Discussion – Changes in Ethnicity

Discussion – Changes in Ethnicity

Family traditions, especially those that are deeply connected to ethnicity, often evolve or fade away due to numerous reasons, including immigration, cultural assimilation, generational shifts, and societal changes (Kendall, 2016; Martiny et al., 2020). For this assignment, in order to explore how ethnicity changes, I interviewed an elderly woman from my community, Mary Wambui (pseudonym), who immigrated here from Kenya when she was 50 years old, back in 2001, since my grandparents were raised in America. Interviewing Mary gave me deep insights into how a family’s ethnic identity can evolve over time, reflecting broader personal choices and social changes. Mary noted several traditions from when she lived in Kenya that she stopped practicing almost as soon as she got to America.

An example of this tradition is an initiation ceremony, which people in her community would hold to mark the transition of boys into adulthood. This ceremony involved specific rituals like the circumcision of a young boy followed by the slaughter of a bull, a gift of a white lamb to the mother’s family by the boy’s father, and singing specific songs that had been passed down through generations to celebrate the event. However, after moving to America, Mary faced the pressure to integrate into the Westernized society, where these practices were not only common but viewed in a bad light due to cultural egoism, as argued by Jaya (2022). This pressure plays a huge role in the shift of her ethnic identity. Notably, Mary also admitted that the shift was not based solely on external influences but also on personal choices. Her children and grandchildren sought to define their identities in a globalized world, meaning that they adopted new customs and blended the few they had with Westernized ones. As such, her family ended up losing her traditions and instead created new ones that reflect the current realities of her family.

In conclusion, Mary’s family’s ethnic evolution demonstrates how traditions are not always static but change over time or adapt due to various causes, such as immigration and cultural assimilation in this case. This highlights the dynamic nature of identity in a changing world.

References

Jaya, P. B. W. K. (2022). War against the spirit: Cultural egoism. 9th ICIIS International Conference of Interreligious and Intercultural Studies on Sacred Language, Magic & Mysticism. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/373160504_War_Against_The_Spirit_Cultural_Egoism

Kendall, D. (2016). Sociology in our times: The essentials. United States: Cengage Learning.

Martiny, S. E., Froehlich, L., Soltanpanah, J., & Haugen, M. S. (2020). Young immigrants in Norway: The role of national and ethnic identity in immigrants’ integration. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 61(2), 312-324.

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Discussion – Changes in Ethnicity

Initial Post Instructions
The lesson and textbook readings for this week emphasize that race, ethnicity, and gender are all social constructs.

For the initial post, respond to one of the following options, and label the beginning of your post indicating either Option 1 or Option 2:

Option 1: Can you describe a time when you felt that your race, ethnicity, and/or gender was giving you an advantage? Can you describe a time when you felt that your race, ethnicity, and/or gender was a disadvantage to you?
Option 2: Explore how a person’s or family’s ethnic or gender identity can change over time. Interview a parent or grandparent about some of their family traditions that may no longer be part of the family practice, or that have evolved. Why might it have been stopped or changed?