Kinship

1.     The person I interviewed for this assignment was my mother. She was born on February 22, 1972 in the state of Zacatecas in the heart of Mexico. Her parents, Andres and Cira Flores, had 8 children in total, unfortunately one passed away at the age of 6, before my mom was born. She grew up in a conservative Catholic household, who upheld the importance of out family values: honesty, respect, and unconditional love for family. Growing up in a small town, my mother was able to grow up in a humble and loving environment, where materialistic things were of no importance. On my mother's maternal side of the family, she has Spanish background. My grandmother's mother was from Zaragoza, Spain. She moved here to Mexico with her entire family and settled in the city of Zacatecas (capital of the state of Zacatecas). On my mother's paternal side, she is also has Spanish and French background. My grandfather's mother was from Spain as well and his father's mother was from France. Although she has many different cultures in her background, my mother considers her self 100% Mexican. 

2.   This interview was pretty interesting for me because this was the first time I asked my mother about our background. I was surprised to find out how many cultures make up my background. Including my father's side of the family, I also have descendance from Colombia. It is pretty interesting to realize how many cultures can be mixed within one person. Also, its interesting to find out how many people from different backgrounds meet in one place and have families.

3. In general, my family has a tradition of being quite extensive. Like many old traditional Mexican families, the more kids the merrier. Something I did notice, however, is that we tend to emphasize on the maternal sides of our families rather than our paternal sides. For instance, I usually tend to get more along with my mother's side of the family, the same goes for my mother and her siblings. Like in most other families, respect for one's elders is strictly emphasized in my family. Like I mentioned before, my family comes from different backgrounds, but in the end we are all the same, one big Mexican family. Although we have other backgrounds, we gladly show our Mexican pride as we cheer on our sports teams and wave the flag in great gratification.

4. Fortunately, I feel that I am attached to both sides of my families, my paternal and maternal sides. However, I do feel a bit closer to my mothers family side. Since I was at a young age, I would usually hang out or visit my mothers family more often. In my family, the women tend to have a lot to say when it comes to decision making. I have noticed that my family seems to have a matriarchal type structure. Through this assignment, I have realized/remembered several characteristics of my family that can possibly make it unique from many others.