"Family"
is a term that has both a sociological and scientific meaning. We see
that with the various ways that family has been defined in the past and
today. We also see the approaches to define family reflected in
biological and sociological approaches. What do these differences mean
for who we think we are and why?
In many
ancient and traditional societies, family is traced through the mother
(matrilineal). We are familiar with the nod to this ancient tradition
with the contemporary observation, often meant as a put-down, of "mama's
baby, daddy's maybe." This is also associated with "dignity" cultures
which feel that all people have self-worth regardless of the status or
achievements. This approach is relational and based on kinship ties.
While
in more recent history (even though we are talking about a long time
ago) the rise of family traced through the father,
or patrilineal, has become a dominant cultural practice. With this
orientation we find the use of the ideas of 'legitimate' and
'illegitimate' children. This approach is thought to be primarily
contractual and designed to define inheritance. It is reflected in the
idea of 'bastard' child.
The two cultural
approaches of honor cultures and dignity cultures result in big
differences of ideas and approaches to issues of identity and
worthiness. In dignity cultures, you were born with a purpose. That fact
that you are alive means the Creator brought you here with a purpose
and therefore you have value. In honor cultures, you have to earn your
right to be respected and your value is based on your accomplishments.
The
dominant European culture in the United States is a patrilineal honor
culture. But echoes of ancestral Afrikan cultural practices continue to
shape and impact us even today. While the Woulard and Woullard Family
Reunion uses the surname of a male potential patriarch, Benjamin
Woulard, it clearly identifies our kinship through a matrilineal process
because we all recognize and identify our kinship through Mary Woulard.
Genetics and genealogy can provide biological and sociological
information and context to our journey. But we all know that we are the
descendants of mama's babies (Frank, Frances, Martha, Tom, Jerry).
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
Posts
