What Is The Relationship Between Interaction And Identity

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).

Humans instinctively separate into groups resembling themselves. “‘In our school there were different groups you would run with, depending on your station in life… The poor kids... We were called Nutters… The most important rule was that there was no mixing. Do you understand what I mean?’... ‘Yes,’ he said. ‘In India they have something called the caste system. Members of different castes cannot marry or even eat together. The lowest caste is called the Untouchables.’” (Kingsolver, 133). Despite living distant childhoods, both Estevan and Taylor understood social division and its rules of disconnecting from other circles.

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

This paper will identify the ethnic identifications within individuals. Ethnicity is part of everyone’s identity development. Individuals may have one ethnicity or multiple, depending on their current location, homelands, generations, religion, environment, language/dialect, physical appearance, and more. A cultural individual is considered ethnic either by being first, second, or third generation. According to Phinney (1989), there are four stages of ethnic identity development: diffuse, foreclosed, moratorium, and achieved. They describe when an individual explores or does not explore their own ethnicity, and accepting clarification and understanding of ethnicity. An individual can be placed within these stages throughout their developing lives. It is important to recognize these stages within an individual to better apprehend their identity and where they perceive their own identity in their position.

Further, the Hmong families are divided by which clans and subgroups they are a part of. There are 19 clans identified within the Hmong culture (Kou 2012). It has been said “The clan acquires its membership through a patrilineal system, identifiable by the male’s last name and therefore, lineage” (Tatman 2004). The clans acquire their names based on the relationship to the father. For example, “Marriage by two individuals within the same clan is not allowed, despite genealogical distance between members” (Tatman 2004). The men are typically the individuals to leave their clan and find a wife suitable for them because in the article it explained, “Under the clan system, wives, and subsequent children, become members of the husband’s clan, and total loyalty to this new clan is expected” (Tatman 2004).

Forming the bond with the traditions plays a vital role in the process of identity formation. In The Namesake,

LEE, Gary Yia. Diaspora and the Predicament of Origins: Interrogating Hmong Postcolonial History and Identity [on line]. In: Hmong Studies Journal. Volume 8, 25pp. Available at: < http://hmongstudies.org/GYLeeHSJ8.pdf> (Accessed November 25, 2016).

Members of an extended family may live close to one another as a way to maintain cultural identity;

When considering the traditions of Pacific Islander Americans, the fourth story from “The Twenty-four Paragons of Filial Piety” featuring Min Ziqian relates the most to what Pacific Islanders would consider the ideal relationship between parents and children in terms of family structure. The story of Min Ziqian revolves around his relationship with his stepmother, who mistreated him for not being her natural born son. Ziqian’s father found out and threatened to banish her from the family, but Ziqian stuck up for her, saying that “But if she goes, then three son will have no one to care for them.” This shows that Ziquian not only cared about his stepmother, but also did not want to see his brothers suffer. In the study “Family Dynamics among

Kinship is an area we talked about extensively in class because it represents a huge part of many people’s lives. This ideal is found throughout and delegates the lives of many individuals throughout thousands of cultures. In “Motorcycles, Membership, and Belonging” McCurdy says that if an Indian couple were to come to the United States for the first time they might be, “surprised by [the lack of] American social relations.” (McCurdy 2014:209) In this essay I will be describing how American views on kinship and social relations vary from those of Indians through both personal experience and learned information.

Similar to my family’s critical role in my personal and social identity’s development, my ethnicity also contributes some of the most noticeable modifications of a social agents affect on an individual’s personal and social identity. Ethnicity provides a sense of belonging to a group and or a place in a globalised society. As for myself, ethnicity on a micro, meso and macro scale has become a major element in my personal and social identity’s

societies use kinship as a basis for forming social groups and for classifying people. However,

In traditional societies, to begin with, there is a strong fellow-feeling; everybody is considered a friend and is expected to act this way, in case of personal or family

In Greek Mythology, the power of right is passed by kinship in generations, and people’s belief in gods leads their life and their acts show gods’ will. In the meanwhile, politics originally indicates certain relationships are between politics and groups of individuals. Moreover, politics is always referred to methods, including the purpose and the use of power, for addressing impacts on the tendency of those individuals’ performance, as well as their engagement and activities in civic affairs. In result of that, theories of political behavior are aimed at explicating the influences that define an individual’s behaviors, opinions, and participation in civic

A sociological thought piece, Chris McKinney’s The Tattoo is bursting with toxic relationships. Amongst these, McKinney uses the strained kinship between Ken Hideyoshi and his father to partially explain how people fall into cycles of violent behaviour. To understand the richness of the text, violence will be characterised as the intentional or unintentional application of force, and/or power resulting in psychological, emotional and/or physical harm, whether it is for the perpetrator’s advantage or not. Thus, a wide definition is given to encompass the numerous acts of harm occurring throughout the novel. Ken’s father is a man instilled with traditional values and beliefs. Therefore, strength and fearlessness are expected to be in Ken to make him tough and prepared to face the world. The reader witnesses these notions take root and unfurl into his father’s ideas of the epitome of hegemonic masculinity. Consequently, this essay will analyse the connection between Ken Hideyoshi and his father as it progresses throughout the novel by looking at how socialisation, hegemonic masculinity and family violence lead impressionable people into deviant lifestyles.