5.7 Going Deeper
Monica Olvera and Elizabeth B. Pearce
Having read about traditions, ritual, and culture, this page has some additional resources for you.
First, there are some resources that the authors used but could not fit into the chapter. If there was something that really piqued your interest and made you want to learn more, it may be listed in this table. This is also a resource for students who may have an assignment to research a particular topic or who need to identify a topic for a final project. Scan through “Want to Learn More?” if you are interested.
Next, you will see a set of reflective questions. You may be assigned these questions as a chapter review, or perhaps you will be using them as discussion questions in class. These questions are designed to help you apply the chapter concepts, develop your sociological imagination, reflect, and use an equity lens. Look over the “Reflective Questions” if you’d like to explore your own thinking more thoroughly.
After that, you will see the same list of key terms that appeared at the start of the chapter. They may help you with your additional exploration or research.
Finally, some chapters include activities that the instructor may use in the classroom.
Want to Learn More?
- For more in-depth discussion about the complexities and drawbacks of pan-ethnic labels, please refer to this resource.
- If you would like to explore coming-of-age rituals in more depth, this TED Talk explores historic and modern important rites of passage and how they can help young teens understand what it means to become an adult by teaching life skills and reinforcing character traits and values.
- If you would like to explore the topic of how culture and religion overlap in human lives, we recommend the TED Talk by anthropologist Wade Davis, “The Worldwide Web of Belief and Ritual.” Davis provides many examples of the deep familiarity and knowledge Indigenous communities develop and pass on to the next generations, with a focus on the Elder Brothers, a group of Sierra Nevada Native Americans.
- To further explore the different race, ethnicity, and origin categories used in the U.S. census, we recommend visiting this interactive resource by the Pew Research Center, “What Census Calls Us.”
- For further information about quinceañeras, we recommend visiting the following resources:
- “History and Traditions of Quinceañeras” from Mestizo.
- “The history of the Quinceañera: How generations of Latinas entered womanhood in Phoenix.”
- “Sick with leukemia, her grandfather wouldn’t make her quinceañera, so she brought the event to him.”
- For additional information on the topic of the revitalization of ‘ōlelo Hawai’i and the ripple effects of the movement, please explore the following resources:
- “He pūkoʻa kaniʻāina: Creating Pathways for Indigenous Language Vitality | Candace Galla”: an 11-minute TED Talk by Candace Galla about how the movement to revitalize ‘ōlelo Hawai’i inspired many other Indigenous language communities around the world.
- “The Hawaiian Language | Insights on PBS Hawai’i”: a 56-minute discussion of the Hawaiian language with scholars and musicians who are fluent in the language.
- “Hoʻokipa: Hawaiian Language Movement Visitation Program”: 5 minutes of information about a program in Hilo, Hawai’i, that hosts hundreds of language advocates annually at various events and gatherings.
- “Queen Lili’uokalani – The First and Last Queen of Hawai’i | Unladylike2020 | American Masters | PBS”: 12 minutes of information about Queen Lili’uokalani, the first sovereign queen and the last monarch of Hawai’i, who assumed the throne in the midst of a government takeover by American business owners supported by the U.S. military.
- “The Hawaiian Language Nearly Died. A Radio Show Sparked Its Revival”: an article and associated 35-minute podcast episode about the radio show that was integral in efforts to revitalize the Hawaiian language.
Reflective Questions
- What is the importance of routines in families? In particular, how can routines support a child’s sense of security and healthy development?
- Routines can be tricky to establish and maintain while attending college. What are some routines or habits you have tried to start or maintain? What has been helpful in keeping a routine going? What are some things that get in the way of maintaining a routine or habit?
- Think about a ritual or tradition that you have practiced with your family or loved ones. Describe the ritual or tradition: What is the ritual? Who participates, and what are their roles?
- This chapter discusses four life stages that are commonly marked by rites of passage: birth/family formation, coming of age, marriage/union formation, and dying/bereavement. Identify and describe a rite of passage in your own life or that of a family member or friend.
- What are two models of cultural identity? Which one resonates most with you? Explain how it connects to your experience.
- What are the ways you have created a sense of belonging, community, or rootedness?
- What are some examples of cultural persistence and resistance? How do these activities contribute to family well-being?
Key Terms
- Acculturation: the process of adapting to a new culture.
- Anchoring practices: the behaviors, efforts, and actions people carry out to seek, create, and maintain a sense of community and rootedness.
