

16. Does love produce marriage, or does marriage produce love? In the west there used to be the notion of finding “the one” or one’s “soul mate.” There are many cultures that arrange marriages. What are the advantages/ disadvantages of each type relationship. Would you ever consider a marriage arranged by your parents, grandparents, others? Why/ why not? How is romantic love promoted in social institutions such as the family, education, religion and the media?

17. Up until 2013, the United States upheld the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). What case went to the Supreme Court declaring that DOMA was unconstitutional? What was the outcome of the case, and how does it reflect changing cultural conceptualizations of marriage and family in the US?

18. What would you consider major questions or challenges regarding Kinship and Family in the 21st century, or in our globalized and technological world?