Concept Application Blog-Cultural Reporter Project

Concept Application Blog for Cultural Reporter Project

            Welcome back to my cultural reporter project. I have done some research and for this second blog I am going to tie my research of Jamaican culture to an intercultural concept from our class text.  The concept I am going to use for this is familial identity, which is defined as evidence in many collectivistic cultures that stress the importance of emotional connectedness and interdependence with others (Martin & Nakayama, 2009).  As I stated in my first blog I went on a vacation with my family to the island of Jamaica when I was younger and was very intrigued on how different, and in some ways similar, their family culture is compared to my own.

            Family life is very centralized on the island and close-knit family bonds and togetherness are very important factors surrounding a family.  Sometimes having a three-generation household is a normal occurrence at times and aunts, uncles, and other relatives always have a hand in helping raising a young child.  Grandmothers sometimes even take charge of raising a preschool age child as well because the mother is working during the day and daycares are very seldom within the culture (Jamaica, 2012).  It is also encouraging to have children form strong bonds with the family when they are young and progressively form a more independent relationship, as they get older.  Young Jamaican adults usually get married and form some kind of an interdependence relationship in their mid to late twenties, which is a little later in life than the average American young adult. It seems that emotional stability and acceptance is also another big part of the culture in the fact that they seem to put family first before anything else in life and having an emotional bond starts with the family before anything else (Jamaica, 2012).

            There are also some cultural activities that are used as family bonding times that are viewed as ways to bring the family closer together.  Music is a big part of the culture and they often have music festivals complete with reggae music, drums, and Jamaican style dances.  These are very fun ways for a family to enjoy the outdoors as well as continuing to form strong family bonds (Ja Ma, 2010).

After learning some of these specifics on how people within the culture function and interact it seems to me that they are very similar to some cultures, like my own, here in America.  Family ties, closeness, and togetherness all describe the familial identity of Jamaicans.  If any family member needs the help of another through a life event they can always count on them to be there to help.

My future intercultural reactions will influence me immensely after spending the time to research some of these examples of how the Jamaican culture handles family interactions.  Their culture is surprisingly similar to my own familial identity and what I was grown up to be familiar with.  My family always put love ahead of everything else when I was growing up and my parents, siblings, and I have had close-knit ties our whole lives.  This is definitely one of the top priorities within their culture as well. 

• This is a video of an actual Jamaican steel drum and bass band that was recorded on the island of Jamaica.  This is one of the most popular styles of music within the culture.

 Reference Page

Martin, J.N. & Nakayama, T.K. (2009).  Intercultural Communication in Contexts:        

 (Fifth Edition). McGraw Hill Higher Education.

Jamaica. (2012).  Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopedia Britannica Online: Retrieved at    http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/299716/Jamaica/214963/Daily-life 

Ja Ma. (2010).  Countries and Their Cultures. Countries and Their Cultures: Retrieved at

            http://www.everyculture.com/Ja-Ma/Jamaica.html#b   

•  The picture painting on the bottom right is very interesting.  It depicts a gathering of a Jamaican family reunion and truly pictures the activities and the closeness that the family culture in Jamaica is based on.