Grandma Interview

With the centrality of the family in Hmong culture, having sons or a son is very important as they are the ones who will take on the last name and lead the future generation of the family (Cha, 2010). Cha states, “The clannish nature of Hmong society favors a son. A family that does not have a son is viewed as a burden to the clan and community, because such a family will not contribute much to the community,” (p. 24). In the culture, the son(s) will take care of the parents as the daughter will get married and move to live with the husband’s family. Religion also plays a role since the traditional belief is that although the daughter can take care of the parents physically when they are alive, they cannot take care of them spiritually after they pass away. This is because the daughter becomes a part of the other family and cannot worship her parents’ spirits after death (Cha, 2010).

For the oral history project, I interviewed my grandmother. Her full name is Imelda Laborce, while she is known as “Meldy” to most family members. She was born in a small town called Calapacuan in the Zambales region of the Philippines. She was born in 1955 and is 61 years old. Like me, she was born in the Philippines but eventually moved to America sometime in her life. I believed she was a good candidate because I knew she was one of the earliest members of my family to travel to America. Hence, she must have good stories and have a rich background. I also never really knew anything about her past, so I just thought it would be interesting in general to learn about it. She currently lives in Union, New Jersey and works in a hospital as a nurse.

While Barker focuses on clans in Papua New Guinea and Hedican on Scottish clans they both come to the same result, clans are hard to gain consistent information on and much of their histories are muddled, complicated, and contradictory specifically with the whom is related to who debacle and the ‘true’ back story/ symbols accompanying each clan. Both Authors also explore the kinship terms of Papua and how it differs from the Westerner way of labelling family members (cousin being the broadest Westerner term) compared to the flexible descent groups and hazy distinction that separates immediate and extended family in the villages of Papua New

In the early 1940’s Marie was born into a small tight knit family living in a small rural Kentucky town. Marie is now in her seventies and has led a very interesting life traveling the country, raising four children, and shaping her chosen profession. Our interview sessions were conducted over a period of time, as Marie is very active and has little “free time” to spare.

For this assignment, the author interviewed an elderly woman who is roughly in her early eighties. Discussion occurred over the phone as Irene lives a relatively far distance from Denver, CO. The first conversation went over well and she was very open to discussing her life further. The author became confident enough to ask more personal questions later in the conversation. The elderly woman agreed to a second interview to continue patient education which will be discussed in detail. For this paper, the individual will be referred to as Irene, so that her privacy is protected. This paper acts as an organizational tool to detail the process and considerations taken, including therapeutic communication skills, to provide Irene with a

In Hmong there is a total of eighteen surnames and it does not matter what dialect the person belong in. The eighteen surnames have sets of rules that all Hmong dialects have to up keep. First, two couple of the same surname cannot get married, whether they are of different dialect because people of the same surname are consider “brother and sister” and there will be no incest. Second, to up keep the forbidden; in the surname Yang, males are not allowed to eat the heart of any animal because it is forbidden. There are forbidden thing other surnames cannot do and it goes the same for all dialects. Third, Shamanism religious guideline; during the funeral it forbidden for the relative of he dead, to eat spicy and very dry food because by eating spicy and dry food it deprived the loss loved one to crossover. There are more sets of rules, but I felt these makes a stronger argument. What notion the people may be seeing, there is a change in newer generation and we do not see each other

Choosing an in-law in !Kung San society is primarily arranged by the parents of the woman based on marital status, hunting ability, age, and willingness to accept the responsibilities of family life (Shostak 1981, p.116). The lack of violence and conflict between villages allows !Kung San parents to travel large distances to find an acceptable partner who is not of close relatedness to the girl being married (Shostak 1981, p.115). The almost universal taboo in modern day industrial societies prohibiting marriages between closely related kin is also followed in !Kung San society and the easiest way to avoid marrying your cousin is by marrying someone from a distant group (Shostak 1981, p.115; Allen et al. 2011). Close kinship systems tend to keep families close together so they can all benefit off the same resources. However, in harsh and unpredictable environments, like that faced by the !Kung, flexibility of movement created by non-consanguineous unions and bilateral kinship systems is essential in creating reciprocity systems that allow access to resources that are limiting and seasonal (Allen et al. 2011). Non-consanguineous

