Monday, May 5, 2008

Marriage and Family: Elective Outcome

Marriage to me is a funny thing. Growing up in our culture, a little girl is brought up thinking about falling in love, that man one day surprising you and getting down on one knee and giving you a diamond ring. Then you get married in a church, wearing a big white gown. Then after you get married you have babies, and live in a house with a dog and your husband and kids, and everyone wears gap, and everyone is happy! As you get older the realisation of what marriage is and how it creates and changes families. As you get older, your friends in class experience divorce, and get mad at one parent or another, you look at your own family and wonder, its not always the happy picture of perfection we are socialized to want and what we all want to create. I think to myself, that creates a gap in our ideas of marriage and the realities of marriage, and does this create the high divorce rate in our country? We are given an unrealistic and idealistic idea of what marriage and the idea of family should be. 
 
My good friend, she is 25, and she studied abroad in Denmark, and there she met her current boyfriend, they fell in love and have been dating for 5 years. She is American and he is Danish. She wants to get married and move there to be with him, because that is one of the only ways she can get a visa to stay there and live, but he is completely apprehensive. He explained to her, that in his country, the way relationships unfold is different than here ( this is not an excuse on his side, but she has seen it for herself, with her other friends in Denmark). A couple meets, date, live together for years, maybe have children and create a family. Then if they feel like they can make it, they get married. This shows that there is a level of realism in their ideas of marriage. That marriage is an important step to take, not something to run into, especially because it is for life. The realize that relationships might not last, so the put it to the test, by living together and experiencing their mate in all situations. Instead of viewing living together and the sexual relationship as negative. They view it as an important part of a relationship. In our society for a long time, and still now, it is seen as negative to live together before marriage, and having sexual relations before marriage. to a lot of people it is about religion, but it is an important part of relationships that need to be tested and experienced before you pledge your life to someone else. Many cultures have different ideas of marriage and families. Like in France, it is normal for a man to take a mistress, but here in America a president can get impeached for having an extra marital affair! 
 
Culture can affect how a relationship can form, and the expectations one has out of a relationship. Family in many cultures includes extended family, and not just the nuclear family of mother, father and children. Families in an anthropological sense, is important to be productive and survive. Many cultures rely on extended families to help raise children. Families and the relationships within the family system, help define who we are. The people in our family impart culture on to us. The family structure can tell a great deal about where emphasis and importance lies in a culture. Also the family structure tells a great deal about how the society is built. The family also influences greatly the culture of the children.
  
Many cultures are patriarchal, meaning the importance lies on the man in the family. The man is the bread winner, and the family depends a great deal on them. This can be seen in Western cultures, especially in the 1900's. In the 1950's there were lower divorce rates then now, because women were solely dependant upon the man in the family for food and shelter, women were less likely to be able to get jobs of their own, so women could not support themselves outside of the family structure, even if the relationships were abusive. Many people now say that our society's morals are being corrupted, but in essence, divorce rates have risen, because women have become financially independent that they can leave marriages and support themselves and their children. They have been given more options, in their relationships and family structures. And a lot of the times the family structures women create outside of marriage are more emotionally stable for children, than abusive or messy marriages. That change in society in turn had an affect on the structure of families and marriages, and reinforces that connection between the two.
 
To me, marriage is an important thing, that should not be taken lightly. I do not agree with the 48 hour marriage. Or marrying someone on a whim. I think that relationships need work and to be grown before deciding to build a family upon it. To have a strong family it needs a strong foundation, of equality and love and endurance. But to each his own.

SGO: Role of Food: France and the USA

The idea for my SGO came from my trip to Paris last year, and my observations about how food is treated and revered. We stayed in Paris for about ten days, and were able to observe the French, more specifically the Parisian culture from up close. We stayed near the city center, and every morning in the same spot there was a small market. Farmers set up their tents every morning, early in the morning, setting out their fresh produce, fresh fruits and vegetables, and fish. All the locals would come out around 8 in the morning. We would watch this ritual from a table outside a cafe. They all have their empty shopping bags to fill with what they would need for the day. The would walk through the market, touching and picking up the produce, smelling the items, and talking with the merchants at each spot. Then some would walk to the patisserie and pick up some pastries and fresh bread. Then they would disperse. 
This is what we observed in Paris. So many different behaviors about food. When I came back to the states, I was chatting with a lady at work, Simone, who is from Paris. I asked her about this, she said, "In France, people go shopping almost everyday to get the freshest food and vegetables. Why would you go out to the grocery store once a week, to buy vegetables to eat 7 days later, no, no, no." In my family at least, my mother hates to grocery shop, she goes once a week and stocks up on frozen and box foods. 

