Interracial and interethnic families

Public crises about 'dysfunctional' families appear with alarming frequency in the public arena. The issue of transracial adop­tion was one which was widely reported in the press up to the mid-1990s. Kirton (2000) suggests that one of the reasons why the debate died down was because increasing numbers of people were involved in interracial relationships and were setting up families of their own. If people are choosing to form transracial relationships, how can others argue against it in the field of adoption? The main reason for main­taining 'same race' placements is still the claim that it is impossible for white people to understand racism and to teach authentic cultural identities to black children.

These kinds of concerns are shared by those who are against interracial relation­ships, which may produce 'mixed-race' chil­dren. Opponents of interracial relationships often argue that children from such families may grow up with an 'identity crisis' and that, like transracially adopted children, they may face hostility from both communities.

What is the real reason for these public anxieties? It seems that the words 'race' and 'culture' are used interchangeably in many of these debates. You do not learn how to 'be black'; 'race' is a socially constructed way of categorising humans in hierarchies. However, racism based on skin colour and other aspects of appearance is all too preva­lent, and it needs to be considered in how we talk about interethnic families. It has been argued that the 'new racism' often takes the form of cultural prejudice, such as opposition to religious beliefs.

Despite this seemingly gloomy picture, interracial families are more common than ever before. A growing number of interracial families now fall within a 'black/white' mix, but there are also significant numbers of Asian/white and 'other groups' relation­ships, too. The numbers of children who are of 'mixed race' are also increasing at a very high rate. The statistics gathered from the 1991 census showed that 70% of the black/white group, 52% of the Asian/white group and 56% of the 'other/mixed' group of children are under 16 (Phoenix and Owen 2000). The 2001 census introduced a new category of 'mixed race' in order to collect information about this growing group of people.

Interethnic family futures

The increasing numbers of people who are choosing to make interracial relationships and start families that cross racial and ethnic divides is surely encouraging. Not only are family structures changing, but relationships within families are giving rise to new ethnic and cultural identities. Increasingly, we need to look for new ways of thinking through kinship and families in relationship to ethnicity. All these terms are being rethought in the light of changing family 'shapes'.

Research into families has until now been overwhelmingly based upon 'mono-racial' models. As shown above, responses to 'white' sociology have come from others from a singular racial or ethnic identity, such as, for example, from African-Caribbean positions. There is, as yet, very little research into the ways in which interethnic families deal with their own interesting and complex histories.

Interracial families may have to face hostility from those who believe that 'culture' or 'race' should be kept 'pure', but the majority of people are increasingly unconcerned about such issues. Problems that face interracial families are often the same as those for many mono-racial fami­lies. The point is not to look at specific fami­lies as functional or dysfunctional, but rather at the societal pressures that make family life difficult (Breger and Hill 1998).

Interracial and interethnic families are at the forefront of debates on the meaning of 'race' and how racism operates in contem­porary society. In their research into black and white interracial families, Tizard and Phoenix (1993) found that the way which parents dealt with issues such identity and racism was not dependent their own racial identity but more on how politicised they were. In other words black mother of a mixed-race child was more likely than a white mother in the same situation to tackle racism and make that issue a central aspect of daily life. This challenges common-sense assumptions well as some of the arguments against aspects of transracial adoption.

Conclusion

The idea that races are 'pure' is erroneous but so is the idea that 'cultures' are pure. In multicultural countries such as Britain, traditional culture comes from a variety sources. In everyday family practices, routine and ordinary events, such as cooking and cleaning, as well as family occasions such as feast days and festivals, interethnic families work with wide varieties of cultural influences. In these families, no simple generalisations can be made.

Recent research suggests that the way families choose to deal with these issues depend upon their views about 'race' and racism in general. On many levels, family life for interracial families is the same as for any other family, but it is also influenced by sometime unconventional histories which provide insights into the role of the family in forming racialised identities and how people negotiate a sense of belonging in their local and global communities.

 Task 3. Read the article one more time and find words or phrases that could replace the following without changing the meaning.

traditional to aim at smth worry

not to suit to create problems sad

to represent to meet unfriendliness optimistic

 Task 4. Finish these statements in accordance with the article you have read. Try to extend them giving some evidence and examples.

1. The study of interethnic families raises particularly interesting questions about ________________

2. Into the 1970s, 'the family' was still largely referred to ______________________________________

3. During the 1980s it was suggested that it was better for children to grow up in _________________

4. Opponents of interracial relationships often argue that children from such families may grow up with _________________________________________________________________________________

5. Despite this seemingly gloomy picture, interracial families are ______________________________

6. Problems that face interracial families are _____________________________________________

 Task 5. Read the answers to the following wh-questions asked about various facts and opinions given in the article. The first word is given to you: try to reconstruct the question in full:

1) What_______________________________________________?

- Talcott Parsons, Young and Wilmott, Marx.

2) How_______________________________________________ ?

- They saw it as an important site for the reproduction of state ideologies.

3) How_______________________________________________ ?

- During the 1980s, many studies of the family began responding to the fact that the conventional

models of family life were having a negative effect on those families which fell outside the traditional frame.

4) What ______________________________________________ ?

• The difference is that “postmodern” family is more flexible than the traditional nuclear family, which can be seen, for example, in various forms it takes.

5) Why_______________________________________________ ?

- It was suggested because the parents from the “mono-racial” family would teach their offspring a better understanding of race and in this way maintain stronger cultural identity.

6) Where______________________________________________ ?

