Essay on "African American Versus Ethiopian"

Essay 10 pages (3767 words) Sources: 1+

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Any talk about nutrition in Ethiopia has to center on the fact that the country is very dependent on its agricultural sector. About three fourths of the entire population are dependent on agriculture. The two main manifestations of this are rain-fed farming and livestock production. As noted before, Ethiopia is growing at a pretty good clip but the overall size of their economy is still rather small and they are one of the poorest countries in the world. Most of the people there live on less than one American dollar a day. Both infectious diseases and malnutrition (or at least nutritional deficiencies) are commonplace in Ethiopia. The diet of the common Ethiopian consists of cereals, tubers and root crops. Examples of cereals would include maize, sorghum and teff. Examples of root crops would include ensete and potatoes (FAO, 2016).

When it comes to child-bearing and pregnancy, there are some notable patterns in Ethiopia. First off, the naming conventions for naming children is entirely different in that country. In the United States, the last name is commonly the family name and the first name is typically unique to the person. In Ethiopia, most every child is given a unique name of their own. Pregnancy is not typically discussed until it is clearly going on and noticeable. Women who are pregnant are typically assisted by other women such as their mothers or other female family members. Items are not bought for the baby until it is born in most cases because it is considered bad luck. Out of wedlock pregnancies and birth is a major taboo in Ethiopia and it often brings a massive amount of shame to the mother herself and her family. When the eighth month of pregnancy is reached, the mother usually starts to relax and prepare for birth (Ethnomed, 2016).

When it comes to death in Ethiopia, there are burial societies that operate when there is a death in a given neighborhood. Money is pitched in by the neighborhood and that money is used to handle a person who has died when it happens. The idea is that when a death occurs, the society handles all of the arrangements and hard work while the family is given their time to mourn. While a funeral home typically washes and otherwise prepares a body for burial in the United States, the family does this work in Ethiopia. The chain of notifications about a death is also completely different. Suicides are treated no differently, in general, in Ethiopia (Ethnomed, 2016).

There are actually three main points in the cultural model left but they are heavily intertwined so they will be handled in concert. Further, the religion composition of the country was discussed in a prior section. The perceptions about illness in Ethiopia often center on spirituality. For example, an illness is typically considered a manifestation of God being angry at the afflicted due to their sins and, thus, anger from the spirits. Rural Ethiopians depend primarily on more traditional healers. Those healers primarily use herbal and animal remedies. There is also a heavy use of spiritual healing which would include prayer. Indeed, prayer is the preferred and common response to disease. Mental illness is deemed to be due to the result of evil spirits and are also reacted to with prayer. When rural Ethiopians come to more urban settings, they typically do not change their ways when it comes to their spirituality and attitudes about medicine. Even with those trends, the use of antibiotics is fairly common in Ethiopia and they are typically used when they should be (Ethnomed, 2016).

Personal Culture and Background

Of course, the selection of Ethiopia and a culture within the United States is no accident. The author of this report was born in Ethiopia and is Oromo in ethnicity. Oromo is one of the primary ethnic groups in Ethiopia to this very day. In terms of religion, the author of this report is a Muslim. The author of this report got married in Ethiopia and then emigrated to the United States a little over a decade ago in 2003. The author works as a registered nurse (RN) and is currently working on a degree in being a family nurse practitioner. The author of this report speaks three different languages, those being Amharic, Oromic and English. The author of this report deeply and completely retains and respects the heritage of the author's birth. It is indeed a little harder to do so given that the United States is entirely different. People of the Muslim faith are certainly visible in the United States but they are a stark minority as compared to when the author of this report was in Ethiopia. Being in such a different place from a religious and cultural standpoint has led to a bit of isolation but the author has persevered and tried very hard to retain the cultural and religious elements of the author's culture.

Ethiopian Beliefs, Values, Customs & Social Structures

As partially noted elsewhere in this report, Ethiopia is very much driven by the two dominant religions of the country, those being Christianity and Islam. The name of the country is derived from Greek, and basically means "the land of the burned-face peoples." The beliefs, values and customs of the country and its people quite often center on the values of the religious type or sect that one belongs to. The social structure of Ethiopia is very much centered on class and castes. Overall, there are four major social groups in the country. At the top end of the spectrum are the high-ranking lineages. Just below them are the low-ranking lineages. The third social structure in terms of rank is the caste groups. People enter these groups based on birth and membership. Finally, there are the slaves and the descendants of the same. The outward-facing symbols of social stratification often manifest in the form of the amount of grain and cattle that a person possesses. As one might figure out from that, the amount of wealth that one has is the major determinant of where one stands in the social and class hierarchy. However, status can also be achieved through the amount of education, the neighborhood in which one lives and the job that someone holds. Further, if one is able to procure and retain an automobile, this is often deemed to be a major symbol of wealth and status. The levels and strata of the Ethiopian political culture very much influence and shape the politics of the country (Every Culture, 2016).

When it comes to Ethiopian value, a lot of that was discussed while executing a review via the Purnell model prism, but there are some more facets and details that could and should be mentioned. The culture of Ethiopia is one very much centered on solidarity and this usually holds true in both good times and bad times. This cannot be understated given some of the things that have occurred in Ethiopia and that would never happen in certain other countries. For example, there has been a time where Christians and Muslims celebrate their respective holidays in a four-day span. Not only was there no strife or fighting while this was going on, the two groups willingly and actively partook in each other's holidays. This is something you would generally never see in the Middle East or many other areas of the world (All Africa, 2016).

Beyond the customs that were mentioned as part of the Purnell model, there is a major one that has not really been covered yet and that is marriage. Just like daily and business interactions not to mention death practices are driven by custom, the same is also true of marriage. There is actually a lot of variance from ethnic group to ethnic group when it comes to marriage. However, there are some patterns that are prevalent and similar in multiple ethnic groups. Arranged marriages are the norm in Ethiopia. Further, a dowry is often paid from the male's family to the female's family in many instances. The amount of the dowry is not a firm and fixed amount and it usually varies and scales based on the wealth and resources of the families involved. As noted earlier in this report, extended family living situations are quite common. Further, inheritance of a deceased's good usually is driven by what Americans would call a will. In any domestic unit, the person of authority is usually the father (Every Culture, 2016).

Compare & Contrast Between Ethiopian and African-American Culture

As noted in the introduction, the ancestral roots of modern-day Ethiopians and the African-Americans of the United States is very much the same (or at least similar) but the differences from there are quite obvious and numerous. This report is entirely too brief for a full review, but many modern African-Americans are still concerned with the circumstances and conditions… READ MORE

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