Kinship Analylis

            I chose to interview my dad about his family. He was born in the San Fernando Valley into a European American family who had been in America for many generations. He grew up a typical all-American boy playing football and as the only boy with three sisters. He came from a very racist background with his grandparents growing up during the time when America was segregated between African Americans and white Americans.  Even though his immediate family was not racist in the way his grandparents were, it still affected him as a child growing up and he told me stories about the sad things they said and did because of this.

           I was completely comfortable when I interviewed my dad. We have a very close relationship so I was not afraid to ask him anything. If I had been interviewing someone who was not related to me, it would have been much more difficult for me to ask questions. When I was talking to my dad, it was very natural and I did not feel awkward.  It would have been harder for me to ask certain questions if the person was not related to me, especially about his relationships with his close family.  I think most of the comfortableness I felt, come directly from the fact that I am so close with my dad.

            On my dad’s side of the family, he did not have very much communication at all with his extended family. This came from a difference of views and opinions between his parents and his aunts and uncles. As a result, He barely ever saw his cousins growing up. They did all live in Southern California though. They also all have the same ethnicity of European American. The attitudes toward the younger members of my family are ones of favoritism. The older individuals in the family are always trying to make the younger ones happy, and my grandparents love seeing their 19 grandchildren. There is a trend toward bigger families at least in my dad’s immediate family. He was one of four children and he and his sisters have 3, 5, 7, and 4 children respectively.  My grandparents are viewed with respect by their children and grandchildren.

          I know both the relatives on my mom and dad’s sides well. I socialize with them about the same amount. Each side of the family gets together for all the holidays and even times in between for birthdays or sometimes just to get together. We also visit my grandparents on my dad’s side often, but my mom’s parents have passed away. We all live in Southern California so it makes it easy to see my family on both sides. In my family, the older people have the most influence on the decisions that are made. This is because they have the most knowledge because they have lived longer, so naturally, the rest of the family trusts in their decisions. They are naturally looked to as the head of the family. Family members who have married into the family are treated the same as those who are born into the family.  Sometimes this is so much the case with some family members that I forget they are not blood related because of how much the same they are treated. We try and show the same love and acceptance to those who have been in the family forever and those who have just become part of the family. In my family, everyone is treated equally. People are not treated differently just because they are male or female.  There are different role we take on though, such as during family parties, the women are in the kitchen making the food and the men are normally sitting around talking or watching TV. Through this exercise, I learned many different things about my family that I did not know before, specifically about my great-grandparents and aunts and uncles.  Something else I learned is that I really enjoy learning new information about my family. I love history and it made it more fun to be learning mine!