Kinship

1. Introduce your interviewee to your reader. Explain their relationship to your, where they were born and describe some of their background in terms of their social, cultural and ethnic background. (10 pts)

The person that I interviewed for my kinship interview was my mom. She was born in Orange County along with her older sister and younger brother, and most of her family is split up between Southern California and Oregon.  Her great grandparents on her Moms side came over from Germany to New York and it was in her Maternal grandparents generation that they moved out to California. She did not know much about her fathers background past his parents. Her closest interactions occurred with the females in her family (her mother, grandmothers, cousins), but she has no reservations about communicating with the rest, she just stated they were more like her. As a child she spent holidays with her fathers side of the family, which was largely in california because her mothers side was in oregon. However, it is interesting to note that now she communicates more in general with some from both sides of her family, but mostly with those that have Facebook or email.

2. Briefly summarize your interviewing methods. Include your own thoughts and feelings as the anthropologist. Were you comfortable throughout the interview or were there times when you experienced awkwardness or discomfort with the subject matter? Do you think this affected the thoroughness of your interview? How would this be different interviewing someone unrelated to you? (10 pts)

I sat across the table from her at her dinner table with my piece of paper and pen and tried to interview her objectively. I tried to be objective at least. I had a hard time keeping my mouth shut when she couldn't remember one of my cousins names. I also felt awkward asking her to name her relatives (grandma, brother, cousin) and whether they were alive when I knew the answer to most of it.  I gathered a lot of information, but I believe that it might be easier interviewing somebody unrelated because you can start from scratch and build up their story of their family. However, you also wouldn't know whether they had gaps in their memory.

3. Describe the kinship pattern of your family and explore any patterns you see, such as differences in closeness, socialization levels, and commonalities. Is there an emphasis on maternal or paternal lines? What are the attitudes toward older and younger individuals in your family? Is there a trend toward large or small families? Are there ethnic differences in different areas of your family that have a social impact on family relationships or affect social interactions? (20 pts)

When it came to socialization patterns, she had more closeness and contact with the females on her mothers side of the family, in general. She "felt" the closest to them because they were the most like her. This is contrary to what I would think because she spent her childhood holidays around her fathers side of the family. It is interesting to note that there was a pattern of early independence in most of the children, moving out or to another state at 18 or so. I don't know if this is just more common with the time, or just common with her generation of her family.
I don't think the family size could be considered large. Maybe average or smaller side. Each person had about 2-3 kids. There were more kids per parent as the generations moved back towards her grandparents and great grandparents but she did not know much about them.
There were not many ethnic differences in her family, and if there were any, it didn't seem to inpact the relationships or interactions.