- Assimilation strategy: an acculturation strategy consisting of pursuing and adopting the cultural norms, values, and traditions of the new society or dominant culture.
- Biculturalism: when a person has been exposed to and has internalized elements from two or more cultures.
- Culture: the shared meanings and shared experiences passed down over time by individuals in a group, such as beliefs, values, symbols, means of communication, religion, logics, rituals, fashions, etiquette, foods, and art that unite a particular society.
- Cultural erasure: the practice of a dominant or hegemonic culture actively or passively contributing to the erasure, or disappearing, of a non-dominant or minoritized culture.
- Ethnic group: a subgroup of a population with a set of shared social, cultural, and historical experiences; relatively distinctive beliefs, values, and behaviors; and some sense of identity of belonging to the subgroup.
- Ethnic identity: a sense of self that is derived from a sense of belonging to a group, a culture, and a particular setting.
- Ethnicity: the shared social, cultural, and historical experiences stemming from common national, ancestral, or regional backgrounds that make subgroups of a population different from one another.
- Family ritual: behaviors with symbolic meanings that can be clearly described and serve to organize and affirm central family ideas.
- Family routine: the predictable, repeated, consistent patterns that characterize everyday home life.
- Heritage cultural orientation: the extent to which individuals are involved with their heritage, ethnic, or nondominant culture.
- Integration strategy: an acculturation strategy utilized by those who wish to maintain one’s original culture as a member of an ethnocultural group while also participating as an integral member of the larger social network.
- Marginalization strategy: an acculturation strategy where a person neither seeks relationships with aspects of the host culture nor maintains their heritage, culture, and identity.
- Pan-ethnicity: the grouping together of multiple ethnicities and nationalities under a single label.
- Rite of passage: a ritual or celebration that marks the passage when a person leaves one status, role, set of conditions, or group to enter another.
- Separation strategy: an acculturation strategy where a person places a high value on maintaining the integrity of their original cultural identity and avoids interaction with those of the new society.
Activity: Who Belongs? Immigrant Families and Intersectionality
This chapter focuses on the ways that families create and experience belonging through culture, tradition, and rituals. In earlier chapters you’ve learned about various forms of families, how they have changed over time, and the stigma that people in some family forms experience. In figure 5.13, watch to learn more about how immigrant families and other families with intersectional identities work to create stability, structure, and belonging for their families.
Discussion Questions
- Describe the changes in family forms that are discussed in the first part of the video.
- How do immigrant families reflect or differ from these family forms?
- What challenges do immigrant families face in creating stability for their families?
- What are some examples of intersectionality that apply specifically to immigrant families and the immigration process?
Licenses and Attributions for Going Deeper
Open Content, Original
“Going Deeper” and all subsections by Monica Olvera except those noted below. License: CC BY 4.0.
“Activity: Who Belongs? Immigrant Families and Intersectionality” by Elizabeth B. Pearce. License: CC BY 4.0.
Open Content, Shared Previously
Figure 5.13. “Who Belongs?: Family Stories of Immigration” by Kimberly Puttman, Kevin Acosta, Omar Ruiz Garcia, Samantha Kuk, and Open Oregon Educational Resources. License: CC BY 4.0.
the shared meanings and shared experiences passed down over time by individuals in a group, such as beliefs, values, symbols, means of communication, religion, logics, rituals, fashions, etiquette, foods, and art that unite a particular society.
a systematic investigation into a particular topic, examining materials, sources, and/or behaviors.
ensuring that people have what they need in order to have a healthy, successful life that is equal to others. Different from equality in that some may receive more help than others in order to be at the same level of success.
the developmental changes and transitions that come with being a child, adolescent, or adult.
the categorization of humans using observable physical or biological criteria, such as skin color, hair color or texture, facial features, etc.
the shared social, cultural, and historical experiences, stemming from common national, ancestral, or regional backgrounds, that make subgroups of a population different from one another.
the geographical location where a person was born and spent (at least) their early years in.
a population census that takes place every 10 years and is legally mandated by the U.S. Constitution.
an intimate relationship, in which two or more people commit to some kind of union, including marriage.
a ritual or celebration that marks the passage when a person leaves one status, role, set of conditions, or group to enter another.
a negative or discriminatory attitude toward others related to a specific characteristic or difference, often of a marginalized identity.
an approach originally advanced by women of color that finds it critical to look at how identities and characteristics (such as ethnicity, race, and gender) overlap and influence each other to create complex hierarchies of power and oppression.