Running head: Ethnography Assignment

Tiera Couch
SW 3510 HBSE
Professor Ruhana
Wayne State University

Running head: Ethnography Assignment

Introduction
In order to accurately explain my family culture, I must first discuss some notable
African American history. While conducting my research I often asked the question is this unique
to my family or common across African American culture? In my internet search, I came across
articles and reflections that could have been written from one of my own memories. This leads
me to believe that my personal and family experience is linked to the overall African American
and experience.
African American History
Slave owners forbid the captured Africans to embrace their heritage, which resulted in a
loss of culture. There were many efforts to establish a cultural identity, cultural awareness and
pride. Carter G. Woodson launched a movement that lead to Negro History Week, in order to
bring awareness of the African Americans contributions, which evolved to what we know today
as Black History Month (Scott, 2011, para. 10). These efforts were prompted by the need to bring
awareness to the African American community and its counterparts. Also in 1966 Maulana
Karenga created Kwanzaa a holiday that fuses African practices and rituals with African
Americans in order to establish Afro centric culture (Suzanne, 2011, p. 485). Kwanzaa allows for
African Americans to have a connection to their roots.
Another fight for dignity was the movement to change the identifiers Negro, Black and
Colored to African American. The idea was to shift the definition of the group from the racial
description black to a cultural and ethnic identity that ties the group to its continent of origin and
fosters dignity and self-esteem (Wilkerson, 1986, para. 7). They wanted to align themselves with
their past in a way that gave them pride and growth. There was also the singing of the black
national anthem Lift Every Voice and Sing. I remember singing this every morning in grade

Running head: Ethnography Assignment

school after singing the Star Spangled Banner. These efforts pushed for a separate identity within
American culture. These efforts transcend into how African Americans communicate today.
The African American Experience: A shared culture
To study ones own family makes you scrutinize things that have always been natural to
you dont think about how normal rituals are foreign to others it brought me to a conversation I
had with one of my classmates in grade school. We were eating lunch when she asked how do I
wash my hair with my braids? My answer was I do not. She responded, How often do you wash
your hair? My response was every two weeks. A look of disgust came over her face. I asked,
Well how often do you wash your hair? She said everyday. I ended with well I can not
wash my hair everyday it would get too dry and fall out. This made me think about the little
everyday differences in culture simple rituals we perform everyday that we dont think about
being unique to our heritage.
My earliest memories include playing hand games. Traditional African American hand
games involve the singing of songs while engaging in a ritual-like set of accompanying hand
motions, rather like a version of the Hokey Pokey done primarily with hand signals.
(Cherlise, 2014, para. 7). Hand games are a major part of play among African American girls.
Through succeeding generations, these beloved hand games have become something of a
universal language, passed down from generation to generation (Cherlise, 2014, para. 6). Your
mother and your friends teach you the hand games it is a way to bond.

Another thing that is shared across the culture is soul food, which is closely related to
southern food. These foods are usually cooked for big dinners holidays and special occasions.
The recipes are handed down from generation to generation, are usually not written down. The

Running head: Ethnography Assignment

use of undesirable portions of pork is used in some soul food cooking. This is in the result of the
scraps giving to slaves to cook their holiday meals. They made the best out of what they had, and
in result the use of meats like pig feet and chitterlings has become a part of the tradition.
Methods
I conducted interviews via phone and in person. I spoke with my uncle in Arkansas
several times. The in person interviews were not as successful as I had hoped. My family
members behaved unnaturally they responded with euphemisms instead of speaking candidly. I
changed my approach to just visiting that way I could observe and interact with them naturally.
I hit a lot of dead ends because a number of my elders have passed and with them my families
history. I spent countless of hours on ancester.com and archive.com to no avail. The participants
in my research were from the maternal side of the family for I have little contact with my
paternal side. The lot of my findings comes from interviews, observations and experience.
Great-Grand Parents
My great-grandfather was Robert Johnny Mo Couch he was born in 1927 in Kensett,
Arkansas (Couch, B personal communication). He was the only child of Rosie Hawkins and
Freddie Couch his parents never married (Couch, B personal communication). He died in 2002
after a long battle with lung cancer. My great-grandmother was Katie Mae Couch she was born
in 1932 in West Point, Arkansas (Couch, R personal communication). She was one of eight
children her parents were Jackson Solomon and Cecil Maude Solomon (Couch, R personal
communication). She died from liver cancer in 2012.
Robert and Katie Mae married in August of 1950 (Couch, R personal communication).
Together they had eleven children; Robert had four from previous relationships bringing the total
to fifteen children between them. In 1951, the family packed up and moved to Michigan where

