Guadalupe Contreras is a Mexican woman who was born
in March 17, 1954 and she lives in the city of Guadalajara in Mexico. She is
the second daughter of the Eleuterio and Amaila Contreras. She is a successful
kindergarten teacher who has over many adversities on her life. When she was in
college, she got pregnant and had to raise her child whiteout her boyfriend. A lot
of people suggested her to quit from college, but with the support of her
parents could have a full time job and study at same time. After some years she
got married with her daughter’ father, but unfortunately, she has been taking
most of the responsibilities of her household. Guadalupe
has a lot of problems and differences with her husband, but she never has thought
to get divorce because she has never suffered physical abuse, and her religion
(Catholicism) did not allow her to it .My aunt lives in Mexico, so we had a
video call to do the interview. I tried to be very professional in the interview
like a fox news reporter, but inside of me I felt discomfort for asking
personal question to my aunt. I am close to her, but I never ask her something about
her personal life. I feel that the fact
that she is my relative means that qualify to make an appropriate interview to
her because I was scare to ask some questions, and it is obvious that I will
talk good about her. If I interview someone else, I could do a more interesting
interview because I would feel more confident to ask more personal, aggressive
and meaning questions.
Guadalupe has a good relationship with all her
siblings from her mother’s side and father’s side, but she do not spent a lot
of time with them because they live in different cities and it is not easy to
meet with them. When her siblings visit
her, she always tries to make feel good by take them out and make a good dinner
for them. Even though Guadalupe do not spent a lot of time with her cousins, uncles
and aunts, she is still very close to her brothers and sisters. Most of her sisters and brothers live in the
same area, and every Sunday most of her family go together to the church then
they meet at her father house. Only a few of her nieces and nephews do not go
to the mass, but they always go to the family reunion. My grandfather is old and my grandmother died
7 years ago, so all the important decision are taking democratically, but only
my aunts, uncle and father can vote. For example, when my grandfather wants to
come to California for vacations, my family has a meeting to analyze the health
of my grandfather and details of the flight. If one my cousin goes to the
meeting, everyone will ask him/her to leave. it is fine that my cousin do not have the
right to vote in the important decision of the family because no one of them
seem to be responsible and mature. There an ethnic difference in my family that
sometimes creates problems and discussion in family reunions. The Guadalupe’s husband
is from Mexico City and people from there have a very different point of view
than people from Guadalajara city. So when my family talks about religion or
politics, Guadalupe’s husband disagreed with everyone, make a drama and pretend
to be a victim because nobody agrees with him.
I am very close
to my relatives from my father’s side, but I only know a few people from my mother‘s
side. It is because my parents got
divorce when I was 6 years old, and my mother is very undiplomatic and dramatic
person. I really have a close relationship with father’s family to point that
my aunts are like mothers for me and my uncle is my second father. I would say
that my uncle Victor and aunts Antonia and Guadalupe are the most influential members in my family because they are responsible and the care for the
wellness and union of the family. they are in charge of different aspect of the
family. Antonia
and Guadalupe take
care of the reunions for holidays, family trips and my grandfather. On other
hand, Victor supports the ideas of my aunts, and he is more focus to advice the
younger generations.
In the
family we try to have good relationship with everyone, so we always treat in
the same way members who marry into the family, but they are not allow to vote
in some decision. In conclusion, I have learned that my family has a special
system to coexist and
behave, and I just realize one of the main factor that I have big family is because
of the power of decision of my aunts.
Question 1:
With which family members did you tend to socialize with the most? Who did you
spend holidays with?
Answer: with
my sister Antonia and Maria
Question 2:
If you needed help, place to live, money or child care, who among your family
members would you feel comfortable turning to?
Answer: For
a place to live and money I would ask help to my younger brother Victor. If something
happened to me I would like that my niece (28 years old) take care of my daughter
Question 3:
Are there family members your subject will not interact with or communicate
with? Why?
Answer: the family from my father’s and mother’s side
live in another towns, so I only
have contact with my brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews and father.
Question
4: Are there family members your
subject knows little about?
Answer: I do not see my uncles, aunts and cousin very often, but we
know each other very well. When I visit them or they visit me we have a great
time
Question
5: Is the subject family located in a
relatively central area or are they spread out geographically? Have family
members migrated during his/her lifetime to another country? What were the
reasons? How did this affect the family as a whole? Or if the family has tended
to stay in the same place geographically, why have they chosen to do so?
Answer:
most of my brother and sister live really
close. The distance among our house is around 1 mile. I only have a sister and
her family who live in California, and she migrated because her husband decided.
Also, my nephew Jose lives in California for personal reasons. We decided to
live in the same area because this city offers good opportunities for work and education
for our children. We miss our relatives who live out of the country, but we are
have that they come to visit us at least once a year.
Most people assume that it is harder to interview a stranger, but like you, I think it is much harder to interview a family member. We know where topics might be sensitive and are tempted to avoid them if possible. We wouldn't have the same advanced information on a stranger. I think interviewees sometimes feel more comfortable as well talking to a stranger about sensitive topics.
ReplyDeleteI was interested in the in- and out-groups you had for family votes. Is the in group determined solely by age or by gender or relatedness?
How do you think that the decision-making power of your aunts creates a large family? Do you mean they do a good job of keeping the family connected?
Very interesting interview. Well done.
I would said by relatedness because only my uncle, aunts and father can vote in the important decision. They said that they are the children of my grandparents, so they are a wiser generation.
ReplyDeleteI think that my aunts make a pretty good job in family because sometimes my cousin have problems among each other, and they want to distance from the family. Also, they see each nephew and niece like a son and daughter.
Thank you for the reply.
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