Running head: ETHNOGRAPHIC STUDY: MY FAMILY OF ORIGIN

Ethnographic Study: My Family of Origin

Samira Ali
Wayne State University

Professor Sharonlyn Harrison

Diversity, Oppression and Social Justice SW 3110
March 13, 2015

ETHNOGRAPHIC STUDY: MY FAMILY OF ORIGIN

Ethnographic Study: My Family of Origin

Family is the most precious thing one could ever ask for. Having a family, makes ones life
complete. However, as I gathered information to put together this ethnographic study, I was able
to find my ancestors and family ties back to nine generations. The research indicates that my
ancestors are very diverse and they came from different backgrounds; a lot of them resided in
Kentucky while others migrated from different countries. My family consists of diverse roots
which are: American Indian, Irish, French, German, and Arab (specifically from the Middle
Eastern countryYemen). Furthermore, this research helped me understand my family roots in
addition to the values and beliefs I still adhere to. Each one of the cultures mentioned is unique in
a way and some still affect my life and decisions.
Being part of five different cultures helped me discover how important family is and how
interesting it is to unite consistently with members of the same family and get to know them. I get
my Arab roots from my fathers side, while the restAmerican Indian, Irish, French, and German
root s are all from my mothers side. However, I looked up some records which were the only
available records and learned that I am a member of the eighth generation of James Howell who
was born prior to 1804 and descends from the state of Kentucky. Furthermore, as I interviewed
some family members, I was told to look up a webpagefamilytreemaker.genealogy.comin
which a family tree was created by Kathy Hamilton, who was also a family member and always
insisted on uniting the children of James Howell. (Hamilton, 2008). Kathy Hamilton is now
deceased, and it seems like no one else provided any updates after her death. This briefly explains
my relation to my maternal side which consists of all American Indian, Irish, French, and German

ETHNOGRAPHIC STUDY: MY FAMILY OF ORIGIN

cultures. Although I have derived from diverse culture, yet I am only aware of the American
(maternal side) and Arabic cultures (paternal side).
Furthermore, my father was born and raised in the Middle Eastern countryYemen.
Apart from the political clashes, Yemen is one of the oldest countries and has a distinct cultural
tradition of its own. Yemen society and culture reflect the lifestyle of the Yemeni people and their
traditional aspects (Santon and Ramsamy, 2012, p. 380). The Yemeni cultural beliefs are very
unfair to women; men are always placed as the head of everything while a womans place is only
at home. Women are enforced to obey their spouses orders, cook, clean, raise the children and
literally just stay at home. Most women and girls are uneducated, illiterate and most were never
allowed to attend school either. Additionally, the language and culture of Yemen is
predominantly guided by Arabian laws and customs. There are many tribal and religious
distinctions in Yemeni society, which is based on location. As an example, the people of Tihamah
coastal areas are of mixed African and Arabian descent, and the Zaydi tribal group comprises Shia
Muslims who live in the northern mountainous region and have a different culture and political
views (Santon and Ramsamy, 2012, p. 380). Furthermore, many Yemeni people live in rural
areas, suffer from poverty and are deprived from life necessities. My paternal family was part of
the poor population and went through various obstacles and were also deprived from numerous
living essentials until they one day migrated to the United States of America and fulfilled their
dreams.
In addition, my father was the only immigrant in his family. He moved to the United States
during 1970 seeking the American dream. He worked very hard to earn a living and sent most of
his income back home for the rest of the family. He shared an apartment with five other

ETHNOGRAPHIC STUDY: MY FAMILY OF ORIGIN

immigrants in order to be able to cover the rent and bills. My father obtained a job as a busboy at
a restaurant where he worked double shifts. Two years later, he met my mother and they got
married. My parents loved each other and accepted one another for whom they are. They
respected each others cultural and religious beliefs. They were very understanding and
cooperative. After my brother and I were born and as we got a little older, my mother decided to
take us on a trip to Yemen to get introduced to our relatives and the Arab culture. The trip took
place in 1986.
Visiting Yemen was a very unique experience. We got to learn about our background and
culture, as we also met our relatives and cousins. Yemeni families have strong family ties, even
those who migrated abroad, are determined to protect those values. Hence, you would find fifteen
members of the same family in one household. They actually like to have large families. They live,
sleep, and eat together. Women would be in the kitchen (which consisted of just a stove and a big
tablecloth to eat on the floor) for many hours making food, they would serve the men and not eat
until men have completed their meal. Women have always eaten the leftovers. Women walked
down to the stream or well every day and filled their buckets with water for cooking, drinking,
and washing. Another thing which was different, is that they had no silverware to use, everyone
ate with their right hand only. This was a new uninteresting experience for me although I gave it a
try. Furthermore, when proposing to a girl for marriage, the Yemeni tradition requires a man to
pay a large amount of dowry not only for the girl but for her parents as well. The amount of dowry
paid depends on the parents request. These traditions are continuing even during the modern
times and Yemenis are accustomed to them even if they live abroad, like in the United States. My
cousin who recently got married had to pay his in-laws forty thousand dollars besides the things

