Artifact 1

I’ve discussed with many friends the manners in which I was raised. I tend to describe it as a largely hands off approach. In some sense the activity is consistent with these memories as very few of the questions aligned with values either my parents or I had. Most of my internal responses upon reading the questions were either, “well it depends” or “not exactly”. My parents were firm in wanting us to formulate our own value system. My brother and I were exposed to religion when we were children, but in our teen years we were no longer obligated to go. As a minority my process of enculturation was a complicated one due to growing up as a black American in the south. There were many topics which my parents instructed as the way that we would need to do things even though it should not be that way. An example of this is the concept of working harder than white individuals in order to gain access to the same opportunities. There was an explanation that in an ideal world this would not be the case, but in our current world sometimes we need to work within the system to improve it. We learned that sometimes we might disagree with what the culture espouses but me must operate under it until we are able to change it.

This archived item was particularly engaging for me in that it largely confirmed conclusions I’d already come to about my upbringing. While this was also largely the case for other items to archive as well, the provided activity reminded me of some belief systems other people have that are easy for me to forget about. In some respects, the assignment doesn’t reveal much about the origin of my values in that there were only two questions that were values of either my parents or myself. While the two questions were common values of my parents and myself, there are several other values not assessed in the assignment on which I know my parents and I differ.

The assignment did not expand my knowledge a great deal as I have discussed this topic with my parents as well as friends from various cultures. However, some of the questions did prompt some reflection on how being a minority in the culture influences which values are held. A specific question that had prompted this line of thought was the question regarding communication styles that I felt was particularly applicable due to the societal portrayal of black speech as uneducated. The picture above is a picture of my nuclear family that my parents arranged a photographer to take for us. The image is relevant for the obvious reason that it is a picture of my family, however it is also relevant because of the circumstances surrounding the photo. At the time I had recently graduated from college but after realizing I didn’t want a career in the degree that I had I was working retail trying to figure out what I wanted to do. My parents have always been the type to give us the tools for success and allow us to make whatever decision we wish. There was no tension between us resulting from the alteration of my path and despite the somewhat formal pose in the photo we all love and respect each other’s values a great deal.