West Indian Family Research Articles

THE MANY LIVES OF CONSTANCE BAKER MOTLEY

THE MANY LIVES OF CONSTANCE BAKER MOTLEY

An Historical and Contemporary Overview of Gendered Caribbean Relations

This paper presents a broad overview of historical and contemporary gender and social class relations in the British, French, and Spanish Caribbean islands focusing primarily on Afro-Caribbean people. It begins with a discussion of gendered relations during slavery and then investigates gender roles post emancipation. Next, multiple aspects of contemporary West Indian family life are addressed including the prevalence of matrifocal households and child shifting. The important roles played by Caribbean female household heads are discussed in the context of patriarchy. Highlights include the significance of the maternal role over the marital, socializing youth, particular negative expectations each sex holds of the other, customary sexual behavior, as well as common relationship types. Varying aspects of women’s behavior according to social class is touched upon followed by a brief synopsis of the status of Caribbean women on measures of educational and work force participation rates; finally, a summary of the dearth of active women’s movements in the region is addressed. The paper provides an introduction to the intimate and working lives of Caribbean women and men.

Working in a global environment

The family living next door to me is Irish Catholic. The neighbour on the other side has a Hindu father. Next door but one is a Jewish family, then a Buddhist family from Thailand and a West Indian family. At the back of my house are Jewish and Muslim families whilst opposite me lives a young Sikh couple. I am married to a Welsh man with a Jewish father. My grandmother was Canadian but can trace her ancestry to German settlers and I have Scottish blood on my mother's side!

Culturally Relevant Psychiatric Care: The West Indian as a Client

Cultural sensitivity is essential to the provision of quality mental health intervention. West Indian culture, including belief systems,familypatterns, child-rearing practices, racial mixtures, and geography, influences the presentation of and perceived causes of symptoms in mentally ill persons, who are natives of the Eastern Caribbean Islands. Parenthood and childbearing beliefs and practices are discussed in relationship to their influences on the psychosocial development of the West Indianfamily. Salient cultural norms, mores,folkways, and habits are presented in relationship to the impact on clients presenting psychopathology. For example, the effects of child-rearing practices on the clients' hesitation to verbalize personal concerns are addressed, as well as the role and importance of the mental health professional. Cultural diversity requires the effective clinician to approach clients with an attitude of cultural relativity. The provision of mental health intervention to Eastern Caribbean natives involves understanding cultural traits and coping mechanisms that are prevalent in West Indian culture. Concerted effort on the clinician's part may be required to overcome egocentristic feelings and behavior which otherwise would interfere with culturally relevant and effective intervention.

The West Indian Family: Treatment Challenges

The authors discuss the culture-specific problems faced by West Indian immigrants who received treatment at the East Brooklyn Prevention Program. The characteristics, patterns, and functioning of this population must be identified before effective treatment can occur.

Joseph Obrebski, the West Indian Social Survey, and the Ethnology of the West Indian Family

Finally Obrebski was convinced that rural Jamaican society could be understood only by an intensive study of origins functions and prospects. He felt that the lasting scientific worth of his work lay here and not in the collection of statistics on rural communities followed by the interpretation of the results. This latter analysis he considered of administrative but not scientific value since it failed to produce generalized explanations. Unfortunately the immediate goals of the West Indian Social Survey were to provide statistical descriptions of selected peasant communities. While Obrebski was free to work with his data in any manner he chose he was unable to supply the needed time for his analyses because of his United Nations responsibilities and his ill-health. Hence he never fully completed his discussion of Rock- meadow family dysfunction and social malintegration. Even so his extensive background in peasant societies produced an alternative interpretation of rural Jamaican family structure unique among the general trends of Caribbean ethnology. Consequently the preservation of the original data and the partial analyses of Joseph Obrebski count as an important addition to the body of literature in the field of Caribbean studies as well as Afro-American studies generally. (excerpt)

Is haemoglobin G alpha Philadelphia linked to alpha-thalassaemia?