Running head: Ethnography Assignment

Katie Mae was a homemaker and Robert worked at Chrysler Cooperation until he retired in 1986
(Couch, R personal communication).
They lived in a rural part of Michigan in a town called Milan. The house was reminiscent
to something out of the show Little House on the Prairie. The house sat on a couple acres of land
on a road called Grams. It was paved with rocks and mud, and there were ditches in front of each
house. I remember how difficult those roads made riding bikes. It was a small house with four
bedrooms. There were hogs, hounds and chickens in the back. They had horses and cows before I
was born (Couch, T personal communication). This house is so symbolic because it like my
great-grand parents in was the center of my family.
Child Rearing and Gender Roles
In my family, you got a whooping if you misbehaved. The weapons of choice ranged
from belts, to extension cords to switches (two vines roped together). I had it easy my whooping
consisted of three whacks on the hand with a belt. My sibling and I were allowed to choose
between a whooping and a punishment I always choice the whooping because it more temporary.
The women in my family ran the households and administered the punishments. The men
were only called upon in extreme circumstances and if the father was not an active parent, then
an uncle would take responsibility. I witnessed some terrible beatings, and while there would be
some objection to the severity of the physical abuses other adults seldom stepped in.
Family Organization
Katie Mae Couch was referred to as Mama for she served as the primary mother figure
for several of her grandchildren. The eleven children my great-grandparents had together each
have a subfamily. Their children, grandchildren and so on are a part of a tight nit circle. My great
Aunts and Uncles are the centers of their families. My entire family comes together on holidays,

Running head: Ethnography Assignment

and we have a family reunion every two years alternating between Michigan and Arkansas. My
great-grandmothers passing put a strain on the family; much like the character Big Mama in the
movie Soul Food she was the glue that kept the family together.
Trends
Katie Mae had a shopping addiction. I remember early Saturday mornings the woman
and girls would get up to go to garage sales. The garage and dinning room was stacked with
merchandise some were three and four of the same items. When she died she had a closet full of
clothes with the tags still on them. I see this similar trend in my grandmother, my mother and
myself. It is not as prevalent as it was in Katie Mae, but we all spend an excessive portion of our
incomes frivolously on merchandise. We all have items in our closets that we purchased years
back still unworn.
Another commonality is for unwed mothers to give their maiden name to their children
even in cases where the father is an active parent. My mother has my grandmothers maiden
name, and I have my mothers maiden name. This is also true for the other subfamilies.
Illness, death, tragedy and Coping
When the family deals with loss or tragedy it is in silence there is a lack of healing, old
wounds remain buried deep. My aunt Denise is mentally handicapped, and she spent some time
in an institution while there she was raped which resulted in a pregnancy, her son my cousin
Kyle is also mentally handicapped (Couch, F personal communication). As a child, I did not
understand how Kyle came to be, and no one explained like domestic violence, incest and
molestation these things are not to be discussed the consensus in the family is things happen to
everyone, just learn to adapt.

Running head: Ethnography Assignment

I have a family full of hot-tempered individuals so when disagreements come about
things can escalate quickly. I learned early how to remain neutral in these situations. The way
these things are worked it is either you talk about it with everyone, but the person your upset
with or talk to the person you are upset with and have a falling out. They usually stop speaking
for a while then act like nothing happened or the never speak again.
Religion
The bulk of my family hold Christian based beliefs some go to church regularly, most
only went on Easter and Christmas, and some do not go to church at all. Faith and spirituality
play a heavy role in times of high times of sorrow or happiness. You either ask God for help or
guidance or thank God for your blessings. Participating in organized religion is not mandatory.
My culture and Social Work
As a social worker, my family life will enhance my ability to build interpersonal
relationships with my clients. I have a big family and the importance of human relationships
have always been stressed to me. Coping with family feuds taught me how to remain neutral,
which will aide me in mediating and working with couples and families. My cultural identity
amplifies my sensitivity towards diversity.

Running head: Ethnography Assignment

References
Cherlise, R. (2014). Memory lane. Retrieved from http://www.sundaykinfolk.com/memory-lane/
Wilkerson, I. (1986, January 31). African-American' favored by many of Americas blacks. The
New York Times, Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/1989/01/31/us/africanamerican-favored-by-many-of-america-s-blacks.html
Scott, D. (2011). The origins of black history month. Retrieved from
http://www.asalh.org/blackhistorymonthorigins.html
Suzanne, S. (2011). Kwanzaa: Black power and the making of the african-american holiday
tradition. American Historical Review, 116(2), 485-486.