Thoughts on my Cultural Roots

Angela Carroll
COM 360
Dr. Wilson
9-27-11


It’s amazing to me the sheer amount of difference between me and my very ‘Southern’ ancestors. Just to list a few, we have differences in our: ways of living, beliefs, values, environment, ways of enjoying ourselves, and the foods we eat. On the other hand, my ancestors do have some things in common such as the celebrations we enjoy and our love of nature.

I find unsettling to think that some people I’m related to owned slaves and fought on the Confederate side of the Civil War. Though, I’m also proud to say that some of my relatives worked crops on farms, made clothing in their own homes, and lived through the Depression and times of war while taking care of their many children.

At least the ancestors on my mother’s side and many of my family today come from the Appalachia Mountain region. Yes, I admit, some of them live and have lived similarly to those in the documentary we saw in class, however, most do not.

My great grandmother’s father, my great-great grandfather, George Vendable Stancil, for example, owned his own home and had a farm, complete with cows, chickens, pigs, and even a mare.

Both my great-great grandfather and great-great grandmother, Aida Josephine Stancil could also read and write and taught their three children how to read and write as well, despite not going to school themselves.

The Stancils were, like almost all of my ancestors, mostly agrarian and worked on a farm, children included. George and his family worked in the fields collecting vegetables to sell in the market. Ada also made nearly everything at home including clothing, pillowcases, jam, smoked pork, and soap.


Our shared love for jam=awesome!

My grandmother Grace remembers having to get up early in the morning and working some at the farm before walking several miles into the center of town to attend school. Young children were expected to work like the adults, unlike in today’s American culture.


Free Loader!


Agrarian families tend to have many children because children are a source of help on the farm and can help take care of their parents. Pronatalism, “an attitude or policy that encourages childbearing”, was apparently a common theme in the culture of my ancestors (Miller 78).As an agrarian family (and also possibly because of my ancestor’s Southern Baptist religion) my ancestors tended to have many children.

George and Ada had only three daughters due to the difficulty with the Great Depression and various wars during their life time and because of the decrease in need for extra hands (Miller 78). George’s mother and father, Elizabeth and Cader (or Cade) Stancil, on the other hand, had a total of eight children while, according to my grandmother, Ada’s mother, known only as Mrs. Anderson, had a total of eleven children.

Speaking of my great-great grandfather Cader Stancil and my great-great grandmother, Mrs. Anderson, I think it’s time to briefly discuss the more disturbing parts of my cultural roots. Of course, I try to keep cultural relativity in mind but I, as a product of the more open culture, can’t help but feel a sense of revulsion.

Cader Stancil was a soldier who was a solider in the Confederate army and was enlisted in the 52nd Georgia Infantry Regiment in Company C. I can’t exactly say what Cader Stancil’s motives were in joining the army. He could have felt pressured to do it or he could have simply felt that people should keep slaves, I might never know.

Mrs. Anderson, on the other hand, was definitely for slavery. From what my great grandmother and my grandmother, Linda, have told me, Mrs. Anderson and her family were rather wealthy and owned three-hundred acres of land, a big farm, and slaves. Now, according to my grandmother and great-grandmother, as wealthy people, Mrs. Anderson and her family were the “nice” slave owners.


The Andersons apparently owned other human beings to tend to their domestic needs such as cleaning and cooking and even gave them a small house in the backyard to live in. Great grandmother Grace told me that the Andersons released the slaves but that, “…they wanted to stay.”

Now here’s another source of cultural differences between me and some of my family and that is our perceptions of the reality of slavery. I suppose it may be a product of my education and the times I’ve been raised in but I don’t feel the need to defend people who owned other human beings. I’m able to practice cultural relativity and understand why they did what they did and the context of which they did it in, but I’m not about to attempt to dilute the truth.

At least some of my ancestors owned other human beings.

I doubt that the people who were owned for several years, had nothing but the clothes on their backs, and had nowhere else to go, chose to stay where they were guaranteed food and shelter because the people they served were kind owners, but, really, can I ever be sure?

As appalling as some of my cultural roots are, as twisted and covered with thorns as they can be, there are some more appealing things and people I’m proud of. I respect my great-great grandparents, George and Ada Stancil and the way of life they led.

Of course, I can look down the strict division of labor they followed, like Ada being responsible for all the cooking and making all those pillowcases, and the way they punished their children,behind closed doors and with a 'switch', I too remember this method of punishment.

But I also realize that they laid the groundwork for what I am today. I realize that, like it or not, with all the good and bad that comes with it, I’m of the Appalachian background.


Miller, Barbara D. (2010). Cultural Anthropology in a Globalizing World (2nd ed.). Prentice Hall: New York.

