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Parenting | Share This Page | |
Cross Cultural Conundrums |
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by Gary Direnfeld |
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The cry for marital solidarity against family intrusion and alternately the plea for peace and cooperation is more often seen in cross cultural marriages where one party is from an Eastern European, Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, Asian or East Indian background and the other is from a Western background. Western culture values independence and moving from one’s family of origin to establish one’s own family as a separate unit. Many other cultures value the growth of the primary family, where members do not move away to establish independent entities, but rather grow and expand within their own family collective. Neither cultural style nor value is either good or bad, better or worse. But, they are distinctly different and unless understood by the parties of the cross cultural marriage, those differences can turn ugly when one partner claims the other to be a momma’s boy who can’t stand on his own two feet and the other partner is castigated for being cold, uncaring and disrespectful. In social science jargon, these family differences are seen on a continuum where one end is referred to as enmeshed and the other side referred to as disengaged. Taken to their extremes, enmeshed families are so into each other’s business that members cannot seem to function without the constant inputs and directions from other family members. There is a co-dependency where persons cannot stand on their own two feet and make independent decisions. On the other side, members in overly disengaged family do not have any meaningful contact with each other and have little to no tolerance for the inputs of other family members. These persons will appear fiercely independent, like lone wolves. In the cross-cultural conundrum, both parties may have started off closer to the middle, but as each takes offence with the other, their positions become more and more polarized and behaviour appears more and more disproportionate and exaggerated. The challenge for the newly married couple is coming to an understanding of their cross-cultural differences without either demeaning the other. To find balance, both persons must make accommodations where in fact, they may each find some degree of discomfort as they make concessions with a view to establishing their own rules for managing the continuum. It may also be helpful to talk openly and frankly with extended kin about the cross-cultural differences and what rules you are establishing for yourselves to determine your boundaries as a newly married couple.
While love may have brought you together, it will be a developing understanding and then accommodation of differences that will keep you together. Including extended family in the conversation may help in the process. |
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10-May-2011 | ||
More by : Gary Direnfeld | ||
Views: 2145 Comments: 0 | ||
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