It is important to identify and understand your own family culture in order to be able to understand and respect other cultures. Interview a family member and an individual from another culture with which you are unfamiliar.

Family Interview – Compare and Contrast Cultures Paper-Summary of the Interviews

Introduction

The interviewees were chosen because African Americans and Latinos seem to share many experiences that the other populations have not gone through. Both Latinos and African Americans have experienced barriers to opportunity, disadvantage, exclusion, and segregation. Besides, they are part of the minority population in the United States. These particular groups, therefore, have a particular level of cultural strength to live in the Western culture, with the majority of the population not sharing their background, culture, and experience.

Summary of the Latino Family Member Interview

In the interviewee’s family, gender roles are hierarchical, with the father considered the head and main decision-maker of the entire household. The other household responsibilities, such as nurturing and house chores, are left to the mother. This was the case both in the traditional Latino society and partly in the Modern Latino society (Sole-Smith, 2021). Even in the modern period, where women have taken up previously dominated male roles in the workplaces, women are still required to do nurturing jobs at home. They are also expected to support their husbands’ decisions. Therefore, when it comes to family roles, little has changed in the Latino family.

Moreover, as a result of the societal transformation that changed the role of women generally, the family goals of the Latino family have expanded to include educational and social awareness, especially among girls and women. According to their religious beliefs, marriage is considered sacred, and therefore, other lifestyles, such as cohabiting prior to marriage, are not encouraged. Even though some Latino family members have embraced Protestant religious beliefs, they still do not consider cohabiting acceptable. However, there has been a rising range of cohabitation and an increased number of children born outside marriage (Landale, Oropesa & Bradatan, 2017). According to the interviewee, this has been tolerated.

When it comes to death and dying, the Latino family beliefs are built from a religious perspective. They believe in life after death, and they also believe that sickness is highly influenced by environmental factors. Therefore, they are increasingly careful about what they eat and how they behave because these can affect their health.

The family also values education because most members have studied at universities and colleges and have encouraged each other to do so. Their jobs are mainly business-related. According to the interviewee, most of the Latinos are bilingual, speaking both Spanish and English to be able to adapt to the American culture.

Although cohabiting is traditionally not acceptable in the Latino culture, most Latinos have adopted the lifestyle and have also intermarried with the rest of the population. When it comes to the celebration of birth, elders are considered very important because they provide emotional and educational support to the new mother. Lastly, leadership roles are mostly taken up by men. Even though women have shown interest in leading, their cultural and social norms have created a barrier for them to be leaders.

African American Interviewee

Like in the Latino culture, the father is the lead decision-maker, and the mother is the nurturer. Their children are also expected to help around the household. Traditionally, African Americans value marriage and believe in its sacredness. However, as a result of slavery, tough economic times, segregation, racism, and many other inequalities that they have faced, they find themselves cohabiting, especially after the birth of a child (Hill, 2016). Some were found to be single mothers because of an increased rate of incarceration among men (Hill, 2016). Although they have embraced education, structural inequalities in the United States have acted as barriers to the achievement of their educational and career goals. Some African Americans have been incarcerated, and this is problematic, especially if you want to secure a good job or to further education. Other ways of coping have included getting married or cohabiting with a partner to help solve economic challenges. The interviewee acknowledged the fact that her family had been Christian for a long time. As a result of their suffering and in relation to Christian teachings, they believe in life after death. They also believe sickness is caused by physical, occult, and spiritual reasons. They have accepted that death is natural and that it is a relief or rest from their suffering. Therefore, towards the end of life, they strongly hold on to their faith. Although challenges of segregation have decreased, most of the interviewee’s family members still ha