Bonds in Culture

Angela Carroll
COM 360
Dr. Wilson
9-8-11

Marriage

Marriage, like many concepts in society, carries with it a culturally defined meaning. Marriage in one culture, even one protected by legal documents, maybe completely ignored or disregarded in another. Your culture determines a large number of things regarding marriage, including; to whom you want and can get married to, what roles you and your spouse must play in the marriage, your feelings about marriage, and, most importantly for some of us, who plans and who pays for the marriage!

Apart of the American culture, for example, is the idea of the bride, demanding all her ridiculous desires to be met for ‘her’ special day. Her groom is usually shown with a pale face, silently nodding at the expenses while he screams in agony on the inside. They are both paying some of the expenses mind you, but the poor groom is the only one thinking ‘logically’ about it.
Once a joke made by comedians and sitcoms, this concept of the crazed, money burning bride has even become the subject of numerous reality television shows.

GOLD LEAF SHAVINGS ON THE CAKE!!!!

Marriage, according to this view, should be marked with a big extravagant ceremony which shows how much the couple loves each other but also how they wealthy they are, at least how wealthy they want to appear to be, in this capitalist society.

Of course, this surreal version of marriage isn’t the truth for many Americans.

In my own microculture, the idea of marriage could be held at a courthouse and not necessarily in a large church with huge cakes and pretty dresses. Of course, some people would consider this marriage to be ‘loveless’ or ‘desperate’. The idea of a marriage without a ceremony can be taken as a sign of low status, or having a low position in society (156).

In America and elsewhere, those in loving, same-sex relationships would just be happy to be allowed to be married in this way. Many would also enjoy having their marriage to be recognized across their state, for America, or across country lines.

The concept of the bride and love driven marriage, however, is also certainly not the truth for many.

Many different cultures, including the culture of Americans in the past, regard marriage as a business transaction and brides have no say in the marriage. These cultures might require a dowry, a payment of goods and/or services from the bride’s family to the groom’s, to establish the bond (136).

When learning about the Roma, an ethnic group commonly and mistakenly called ‘gypsies’, in a class covering Diverse Peoples, we watched a movie titled Roma Stories . We were introduced to a particular group living in Bari, Italy.

In this group, a fourteen-year old girl named Dorina was arranged to marry a man named Dasu. Dorina’s family and Dasu’s family met and talked about her faults and her positive qualities. Her family gave the Dasu’s family rose liquor and money to seal the agreement.

To understand this cultural view of marriage, we have to consider that among some Roma, life expectancy is not long, the women have different gender roles, and poverty is common. Marriages like Dorina’s are the way the Roma group in Bari, Italy moves lives on.

In the American society, marriage is less about business (well, when it’s going well. Ask any divorced couples what marriage is really at its core…) and more about the concept of love. For some, our partner is supposed to be our companion, the best friend you could have.

Friendship

Like marriage, the concept of friend has many different meanings. In America, we have various categories and these categories may even blur and mix. We have best friends, acquaintances, family-friends, school friends, friends we talk to online, and, a growing group among some, ‘frienemies’, friends who are really enemies. These different categories of friends may have different responsibilities and expectations that we place on them.

I, for example, have a couple of close friends; most of those are also family. I share nearly everything with them and, amazingly, they don’t freak out from the exposure to my craziness. I expect to listen to their problems and would do anything for them short of murder but I also expect the same from them.

Then there are the acquaintances from school and the neighbors from around my neighborhood that I meet during my daily walks. I may talk a little about my life but I would never expect to be able to confide anything of great importance. Our talk largely consist of various topics, such as dog breeds or/and the threats posed by Twilight to female psyches everywhere.

Then there are those special relationships formed with doctors and professors. These too, I, like others, consider within the realm of friends but also know that these friendships come with a professional boundary.

My friends and acquaintances are a very diverse group, however, there are also people who find interaction with those outside your culture to be a violation of social norms and even lethal to your health.

The Roma are an ethnic group which has been oppressed for centuries. They have been made slaves, cast out of nations, were some of the first to be experimented on by the Nazis (Hancock 42), and are still treated with hate.

As a result, some Roma cultures have a belief that time among those that are not Roma, which to them means everyone not in their group, leads to a slow poisoning of one’s energy. This harm can only be restored by spending time with their group (75).

Even though it isn’t defined in the American culture as it is in some Roma beliefs, everyone can agree that spending time amongst friends can be refreshing.

We enjoy spending time with those who share our common culture.


Work Cited

Hancock, Ian. 2010. We are the Romani People. England: University of Hertfordshire Press

Princigalli, Giovanni. 2003. Roma Stories (Japigia GagÌ). Dvd

Miller, Barbara D. (2010). Cultural Anthropology in a Globalizing World (2nd ed.). Prentice Hall: New York