Cultural traits are unique behaviors, traditions, attitudes, and beliefs that make a particular group or individual unique and distinct. The influences that culture can have on one’s behavior is vast. It impacts one’s worldview and influences how one observes the solutions to be implemented in different situations. As an African American, the unique cultural trait that has impacted me is the emphasis and maintenance of close ties with community and family member. The community around plays a huge role in influencing and shaping the individual. It can offer different types of support such as emotional, financial, and social support. The family setup is in the form of an extended family where grandparents, aunties or uncles, cousins, and other relatives are included in the family. The culture traits of close ties and the emphasis of community and family in the African American culture has its origin in being a minority group hence the need to support each other and this has impacted my practice of family therapy both positively and negatively.
Explanation of the Trait
The specific cultural trait is that of the emphasis of the importance of community and family and maintaining close ties with them. Such a culture involves having an extended family where grandparents, aunts and uncles, and godparents are usually regarded to be a part of the family. The community could involve surrounding neighbors, close friends, and the surrounding religious groups. Maintaining a close connection with one’s extended family members and the community is regarded as important in the culture. Therefore, a variety of people such as family, relatives, relatives, and those in the wider social network are usually regarded as family. The support and guidance of the family and the community are thus critical to make personal decisions. One thus relies on the surrounding family for social support, emotional support, and financial support.
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Origins of the Trait
The origin of the trait could be based on the history of slavery and the fact that African Americans are a minority group. The history of slavery was a difficult time where African Americans had to offer each other social and emotional support. This made them highly reliant on the community around them. As a minority group, African Americans have often had insufficient financial resources. Insufficient financial resources involved factors such as low income and high costs of living. During economic hardships, extended families have always proved to be beneficial as they decreased the economic troubles. African Americans thus benefited when they created families that would be able to support each other. This made it necessary to have close ties with one’s family and community to offer support in areas and resources which they lacked.
Maintaining close ties among African Americans can also be linked to having its origins to the family traditions in West Africa where most of the African Americans were taken as slaves. The West African communities mostly lived as extended families and had close ties with the surrounding community which identified itself as a clan. The establishment of a clan was done through having ties to a common ancestor. African Americans would have thus brought these customs and beliefs even when they were in the period of slavery and later passed the traits to their children.
Insight to Culture from the Trait
Close ties to one’s community and family provide insight into how the culture arises and shows how the decision-making process functions within the community. The trait of having close ties provides insight into the culture of African Americans as it shows that they have a rich history of slavery, being a minority group, and they have their origin in Africa. The trait thus provides insights into the African culture which has its traits in Africa. The cultural trait impacts the functioning of individuals as making critical decisions about one’s life would have to involve one’s extended family and sometimes the community. Those that are young thus rely on the advice of the elderly. Additionally, the emphasis on the importance of the community and family would mean that the interests and needs of the community and family are regarded as a priority compared to that of the individual.
Positive Impact from the Trait
As a family therapist, coming from a culture where the importance of family and maintaining close ties with one’s community is regarded as important can help improve my therapy. From a personal perspective, I have learned about how to communicate and relate better with others and how to resolve disputes and help others resolve issues. Interacting with a large number of people and the community around can help me become culturally aware to the needs of different people. I can apply these lessons when interacting with my clients. I can also use my past experiences about how the family unit functions and how it is impacted by the community around to help different families solve their problems.
Negative Impact
The negative impact that the trait could have would be that I may be biased and could emphasize the clients maintain strong ties with their extended families and communities. Having come from a background where the community and extended family offered support in solving issues and disputes and making decisions, I may find myself advising or asking clients to be more involved in their communities or extended families. However, some clients may come from family backgrounds where the nuclear family is the only family structure and advising them to have close ties with the community and extended family will not be a feasible solution. I thus need to learn that different people come from different backgrounds and that some people may come from backgrounds that have no close ties with their communities and families. I need to learn how to look objectively at the cases and not make assumptions by believing that not maintaining close ties with their families could be one of the main problems.
Conclusion
The cultural trait that was unique to me as an African American was that of maintaining close ties with the extended family and the community. Emphasis was also made on the importance of the community. This cultural trait had its origin on the difficulties of African Americans as a minority group and their history of slavery. It could also come from West Africa where African Americans were taken from as slaves. The specific cultural trait thus provides understanding about the history of African Americans and how they have retained specific cultures throughout history. The emphasis and maintaining close ties with one’s community and family could positively impact family therapy as it could be directly applied to families as they solve their disputes and issues. However, this can create some form of bias as I can view that problems with family can stem from not having close ties with families and communities. To avoid this, I need to learn how to view each family uniquely.
