Overall Summary

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During this ethnographic research project, I have learned many new things about kinship and have been able to apply what I learned to my own family. Kinship can be chosen family or blood related and especially in America, there are many families who have several chosen family members through divorces and marriages. Thanksgiving in America is a time where mostly everyone comes jointly together with their family to spend time collected and keep up biological relationships and affinal relationships. Thanksgiving provides a time that is meant for family. Americans, these days, are so caught up with work, school, and other priorities they often forget to put family first. My family, for example, gathers on thanksgiving to spend time catching up, sharing laughs, and practicing our traditions. The people you consider family, chosen or not, will always be there for you and Thanksgiving is a time to come together to appreciate that.  “Of course, humans also form groups through work, religion, education, and politics. But non compare to the power of families and kinship networks to provide support and nurture, ensure reproduction of the next generation, protect group assets, and influence social, economic, and political systems” (236). Kenneth J. Guest. 2016. Cultural Anthropology. W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. This quote is a perfect example of what kinship influences and Thanksgiving is important in relations with kinship because it is a time for your whole kinship group to share experiences, opinions, and stories that can shape our everyday American lives. I hope you enjoy this photo gallery of my clan!

My Sister

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I did an over the phone interview with my sister while she was in Mexico for work during the Thanksgiving break. Her answer to my question, what do you believe is the relationship between kinship and Thanksgiving, was, “Every year families and love ones gather to share food and laughter, because this holiday season is about being connected. It’s about celebrating the bond with your loved ones and being grateful that you have them to support you.”

My Father

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Next I asked my father what he believes to be the relationship between kinship and Thanksgiving. “Many of the experiences you have with your family are not just from Thanksgivings. They are gathered over time at several gatherings, but to me Thanksgiving is the time I am grateful to be part of this family!”

My Mother

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I interviewed my mother and asked her what she thinks the relationship between Thanksgiving and kinship is. The main answer in her response was, “Kin I believe can be your family through blood or your family through marriage. Thanksgiving gives us a time to get together and strengthen the bonds that we have with our family through tradition and food.”

Exogamy

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This photo shows my aunt and uncle who have a standard marriage for people in this country. Throughout my research I was putting key words into play and found out that most American families practice exogamy. Exogamy means “Marriage to someone outside the kinship group” (249). Kenneth J. Guest. 2016. Cultural Anthropology. W.W Norton & Company, Inc.

Chosen Family

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As you can see in this photo, I have a big family and half the people pictured are family by choice. “People in the Untied States are increasingly creating kinship through choice. Step-parents, step-children, step-siblings, as well as families with adopted children…” (256). Kenneth J. Guest. 2016. Cultural Anthropology. W.W Norton & Company, Inc.

Nuclear Family

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This picture is showing after our great Thanksgiving meal prepped by my father, some of the women in my family doing the dishes. While my father does most of the cooking, my aunts, cousins, and mother tend to be the ones cleaning after our meals. This shows the half of my family that sticks to nuclear family traditions.

Grandparents

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I have learned from my research that “Though the divorce rate has been 50 percent for more than three decades, today in the United States we are creatively renegotiating kinship after divorce” (265). Kenneth J. Guest. 2016. Cultural Anthropology. W.W. Norton & Company. Both of my parent’s parents are divorced so I have four sets of grandparents who mostly make the holidays work but switch off years for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Traditions

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Food has always been a tradition that is very important to my family. My family has a prominent Native American background and when we come together for gatherings we have many traditions we like to stick to, and eating well is one of them. Not only on Thanksgiving do we practice traditions, but every time we gather. Our clan and traditions are very important to us

Elliot

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This is photograph of my very close cousin’s first born baby boy, Elliot. I have always called him my nephew because my cousin and I are very close and I just never new the exact terminology. After researching the complicated family tree line, I have learned that Elliot is my first cousin once removed.