Week 5: Kinship Chart & Analysis

My dad, Pete, is 50 years old and was born in Los Angeles, CA. His mother is of African American and Creole decent, and his father is African American. He grew up in Los Angeles, CA with his parents and 4 siblings. As a child, his father was the "strict" one you can say and his mother was the more easy going. Unfortunately, throughout that time both his father and brother were deceased. His mother and 3 sisters soon moved to San Fernando Valley where they spent the rest of their life. He later married and had a daughter, but divorced. He is now still living in San Fernando Valley with his girlfriend.

In the beginning, the interview was sort of awkward as it was my dad I was interviewing. He didn't really understand the purpose of my interview in the beginning, so it was hard to get started. Once started, I began very interested in past stories and hearing him reminisce on his past and childhood. The more we got into the interview, the more it turned into just a regular conversation where I was able to learn about my family before my time. I think if I was to interview someone I was unrelated to, it would be even more interesting as I wouldn't know anything about the interviewee and their family.

The kinship of my family, is actually kind of confusing. Up until making this chart, I did not even realize how some of my cousins that are my age, are actually my second cousins. Since my great grandma has 4 kids, we have 4 smaller families inside of our big family. Some families are bigger with lots of kids, while others are small with little to no kids. My grandma has the biggest inner family, with her 5 kids, 8 grand kids, & 2 great grand kids. The cousins all have their own little groups based on their ages, so like each generation of cousins are pretty much the closet. In my family, there is really no different attitudes towards the older and younger family members, other than the younger ones make sure to respect and help out our elders.  A lot of my family is mixed with two or more races. It seems that throughout the years, we have had more bi-racial babies born into our family. There are no conflicts with social interactions between the different races, we actually welcome them more and enjoy the mixture of our family.

Although my parents divorced when I was young, I still am fairly close with both sides of my family. As a child, I would rotate holidays between both families spending equally time with them. Since my dads family lives closer than my moms, I do see and socialize with his side more. On my dad's side, I would say my grandma has the most influence on family decisions, as she is the backbone of our family. She is the one we all can go to, from 1 years old to 55 years old, and she will make sure she helps us regardless what it may take. Family members married into the family are not treated any differently than our family. We are all very protective of each other, so in the beginning we may be hesitant of someone new. On my moms side, it is fairly different. Her side is Caucasian, with her being the only mixed child (she was adopted) and only child to have mixed children. Although we are all mixed and my father & step father are African American, my mom's side of the family still treated them like they are apart of the family. Something that I have seen (on my dad's side) in our "smaller" family is that my grandma is more motherly to the boys. I am sure that goes along the lines of a "momma's baby" and she is still motherly to the girls, just maybe worries more about the boys. She is always checking up on the boys and just making sure they are okay and don't need anything. She does the same for the girls, it's just not as much. This has taught me about my family before my time allowed me to hear it from my dad's side, making it all more interesting. Although I have made family trees in the past as a child, the kinship chart allowed me to really see the different families and how they have grown.

Kinship Chart