Hmong followed a patrilineal kinship system. Only men can inherit properties and belongings; the father holds title to family property. When couples are married, “residence after marriage is either patrilocal or neolocal, but in the vicinity of paternal house” (LeBar, 75). When daughters marry, they move out of the house. Hmong marriage is regarded as a bond between two clans, so they have strict exogamy practices. Hmong men remain members of their birth clan for life (Hein, 68). Each of the family clans have a leader, who is the eldest male of the line. Their society was male-centered (Lecture, 01/26/17). On the other hand, Lao followed the Southeast Asian pattern, which was a bilateral kinship system. Kinship ties are felt to be equally strong on both sides, the mother and the father (LeBar, 217). Lao kinship is more laid back compared to Hmong. They pay little attention to genealogies, since tracing more than three generations is difficult for them (LeBar, 217). Both men and women can inherit in the family as well, so Lao women are less subordinate to Lao men. Unlike Hmong, Lao couples have freedom in choosing whether to live on their own or with either spouses’ family (Lecture, 01/26/17). Lao marriage does not ensue strict exogamy practices, and Lao, traditionally, have no “family” names. Lao are known by their given names, not family names. Overall, Hmong and Lao have the exact opposite types of

Nujood grew up in Yemen with her father, mother and many siblings. Her father also had another wife named Dowla who had five children and Nujood would refer to her as her aunt. Her mother bore 16 children, but lost four. Since there was no doctors in their city her mother had all her children at home with little help. Nujood’s siblings were Jamila, Mohammad, Mona, Fares, Haifa, Morad, Abdo, Assil, Khaled and Rawdha.

In 1912 a child was born his name was Everett Babcock (1912-1974), he eventually would become my grandfather. In 1937 he would marry my grandmother, Mary McFarland (1910-1969) and they would have 3 children Everett Babcock (1937-2017) my father, Edna Mae (1940-2004), and Thomas (1944-2008). Everett worked as an auto mechanic and Mary as a beautician to support and provide for their 3 children. In 1969 Mary was diagnosed with colon cancer and die a short time later, 5 years later in 1974 my grandfather would be diagnosed with lung cancer but would suffer a heart attack and die. Since I was still a young child and didn’t live close to my paternal grandparents I don’t remember what the relationships were like. The most I remember is when we

Approximately 2000 years ago Tibeto-Burman ancestors of existing Mosuo culture devised a family and kinship system that is not based on marriage. They have no husbands and wives. Instead of marrying and sharing family life with spouses, adult Musuo children remain in their extended, multigenerational household with their mother and their blood relatives. The elder female("Ah mi") is the head of the house. "Ah mi" makes all the household and economic decisions

I interviewed my grandfather, a NAACP, 79 year old, Baptist born, Christian pastor who marched with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. When I asked him if he approved of same-sex marriage, he said, “No, it is an abomination. Why would God create one male and one female if gay couples were supposed to exist?” He also said, “Where in the Bible, God’s word, does it say that gay marriage is okay?” My grandfather did say that he does approve of equal marriage rights for everyone. He does not believe gay people should marry in the first place, but they should have equal rights when it comes to jobs and health care. He remembers being a strong supporter of the Prop 8, but he says, “Now that society is progressing, everyone should have equal rights. We are all humans.” Lastly, my grandfather noted that he would never marry a gay couple because it is against his religion.

L was married for 20 years. She has 2 daughters; one is going to school and the other lives in Texas. Her mother has been living with her for 3 ½ years. She enjoys movies, having coffee with her friends once a week, and her two grandchildren. She is active in her church, and used to do prison ministry. She works in Gerontology at the Health Sciences Center and has been a Tech employee for 25 years.

My Grandmother goes by the name of babunya, and baba for short, this means grandma in Ukrainian. She lived in Ukraine for most of her life, and she is almost 90 years old now. She’s been through a lot in her years, thus her appearance has changed. For every wrinkle she has there’s a story to match. She has had every color hair: blonde, red, brown, and black. Now her hair is a short gray color. She keeps it short because it stays out of the way, even though she hates it short. She has always had long her until now. She has also progressively become shorter over the years due to a very bad back; she now stands just under five feet. Since she spends most of her days in the garden her usual outfit

The moment I was informed about this oral history report, only one person came to my mind when deciding who to compose this project about. This person was my grandfather. He was an inspiration in my life. This project has given me the opportunity to reflect back onto my grandfather’s stories and historical accomplishments for on March 19, 2012 was the day my grandfather Richard “Joel” Pettingell left this earth. There was no such thing as a dull moment in my grandfather’s life. The time I got to spend with my grandfather filled my head with only a faction of the life he lived. To help elaborate on the high lights of my grandfather’s historical moments, I interviewed my uncle James Pettingell. During the interview we chronologically