Write- Up

The focus of the assignment was to look at the ways in which American culture intersected with politics; however because I was spending the holiday with my Cuban family I had an interesting perspective into kinship and migration as well. I observed my Cuban family’s thanksgiving in Miami, Florida that gathered in the family-owned tea shop on November 23, 2017 for a celebration of an American holiday, despite almost everyone being an immigrant. The elderly mostly congregated outside, the women worked in the kitchen baking and cooking, the men were outside frying the turkey, and the children and young adults were free to wander as they pleased. Because I was spending the holiday with my Cuban family, American culture was not really present at the celebration and instead certain aspects of American culture were incorporated as the immigrant Cubans have adopted elements of American cultures throughout their assimilation processes throughout the years.  The none-blood related kin, such as the affinal related relatives and close family friends, added an element of American culture, as many of them were not Cuban themselves. Because of the uniqueness of the Cuban structure of the celebration, the extreme nationalistic pride that many of the relatives felt towards Cuba made for an interesting perspective on the way in which migration affected the culture presented. Furthermore, the political structure was built around age, gender, and amount of family blood in an untraditional way, all of which affected what tasks were assigned to whom. Consequently, the history of migration effected the openness and inclusivity that most people had towards defining kinship, which served as a defining factor for the political structure of the roles assigned.