The role of food for the French is to savor, enjoy each morsel on the tongue. She told me, "You don't want to clutter the dish with to much flavor. You want to enjoy the natural flavors of what you are cooking." My discussion with her and my trip made me reflect about French culture in comparison to ours. I thought about my own relationship with food, and how my culture of food was passed down to me. What is the role of food in our culture? Is it something feared, enjoyed, simple or complex, fresh or not? How as a society do we pass down the idea of food. One of the first memories that came to mind was when i was a child. I hated my vegetables! Especially Lima beans. I would eat everything else, non vegetable off my plate, but my dad would sit down with me at the table, until I ate every single one of my plate. In our culture, healthy food has to be forced down our children's' mouth. I thought about those Lima beans. I love my mom, but those Lima beans were taken from a bag out of the freezer, put in a bowl and microwaved then put on my plate! of Course i would not eat them. God knows how long they had been frozen for! They had not been picked the morning or the day before, chosen with care and prepared to taste savory and delicious.

Food that is good for you is seen as tasting bad, and food that is bad for you taste so good. But that is not the case in french culture. No food is seen as bad, unless it is prepared incorrectly. The French make time for food. It is important where the food comes from and what ingredients they are putting in their mouth. The french love fat! it is what gives the food taste. The idea for french eating is moderation and savor. If you are enjoying each bite, you can not pig out. French cuisine is simple with high quality ingredients and considerable preparations.

Food plays such a large part of the french culture on wikipedia there is a list of all the types of restaurants for the french to indulge in their food: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_cuisine

Another big aspect of French culture of food is seasonality and region. They eat what food is in season, in the specific regions they are from. In Paris it is different because the are the metropolitan area, and most trains and means of transportation come through there. In summer more fruits and vegetables are eaten, and in the fall, mushrooms and wild game are served. And menus in restaurants reflect this seasonality. In comparison, as an American i could not really tell you what fruits and vegetables are available in what seasons! Or even where the fruits and vegetables i eat are grown. 

Wine and cheese are also a big part of French culture. It is a standard part of every day meals. This also offset the meals in the french culture. Breakfast is a light and quick meal, usually a pastries and coffee. Lunch or dejeuner is the larger more substantial meal in the French culture, then there is dinner which is a lighter meals. For the French it is quality over quantity, Americans seem to think of quantity over quality. The role of food in American culture is quite different then the French, and i think the term fast food culture sums up that difference. Instead of savoring, or enjoying preparing and eating food, Americans want food and they want it fast. I had a friend come from Paris and we took her out to dinner, she was completely shocked and amazed by the food. She found the portions to be completely absurd, and she said the food was completely to salty, and busy with tastes. The food served in a culture says a lot about the culture and what is important in the culture. The French culture is about pleasure, leisure and . Understanding French food is understanding the culture. Food is what nourishes the body and for the French it nourishes the soul. 

Sunday, May 4, 2008

Race and Ethnicity: Elective Outcome

Race, is the concept of dividing people into groups based on characteristics, usually visible or superficial traits. Race is usually used in social or political context, race is usually given to a group by society. Race is used to put people into certain groups or categories. Ethnicity, is what a person individually identifies with, based usually on ancestry. Ethnicity is more about culture and traditions. Ethnicity is rituals, norms, culture learned, rather than based on  physical characteristics. Race has a more negative connotation, especially in the United States. For example, my boyfriend, who is from Croatia, has  a whole different view on the idea of black versus white, compared to how many people in the United States view it. Race in the United States is an extremely hot and touchy topic for many people, because of slavery and the inequality between people it has created.  My boyfriend thinks it is almost laughable the meaning and significance we give to race in our country. It is almost as if, because you have certain skin color or look a certain way, you should act a certain way. This is where the difference comes in with culture. You can have a certain skin color, and identify with a culture that does not fit in with the stereotype of that race.
An issue of debate is whether or not race is biological or a social construct. Meaning, is there anything biological that ties two people of the same race together, or was it created by society to lump people together. And studies have found that there is not a gene, that one race carries over another, and that people of two different races could have a more similar DNA than that of two people of the same race. It puts to rest the ideas or characteristic or stereotypes that come with the construct of race. The idea that all Asians are smart, or all black people are really athletic, there is nothing in genes that make a certain race predisposed to be good or bad at certain things. And you cannot tell a persons race by simply looking at their genetic make up. I think that it is nature for humans to categorize things into groups to make things easier to understand, to help the mind work, but I think it has turned into a negative. Because the individual person and their ideas and culture are overlooked when making broad assessments. Race can even be looked at as a way to divide. A person does not look like me so they are different, when in fact we are all human beings and are connected by a sense of humanity.
Ethnicity is what should be focused on because that is what can be studied or look at. What traditions, knowledge or rituals certain ethnic groups have, or what behavior or social structures they construct. Do certain ethnicity or groups of people that come from specific areas have an identity as a group and share an identity.  It can be based on linguistics, religions or culture. The discussion of ethnicity is more a discussion of connectivity between people, and not what divides them. Ethnicity, like culture can shape a person's experience. But ethnicity, and the pride of Ethnic group can have its downside. Like in Bosnia and Kosovo, where the Serbs were united in a national and ethnic pride, and felt superiority over other groups although they shared a linguistic identity, they felt ethnically and culturally different, and carried out genocide. I think that difference between people and what you can learn from others cultures and experiences should be embraced, and i think cultural anthropology helps that understanding move in a positive direction.