Families and Kinship in a Black Appalachian Community: Boone's Junaluska Neighborhood.

Autor/in	Braswell, Maria
Titel	Families and Kinship in a Black Appalachian Community: Boone's Junaluska Neighborhood.
Quelle	(1990), (12 Seiten)Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; Monographie
Schlagwörter	Black Community; Black Family; Extended Family; Family Attitudes; Family Relationship; Helping Relationship; Kinship; Rural Family; Social Support Groups; North Carolina + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Großfamilie; Helfende Beziehung; Landfamilie; Social support; Soziale Unterstützung
Abstract	Several small Black Appalachian communities in northwest North Carolina form a network of individuals and families connected by Black Mennonite churches and by blood and marital ties. This paper examines family relationships and attitudes toward family and kinship in one such community--the Junaluska neighborhood in the town of Boone (Watauga County). Information was gathered by in-depth interviews with 27 community members and meetings with 3 key informants--interested college students--and from three family histories compiled by community members. Most residents belonged to one of four large, primary family groups, and almost everyone else in the community had some connection to one of these groups. Kinship networks were very extensive and convoluted. In most cases they included children and spouses, families of orientation, grandchildren, nephews, nieces, aunts, uncles, cousins, spouses' kin, some other in-laws, and even fictive kin--friends and neighbors who were not blood related but were treated as such. These extended families provided members with emotional support, advice, help in time of crisis, child care, and material and monetary aid. Family gatherings were usually held on Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, and the Fourth of July. Several families held annual reunions, with distant relatives traveling hundreds of miles to attend. Family histories contained the underlying themes of family unity and preservation of the family's heritage, and helped the families to define their histories as Blacks with roots in Appalachia. (SV)
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC