It is no secret that in a large number of Black families, the father is gone. I am blessed because my parents have pretty much shared responsibilities for the home and our income; we have no gender issues.
SEVEN: Is a language other than English used in your household? No
EIGHT: Give examples of nonverbal communication that you can trace to your culture. Typically African-Americans make strong eye contact with each other. Certainly in my family they do. Culturally it is true that African-Americans use more eye contact when they are talking and less when listening. Also, African-Americans touch or hug on greeting.
NINE: How does your family trace its roots? My family knows our roots and we learn all we need to know from our grandparents; our grandparents kept personal biographies so we are pretty much up-to-date.
TEN: How does your culture teach you to relate to people in other communities? Are there rules and expectations on how to treat people outside our own culture and community? We know for example that other cultures are not as apt to want to be touched on greeting. Asians, for example, when you buy something at the 7-11 store, won't hand you the change. They will put it on the counter. In their culture, they don't want to touch the other person especially if he is a stranger. That is one example. We also know Asians don't make eye contact like we do; you show respect by avoiding eye contact.
ELEVEN: What are some of the values and attitudes related to work in your culture. What kind of work is meaningful? How important is work or professional standing in the ways that members of your community develop a self-concept? We go to work and interact according to the values and ethics in our workplace, and I don't see that there is any particular cultural (African-American) style or pattern regarding work. Work that is honest and productive is meaningful work. There are many African-Americans right now that are struggling and out of work, which hurts the dignity of the person, along with the ability to be self-sustaining.
TWELVE:...
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