ETHNOGRAPHIC STUDY: MY FAMILY OF ORIGIN

he had to buy for his bride-to-be and the costs of the wedding. The bride and her family are only
accountable the costs of the engagement. Speaking of marriage and dowry, many people avoided
divorce when they had problems due to the high costs and the money they had to pay. My parents
got divorced twenty-two years after their marriage. However, few years after their divorce, my
brother went to Yemen along with my father to get married and there my father met my brothers
future sister in law and as his heart began to beat again, he decided to remarr y. My brother and my
father married sisters and had a joint wedding. Hence, this wedding cost them at least seventythousand dollars. On the other hand, my mom remarried and got divorced again and currently lives
on her own. In addition, I currently have four half-brothers and two half-sisters from my fathers
new wife. Moreover, my fathers parents got divorced and his father got remarried and had three
children from his wife Ghadeeba (means making someone angry). My grandparents lived in a rural
area and they were very poor. They had two boys, Saleh and Anis (social), one girls Afrah
(happiness). Their only daughter Afrah was thirteen years old when Abdulrahman proposed to her.
Abdulrahman was deaf and rich. The family accepted to marry her off due to poverty and lack of
money. Nevertheless, a groom and bride are attached to their respective descent groups through
the male line: The father of the groom has to pay a brideprice mahr, and the family of the bride is
expected to help her in time of hardship. Arab custom regards as ideal a parallel cousin marriage
in which the fathers brothers daughter is the bride as well as other endogamous marriages
(Countries & their Cultures, No Date). Afrah decided to marry Abdulrahman to help her family
and therefore, she accepted and as soon as she received her dowry, she gave it to my father and
encouraged him to apply for a visa to travel to the United States of America.

ETHNOGRAPHIC STUDY: MY FAMILY OF ORIGIN

Furthermore, Yemenis continue to dress in the traditional garments that have been worn
by Yemenis for generations; in fact, a curved ceremonial dagger known as the jambiya is still
carried in the belts of Yemeni men (Marcovitz, 2014 p. 1). Most men still wear hatta and eqal
(scarf) on their heads and skirts also known as footah, which is a piece of colorful material that
they wrap around their waist twice and half-fold it. Many Yemeni women follow strict Islamic
dress codes and cover their faces in public. And most men in Yemen gather each afternoon to
chew gat, a mild stimulant that has become as much a part of the culture in Yemen as chewing
gum is in the United States (Marcovitz, 2014, p. 1). As visitors of the country, we did not have
to abide to their dress code but we chose to just for the fun of the experience. As a female, I put
on a long dress (jilbab), and covered my hair with a scarf; my dress was very colorful as well. I
also wore many bangle bracelets and twenty-one gold karat necklace. The only reason I was able
to afford them is because I had just went there from the States. Everyone looked up to us and
were astonished by our dress code, lifestyle, diet, and most importantly education. Most of those
individuals did not welcome diversity or other cultures as their beliefs differed from ours.
Nevertheless, they ended up being friendly and liking us but it took them some time to adjust and
accept us the way we are. Today, Yemen has developed tremendously. So while Yemen is still
largely rural, its cities are growing very fast and urban life is rapidly taking shape in Yemen today
(Caton, 2013, p. 23).
However, my cultural identity influences my work as a social worker because it
enlightened me to open up to everyone and accept people for whom they are. I strongly believe
that diversity is an essential part of ones life. Every individual is in need of expressing themselves,
although people express in different ways. In addition, I did not like the way I was approached in

ETHNOGRAPHIC STUDY: MY FAMILY OF ORIGIN

the beginning and therefore, I would not make others feel the way I did. This is another way that
my cultural identity influences my values as a social worker.

ETHNOGRAPHIC STUDY: MY FAMILY OF ORIGIN

Reference
Caton, S. (2013). Yemen (Nations in Focus) (p. 371). ABC-CLIO.
Countries and their cultures (culture of Yemen). Retrieved March 9, 2015, from
http://www.everyculture.com/To-Z/Yemen.html#ixzz3U2J7Xn66
Hamilton, K. (2008, April 1). Howell's, Hall's, Hamilton & many others of Floyd County KY.
Retrieved March 9, 2015, from http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/h/a/m/KathyA-Hamilton/index.html
Marcovitz, H. (2014). Yemen (p. 120). Mason Crest.
Santon, A., and Ramsamy, E. (2012). Cultural sociology of the Middle East, Asia, and Africa:
An encyclopedia (p. 1976). SAGE.