So, who am I? The obvious answer is that I am Angela Marie Harkins. Even this—as un-elucidating as it might seem—tells you a lot more about me than you think. Angela is a name meaning angelic, and it hints at a Christian familial background. Marie is my Mammaw’s name. My mom said she added it to make sure I took after her mom a bit. I could be as angelic as I wanted—but I better have a little fire and stubbornness as well. Lastly, I have my surname Harkins. Harkins is an extremely Irish name. It was originally O’hEarcain meaning son of red or redhead as we still have a lot of redheads in our family tree. There are legends and stories about the O’hEarcains. We were generals—leaders but not princes—and as far as I know, there isn’t a generation that has gone by without a good many Harkins in the military. Originally from Inishowen in County Donegal, the potato famine of 1845 saw the family trading one end of the Appalachian Mountains for the other as they moved from near the Giant’s Causeway to Northern Georgia. This is my culture and it shapes my thoughts on kinship and society.
How does my culture create my kinship? As Lewis explains in Cultural Anthropology, there are two basic classifications for family types: Eskimo and Iroquois. Like most Americans of European descent, my family type is of the Eskimo variety. That is, kinship terms are the same when referring to either my mother’s or father’s side of the family. Also, being of Irish descent means that we are mostly patrilineal, “in which kinship is traced through the male line” (129). This means that the women “marry out” and take on the surname of the spouse while the male heir “carries on the name.” Also, we have an Inuit–like determiner for kin. That is, those who act like family are true family. We might disown someone who does not act like family or kind of adopt someone who is as close as family. I have a third grandma we adopted in because she’s so awesome. We also practice formal adoption—a practice which dates back to clans. My brother is actually my half-brother by my mom. My dad adopted him, and he’s just considered my brother. He’s true family.
What is my household and domestic life pattern? Like a lot of cultures—Spanish cultures, for instance—my family tends to live in the same area. I can literally walk to my Granny and my Mammaw’s house. I did it just this weekend, in fact. My nieces and my brother live in the same house as my parents until they can afford their own house which will most likely be in the same county. My dad lived with his parents before he bought the land we live on now and built our house. I plan to hang around after college until I can buy my own place. I’ve never heard of anyone in our family having a mortgage. So, we’re extended family, and we’re very matriarchal in the household. My Granny, my Mammaw, and my Mom are the rallying points for family gatherings. Sometimes we even have holidays at my place. This is as much out of practicality as it is a testament to their fortitude. Men biologically, especially back in the day, just don’t live as long. I have three Grandpas that are no longer alive.
How are kinship and households changing in my time? Well, to begin with, the location of my family is spreading out a bit into other parts of the Southeast. Cohabitation is a more valid—but still frowned upon by the older or more conservative members—lifestyle choice, and children born from cohabitation are considered legitimate. My mom cohabitated with my brother’s dad. My brother cohabitated with my nieces’ moms. Household, as I talked about earlier, hasn’t changed much. The household is an extended one and the women tend to be the leaders. Although, a bit more of the child rearing responsibilities have been handed off to the men. The whole family pitches in to take care of the youngest generation instead of using nannies or daycare. The older generation is taken care of by the younger generation instead of going into retirement villages or whatever those things are. The most drastic change has been in waiting to get married and have kids until an older age and then having less kids. My Granny, for instance, married early and had 9 kids. My Mammaw also married early and had 7 kids. My brother cohabitated at a later age and had 3 kids.
So, there is my kinship system in all of its shining glory. I suppose we’re pretty representative of most Irish-Americans. Even other Americans of Spanish descent seem to have a similar kinship system even though they come from a completely different background. In the end, probably the least similar kinship system is the one of the modern American portrayed in the media—living away from family, being a divorced/single parent, interacting with mostly the grandparents, not being expected to support the older/younger extended family.
