McADOO, Harriette Pipes, FAMILY ETHNICITY: STRENGTH IN DIVERSITY

Abstract

McADOO, Harriette Pipes, FAMILY ETHNICITY STRENGTH IN DIVERSITY Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications Inc., 1999,400 pp., $29.95 softcover. Family Ethnicity is an anthology of articles about ethnic families in the United States. Unlike many books on ethnic families this volume solely concentrates on families of color. The editor, Harriette Pipes McAdoo argues that professionals will be far more effective in working with family issues of people of color if they have accurate information about their clients and their families. McAdoo points out that it is through the experiences of growing up within the confines of the family that we first begin to get a sense of who we are, what we are, and what direction our lives will take. Our ethnicity cannot be separated from our families. Our families developed different cultures, different races, different ways of viewing the world, and different rituals as they faced the mysteries and uncertainties of life. The book begins with an article that addresses issues such as: regional variations, size and compositions, marital patterns, socioeconomic characteristics among Hispanic, African American, Asian American and Native American families. The book ends with a couple of articles that focus on social practice with people of color. The role of the social worker is discussed in an article about Native American children. The article, And How Are the Children, is a potpourri of the experiences of diverse children and their special needs. Rather than providing a general overview of each ethnic family the articles tend to focus on specific aspects of ethnic families. One of the three articles on Native Americans addresses the history, present day issues and challenges facing Native Americans. Gender is addressed through exploring the experience of firstborn American Indian daughters in case studies in another article. Cultural survival and intermarriage are the focus of the article on Urban American Indian families. There is an article about Native Hawaiian Americans. Today Hawaii exemplifies a salad bowl with the presence of various ethnic groups. However, there are unique customs and a history of the first Native Hawaiians that is described in the article. Educational and, economic changes that affected Native Hawaiian children are discussed. There are articles on Mexican American and Cuban families. Parenting styles are discussed among Mexican Americans in one article. While in another article the importance of dichos in the transmission of cultural values and beliefs is described. …