Multicultural Concerns in Marriage and Family Therapy - Essay Example

?Running Head: MULTICULTURAL CONCERNS IN MARRIAGE AND FAMILY THERAPY MULTICULTURAL CONCERNS IN MARRIAGE AND FAMILY THERAPY School’s Name Instructor’s Name Course Name and Code Multicultural Concerns in Marriage and Family Therapy Introduction All culture is learned, but not everything learned is culture (Phil Bartle). In very simple terms, culture itself can be defined as everything people have, think and carry out as members belonging to a society. It is a mental map that guides us in our relations to our surroundings and to other people. Numerous definitions and meanings have been allotted to the term culture due to which a conclusive statement cannot be made regarding its concept which varies with one context to the other. This paper will focus on the practice of marriage in the Hmong culture along with the ethical considerations and limitations associated with it. History According to the finding of the ancient Chinese history, the Hmong were a culturally unique set of Asian individuals that lived in the mountainous regions of Siberia, their original homeland. Sects of their civilization settled by the banks of the Yellow River in northern China who were later attacked by the Chinese for the fertile land present along the Yellow River. Thousands of Hmong people have resettled in the Western countries ever since the 1970s primarily in the United States. Others thou have returned to Laos under the UN sponsored rehabilitation programs. There are about 8-12 million Hmong living in the southern parts of China. “The remaining Hmong, approximately 1-2 million, are found in Laos, Northern Vietnam and Thailand due to the migration during the mid-1800’s” (Quincy, K, 1988) The Hmong Kinship System The Hmong kinship system is the core foundation regarding the social and biological structure among all the other systems prevailing in the Hmong society. It is a relationship based on blood and marital aspects and connects the blood relatives in the same clan, within other clans as well as between them. The Hmong that were born in the 18 major clans namely, have established ties as the primary and most crucial relationship within their blood relatives but on the other hand, they do acknowledge their marital ties as secondary relationships between themselves and to those who belong to other clans. This kinship system adopted by the Hmong clan plays an important role of an institution providing various essential functions to provide of the needs of the Hmong members, their extended family as well as the society. It divides the Hmong into 18 major clans which acts as a social organization providing lifetime support, both spiritual and material, to their clan members throughout their life. Marriage In The Hmong Culture Via The Rule of Exogamy The 18 clans of Hmong support the practice of marriage through the rule of exogamy to both genders of the clan’s members allowing them to marry outside of their own clans. This rule of exogamy is a compulsory procedure which prohibits members belonging to the same clans to get married to each other reason being the Hmong rationale which states that all members (in theory) of the same clans were biologically related in the beginning and have descended from the same ancestors and thus are actually brothers and sisters. Therefore they are not allowed to get married to each other within the same clans as their own. The Formal Marriage Request (Begging) By the Groom’s Family The traditional Hmong marriage mainly occurred at an early age where the boys and girls were between the ages of 14 and 18 years (as cited in Lao Family Community of Minnesota, Inc. 1997). This formal marriage practice is started by the groom’s father along with his older married brothers who would go to the bride’s parents and make a formal marriage request. In case the groom has no father or elder married brothers, he could seek the aid of other male relatives or clan leaders to help him in putting down the formal marriage request to the respective bride’s parents. Courtship Before the actual marriage takes place a brief time period known as the courtship prevails which allows social contact between the bride and the groom. During this period any sexual involvement is prohibited because the sexual behavior would possibly bring shame and damage the reputation of not only the parents, but the extended family and the clan of the respective bride and groom. If any sexual relationship does exist, it usually means that they bride and groom have agreed to get married as soon as possible to avoid bringing upon any shame to the parents, extended family or clan. In the case of the boy not being able to reach a decision or seek any suitable wife, his father, older married brothers, clan leaders and male relatives help him by seeking out the suitable girls and finally reach to a specific one and act as the grooms representatives who would go to the bride’s parents and start the formal marriage request on the behalf of the from (Scott 1986). Price of The Bride And Dowry When the approval is received from the girl’s side regarding the formal request, negotiations begin between the two families regarding the dowry, bride price and the relative costs of the entire wedding ceremony. The bride price in the United States for the Hmong community is set between $4,500 and $6000 temporarily. This serves as a security for the marriage contract between the brides’s and groom’s family and respective clan. In case the marriage gets disrupted and dissolved within the initial 5 years given the fact that the bride is found to be responsible for the breakup, the bride price is refundable over a period of 5 years reason being the contributions made by the bride in terms of food production, child bearing and other material resources to the groom and to his extended family after 5 further years of marriage. The dowry given by the bride’s family is termed as a financial gift which is much lesser than the groom’s family bride price and is given in order to aid the newlywed couple in starting their newly married life. Formal Marriage Negotiation Negotiations regarding the bride-price, cost of the wedding ceremony and the dowry takes places after the bride has stayed in the groom’s parental house for 3 days for the welcome ritual which is a welcoming joyful celebration for the bride. The groom’s family must immediately pay the bride price and other costs for the marriage ceremony as soon as the welcoming rituals have ended. It is expected that the groom along with his family have to cover nearly 90% of the marriage costs whereas the remaining 10% is given the bride’s family in terms of dowry. For the wedding, the groom along with his male relatives and assistants will prepare a relatively large meal to cater to the guests at the wedding ceremony. Finally when the marriage ceremony is over, the groom and his assistants will immediately leave the bride’s parental house and go back to the groom’s thus concluding the marriage ceremony and practices. Alternative Marriage Paths The Hmong community has formulated two alternative marriage paths as well. In a situation which may cause the couple to get married immediately is when the woman gets pregnant during the period of courtship. In this case, the bride’s family would approach the groom’s family and demand immediate negotiation usually resulting in a much higher bride-price and extra money to compensate the grievances which in some case without actually getting the bride or the baby. To avoid such a situation, the elders and clan leaders convince both the parties to accept the marriage to dissolve the disputes. Voluntary Elopement The other alternative path is voluntary elopement. If the courting couple plans to get married but the bride’s parents are reside against the marriage and force her to marry someone else, then the girl has the chance of voluntarily fleeing away to his lover’s parental home. Usually in the Hmong community, in such a situation the girl would discuss this with her clan leaders and elders or flee with her lover. Threats of conflicting harm to oneself and suicide could be used to negotiate with the parents. The Hmong community is based on strong relationships and highly emphasize on the importance of a successful marriage, as a result parents usually do not force their daughter to marry someone by force which could result in an unhappy married life and even lead to divorce or death. Conclusion The Hmong community relies on its strong relationship bonds, norms and rules that are culturally well-learned. The practice of marriage and family therapy in the Hmong culture faces no multicultural challenges such as language, terms, gestures, raising a family, deciding where to live, etc because of their uniform culture and practices which has been passed on from one generation to another that are strictly followed. These rules and norms of the Hmong culture clearly explains the entire process of marriage from the selection, approach, negotiations, and rituals not just for the couple but for the respective families as well providing adequate means to improve the quality of life and relationships for families within their cultural system. References Lao Family Community of Minnesota, Inc. (1997). Hmong Families. Retrieved January 4, 2011 from http://www.laofamily.org/pdfs/Hmong_Families.pdf Quincy, K. (1988). Hmong: History Of A People. Cheney, Washington: Eastern Washington University Press. Scott, G. (1986). The Migrant Without Mountains. The socio-cultural adjustment among the Lao Hmong Refugees in San Diego. Scott George. Ann Arbor, MI: A Bell and Howell Company. Read More