The question, "Is Hb G alpha Philadelphia linked to alpha-thalassaemia?" was first posed because the abnormal haemoglobin is found in heterozygotes at a concentration greater than 25%, the proportion predicted from a 4 alpha-chain gene model. Globin chain biosynthesis was studied in a West Indian family in which one parent had beta + thalassaemia and the other was heterozygous for the G alpha Philadelphia chain gene. The former had a globin chain production ratio alpha/beta well above 1, while the latter had a ratio significantly less than 1. One child of the marriage had inherited the beta + thalassaemia from one parent and the G alpha Philadelphia chain gene from the other and showed the typical picture of alpha/beta-thalassaemia (alpha/beta ratio slightly above normal). It is explained in the discussion that the evidence favours a close linkage of 2 alpha-chain genes.

Slaves, Free Men, Citizens: West Indian PerspectivesWork and Family Life: West Indian PerspectivesConsequences of Class and Color: West Indian PerspectivesThe Aftermath of Sovereignty: West Indian Perspectives

Slaves, Free Men, Citizens: West Indian PerspectivesWork and Family Life: West Indian PerspectivesConsequences of Class and Color: West Indian PerspectivesThe Aftermath of Sovereignty: West Indian Perspectives

Household Structure and Fertility on Jamaican Slave Plantations: A Nineteenth-Century Example

Abstract It is generally agreed that the marital instability and casual mating characteristic of West Indian family structure depress fertility. These conditions are traced to the mating organization of the slaves. The stresses placed on the Mrican family systems of the slaves are obvious: the continued importation of slaves, most of them young adult males; the ruthless separation of kin through sale or removal; the overwhelming authority of the master, reducing the dependence of children on their parents and the economic role of the male household head. Yet, in spite of these stresses, there is evidence of strong bonds of kinship and sense of family among the slaves.

MULTIPLE OSTEOCHONDROSES OF THE FEET IN A WEST INDIAN FAMILY

1. Four cases are described of multiple bony changes in the feet of members of a West Indian family. 2. The basic process is believed to be avascular necrosis of bone. The inheritance appears to be X-linked recessive.

A translocation t (Bq+: Cq-) in a West Indian family and a report of a second family showing a possible long arm group B translocation.

A translocation t (Bq+: Cq-) in a West Indian family and a report of a second family showing a possible long arm group B translocation.

The West Indian Family

The West Indian Family

Otterbein's Reply to Goode

American AnthropologistVolume 68, Issue 2 p. 493-497 Free Access OTTERBEIN'S REPLY TO GOODE Keith F. Otterbein, Keith F. Otterbein State University of New York al BuffaloSearch for more papers by this author Keith F. Otterbein, Keith F. Otterbein State University of New York al BuffaloSearch for more papers by this author First published: April 1966 https://doi.org/10.1525/aa.1966.68.2.02a00180Citations: 3AboutPDF ToolsExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat REFERENCES CITED Adams, Richard N. 1957 Cultural surveys of Panama—Nicaragua—Guatemala—El Salvador—Honduras. Washington, D. C: Pan American Sanitary Bureau. Goode, William J. 1961 Illegitimacy, anomie, and cultural penetration. American Sociological Review 26: 910– 925. Otterbein, Keith F. 1964 Review of West Indian family structure by M. G. Smith. Caribbean Studies 4: 74– 76. Otterbein, Keith F. 1965 Caribbean family organization: a comparative analysis. American Anthropologist 67: 66– 79. Citing Literature Volume68, Issue2April 1966Pages 493-497 ReferencesRelatedInformation

West Indian Family Structure

West Indian Family Structure

West Indian Family Structure.

West Indian Family Structure.

West Indian Family Structure

West Indian Family Structure

West Indian Family Structure.

West Indian Family Structure.

The West Indian Family

The Negro Family in British Guiana Family Structure and Social Status in the Villages. By Dr. Raymond T. Smith. (International Library of Sociology and Social Reconstruction.) Pp. xvi+282+8 plates. (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, Ltd.; New York: Grove Press, Inc., in association with the Institute of Social and Economic Research, University College of the West Indies, Jamaica, 1956.) 28s. net.

West Indian Family Organisation

West Indian Family Organisation

120. West Indian Family Organization

120. West Indian Family Organization