- Interracial families may have to face hostility from those who believe that 'culture' or 'race' should be kept 'pure'.

S UB-UNIT 1.3. father’s role in a family

WARMING-UP:

Task 1. Read a famous quotation about father’s role in a family. What is your reaction to it? Do you consider it to be true? Why/why not? Comment on the problem tackled here.

By the time a man realizes that maybe his father was right, he usually has a son who thinks he's wrong. Charles Wadsworth

 Task 2. Scan a short extract describing an example of the father’s role in a family and answer the question:

- Why did Samuel Johnson reflect (=remember) on “the fishing day” with his father as the most important day in his life?

There is a story of Boswell, the famous biographer of Samuel Johnson. In his advanced years, Boswell reflected on the most important day of his life. He said it happened one day during his youth, when his father had invited him to go fishing. While most of his childhood days had long since been forgotten, during that one day Boswell said that he learned about what life was about through example. Some hard-working historian decided to track down the diary of Boswell's father to see how he reflected on that most important day in the life of his famous son. The entry: "Went fishing today with my son. A whole day wasted."

 Task 3. Read the following text dealing with possible reasons of the traditional father’s role and some recent changes happening within a family. After reading each of the sentences in column 1, look at column 2 and choose the sentence which you think is most likely to follow. Go on in the same way until you reach the end of the text. At the end of the text you find a number of words with their definitions with that might be new for you.

Column 1		Column 2
1) How has dad become such a peripheral guy? Why do only three out of five American children live with their biological fathers? Historians inform us that in colonial America it was the father who was the primary socializer, particularly of young males. Carl Degler, for instance, observes how, until the early 1800's, child-rearing manuals were not even addressed to mothers.	?	a) In these patriarchal times, the old man was, indeed, "king of his castle." His children were his property (when they said that's "Joe's son," the statement was referring to this property status and not a genetic connection). b) But, despite massive research, historians have not located a “golden age of the family”. For example, the marriages of 17th century England were based on family and property needs, not on choice of affection. c) So, educators of the European medieval and Enlightment periods were worried about the strength and character of the family.
2) With industrialization and the bifurcation of public and private life, dads' primary (and socially approved) activities were in work sphere while the sphere of mothers' control was in family life (this process is often called "feminization of the domestic sphere").	?	a) This is particularly revealing in relation to childcare. Women often underestimate the amount of time they spend in childcare. Men, on the other hand, tend to define any time spent with children as childcare. b) Although the authority a man or a woman enjoys in family decision making is influenced by their personalities, societies too dictate who is expected to be the dominant figure. c) Adequacy of one's performance of his father role was largely judged on the basis of his "breadwinner" activities.
3) In 1900, one observer noted how "the suburban husband and father" had become "almost entirely a Sunday institution." To this day, corporate America advises the new father not to take parental leave if he is to be "taken seriously." The role of "father" is strongly related to roles of "mother" which has changed dramatically over the post-war years.	?	a) American men seem preoccupied with dominance and power. In fact, thy could take pleasure in their partner’s success only if it was not superior to their own. b) Some research indicates that, when men enter marriage, their participation in housework falls and their leisure time increases. c) Over the postwar era, as families have become increasingly leisure- and child- oriented, instead of serving as a role model in dealing with the public sphere, fathers now often sit on the sidelines to view their children's performances in sports and in the arts.
4) There are, however, signs of change. Firstly, nowadays, more than 90% of fathers are present in the delivery room, compared to almost none thirty years earlier. Secondly, according to a 1993 report issued by the Population Reference Bureau, fathers are the primary care givers for one in five preschoolers whose mothers work.	?	a) So, most mothers have to combine their “traditional” duties with being a family breadwinner. b) And finally, there is a growing market for fathering "self-help" books and websites, with such titles as How to Father, Pregnant Fathers, The Birth of a Father and How to Father a Successful Daughter. c) But, still a number of fathers find it difficult to provide their children with necessary care and affection.

Peripheral – minor, secondary, less important;

Affection – a feeling of fondness and caring that you have for another people;

Bifurcation – a process when something is divided into two separate parts;

Preschooler – a child who does not go to school yet.

 Task 4. Try to reproduce the context where these words and phrases where used. Can you explain what they mean?

1. "king of his castle";

2. “golden age of the family”;

3. "feminization of the domestic sphere”;

4. "almost entirely a Sunday institution";

5. “Pregnant Fathers”;

6. "breadwinner" activities.

 Task 5. Using the words from the box, fill in the gaps to make statements about sociological aspects of family institute.

affection pregnancy bifurcation promiscuity

breadwinner child-rearing parental leave feminization

1. Modern ___________ manuals and self-help books are addressed not only to mothers, but to fathers, too.

2. For a long period of time _____________ of the domestic sphere could be seen in many aspects of social life.

3. Even nowadays family relations are often based on family and property needs, not on ________.

4. In many companies fathers are not encouraged to have ___________ if they do not want to risk their job.

5. Historically father’s role in a family was associated with being a _____________ .

6. Unplanned __________ often leads to unwanted children who are often left at orphanages.

7. Industrial revolution caused ___________of public and private life that also had its impact on division of roles and responsibilities in the family.

8. Lack of traditional family values makes some young couples enjoy __________ outside of marriage.

 Task 6. Work in groups of 2-3 to make up a list of questions for an interview. Try to find out how people of different age-groups see the problem of family, which perspectives they stick to, which solutions they suggest to strengthen the family institute in your country. Use the topics below and the vocabulary from the box to help you prepare your list of questions: