State Intervention in Family Life

Should Grandparents be allowed to petition the Superior Court to grant them court-ordered visits over the objection of an adequate parent?

Leo Rodriguez

University of Texas-Pan-American

               The common laws that we follow today are being established on a very old-school conservative point of view, therefore affecting our modernized American society. One of the biggest issues to come out of this mentality is that Americans fail to recognize the grandparent rights, such as the right to petition the Superior Court to grant them court-ordered visits to their grandchildren. Grandparents nationwide are affected because the conservative ideals believe that a family unit consists only of the nuclear family: the mother, the father, and the children. Those policies that neglect the extended family and assume the nuclear family is the norm would have been correct 100 years ago; way before our generations grandparents were even born. In 1900, the life expectancy was not as high as it is today, grandparents did not make up much of the population.  According to Quadagno (2011), in the year 1900, 4.1% of the population was formed by people aged sixty-five and older. However, due to the increase in different areas of technology, in the year 2000 12.4% of the population was made up of people aged sixty-five and older. In a similar study done in the 1980’s, Barranti (1985) discovered that out of the 11% of the people aged sixty five and older approximately 70% were grandparents. These statistics seem to imply that as the decades keep coming, along with new technology, our leaders might need to consider enacting policies to favor the extended family, specifically grandparents. The lack of grand parenting rights affects not only the grandparent who is denied “legal” or permitted visitation, but the grandchildren as well. Today, a current trend in parenting laws is to focus on what is in the best interest of the children. Innovative legislatures who are in favor of grandparent visitation rights argue that grandparents provide a unique kind of nurturance and keep highly important relationships with their grandchildren. Not only should grandchildren be concerned about their grand parents rights affecting how they get nurtured throughout their life course, in addition, they should consider what is waiting for them in the future. According to studies done with the help of the census bureau, one out of every five persons in the United States will be sixty-five and older by the year 2035 (“Transgenerational”, n.d.).

 

A real dilemma needs a solution, not continuous debate on who is right and who is wrong. Every state has passed grandparent visitation legislation, giving rights to grandparents. However the word “rights” is very tricky. As a matter of fact, most recent constitutional challenges on grand parenting rights have been shaped against grandparent visitation statutes. Hartfield (1996) exposes how the due process clause of the U.S. Constitution does not allow the government to intervene into family relationships in order to protect the adequate parent’s rights. Once again, the lingering misconception that only the nuclear family is entitled to the right over whom their children can interact with is haunting us here. Even when grandparents are left with no other option but to seek visitation statutes to allow them to petition for visitation with their adult child’s children, the U.S. Constitution slaps them in the face. If the custodial parent is an adequate parent, one who does not abuse drugs or the children, then it is very difficult for the grand parent to be awarded visitation rights. According to Segal and George, state legislatures enact laws that grant the grandparents the right to petition to allow visitation, it does not give the grandparents a legitimate right to visit grandchildren (as cited in Purnell, Bagby, 1993, p. 173. Cases are taken to the Supreme Court up to this day, and adequate, fit parents who deny visitations will always win in court because they are fully protected by our Constitution under the fourteenth amendment. Minerva and Shandling explain that the fourteenth amendment states that the Supreme Court must accept liberty rights, which include the right to privacy in establishing a home and bringing up children, including childrearing autonomy and most importantly freedom in family definition (as cited in Purnell, et al, 1993, p. 174).

The debate on whether grandparents should be allowed to receive court-ordered visitation rights to their grand children will be an issue for many decades to come. As a “society soldier”, like one of my most inspiring Sociology professors Chamberlain use to say, I support the exposure of lack of grandparent rights. I understand and support the fact that the nuclear family is no longer the only unit that has the right to nurture and child rear their own children, but the extended family, specifically the grandparents, should be given certain rights too. Many scholars can argue that grandparent’s visitation rights already exist because under certain circumstances court-ordered visitation rights and even custody of their adult child’s children are granted. However, the circumstances call for drug abuse by the parents, children abuse, and other negative environments that can be associated with nurturing a child. In these cases, yes, grandparents are usually given the upper hand. On the other hand, what about the grandparents who are denied the right to visit their grandchildren by an adequate fit parent? That is when the issue really heats up. Should grandparents be allowed to petition the superior court to grant them court-ordered visits over the objection of an adequate parent?

Many academic scholars in many different directions have tackled the explanation of the issues of grandparent rights. A topic to take into consideration to start off my discussion would be the influence of social class among state law legislations. Do grand parenting visitation rights not exist because the middle class do not need them and the ones who do are in the lower socio economic status, who go as the most undermined group of people when making legislations in todays government? Why would the lower class be more in need of grand parenting rights than the middle class? First, lets take a look at what grand parenting means to these two very distinct social classes. Scholars like Clavan (1978), believe that the role of the grandparent depends on which social class you belong to. She believes that the middle class and the lower class differ in their views of their grandparent roles. The population that makes up the middle class characterizes the role of the grandparent as “ideological rather than real” (Clavan: 1978, p. 351). The grandparent in the middle class has no obligations connected to their grandchild. When taking a look at grandparents in families of low socio-economic status, a whole different picture is portrayed. To start off, the grandparents in lower socio-economic status are much more adapted into the daily family life. The family does not have the luxury of having a nanny or a house sitter so the grandmother usually takes the role of the nurturing mother while the parents are at work. In addition, these grandparents in lower socio-economic status tend to be stronger kin oriented and live closer to their adult child, enabling them to not only grow a stronger attachment to the grandchild but to be more involved in the grandchild’s life. Unlike middle class grandparents, low socio-economic status grandparents feel obligated to give aid to their family in any form of service. According to Clavan (1978), what the lower socio-economic grandparents are achieving through these services and dependency on one another is called functional centrality. Functional centrality is defined by Clavan as the “degree of integration into daily family life, particularly through the role of extended parent” (Clavan: 1978, p. 353). By integrating the extended familism, a support network is created that benefits the family as a whole. However, our American legislators want to keep our policies aimed at middle class isolated nuclear family networks rather than stopping to take a careful look at how from a “historical and societal perspective, our kinship system does not appear to be” working as it has before (Clavan: 1978, p. 353). I believe this is where state legislators fail to realize that there is a large amount of people out there who would benefit from grandparent rights more than be harmed by them. The only argument that could be made for the wealthier middle class is the fear of a grandparent having certain rights to their child even when the parents object to it.

In addition to the influence of social class to the court-ordered grandparent visitation rights, I would also like to discuss the research I found on the significance of grandparents. I researched this subtopic because all states have their own grandparent rights, but a court will grant court-ordered visitation if it is in the best interest of the child. What do the grandparents offer to the child that would be in the child’s best interest? Barranti states that the relationships between grandparents and grandchildren are “unique in that the relationship is exempt from the psycho-emotional intensity and responsibility that exists in parent/child relationships” (Barranti: 1985, p. 346). In other words, the relationship that the grandparents hold with their grandchildren is sacred in a way that it alleviates the pressure from the relationship the grandchildren have with their parents. Barranti (1985) states that grandchildren find love, nurture, and acceptance in their relationship with their grandparents that give them a unique social interaction that cannot be offered by any other person, including the nuclear family. In general, having a grandparent around is not only healthy, but it is recommended for the well being of children whether they have adequate parents or not. In the light of when the courts say that the grandparents must prove that it is in the best interest of the child for the court-ordered visitations, it is easy to see that the court is asking for the grandparent to provide evidence that the current custodial parent is a deviant person in society, or in some states proving that the grandparents lived with the child for a period of time.

Lastly I would like to focus on the case of Troxel v. Granville 2000. At first, a state court granted court-ordered visitation rights to the grandparents, the Troxels, over an adequate fit parent in Granville. Appeals were eventually heard until the case reached the Supreme Court, which ruled that “the state statute [Washington] was an unconstitutional infringement on the fundamental right of parents to rear their children” (Stein: 2007, p. 234). The famous decision of Troxel v. Granville came with consequences. According to Stein (2007), New Hampshire and New Jersey both repealed their grandparent visitation statutes and eleven other states reviewed and reconsidered statutes granting the right to grandparents to petition for court-ordered visits. The case shook and split America on where we stand on grandparent visitation rights when the parent is adequately fit. Some states like New Hampshire and New Jersey prefer to favor the custodial parent and not intervene with their liberty to rear a child and determine who or with whom their child interacts with and whom he does not. However, there are also state courts that have been more willingly to give statutes to grandparents seeking visitation rights. A suggestion for policy makers would be to review our ideal of the nuclear family and realize that we are an extended family now due to our high life expectancy rates. As Stein mentions, “changes in the law are necessary to reflect the reality of family life” in this period of modernized America we are living in (Stein: 2007, p. 236).

The influence social class has among legislation, the significance of the role of the grandparent, and the Troxel v. Granville case that split America, helps me evaluate these current policies on grandparent rights. When I put these factors all into consideration, I can only say shame on our American legislators and Congress for not trying to influence a state law that would give clear rights to grandparents to be pushed through. This issue falls under the category of  “the times have changed, so should our policies” type of scenario. Unfortunately, I believe our policies on court-ordered visitations are unfair and distributed among the states unfairly as well. While some states benefit the adequately fit custodial parent, some states will favor the grandparent. They all explain that it all depends on what is in the best interest of the child. On the other hand, I believe it at boils down to the judge and what state you are located in.

When the state declares that the decision will be made in the best interest of the child, it already sounds traumatizing. After several studies and research have found that grandparents are healthy to the well being of the children, I fail to understand why adequate grandparents cannot obtain a state law that permits visitation without having to be court-ordered. If it were really in the best interest of the children, I would urge any court to stop with the court cases, which have mommy and daddy go to war with grandpa and grandma. Moreover, the winner of the case is not chosen by what is in the child’s best interest but by what suits the parents or grandparent’s own personal interest better (Nielson, Bucaria: 2009). Our constitution was written when slavery was legal and when women had no rights, lets not argue about how we cannot find our ways around the amendments. Grandpas and Grandmas all over the nation are here to stay for the long run; most are retired, and have nothing to lose in fighting until they get their well-deserving court-ordered visitation rights.

Clavan, S. (1978). The impact of social class and social trends on the role of

grandparent. The family coordinator, 27, 351-357.

Hartfield, B. W. (1996). Legal recognition of the value of intergenerational

nurturance: Grandparent visitation statuses. Generations, 20, n.d.

Barranti, C. C. R. (1985). The Grandparent/Grandchild Relationship: Family resource in

an era of voluntary bonds. Family relations, 34, 343-352.

Purnell, M., Bagby, B.H. (1993). Grandparents Rights: Implications for family specialist.

Family Relations, 42, 173-178.

Stein, J.T. (2007). Court-Ordered grandparent visitation: Welcome event or unwarranted

intrusion into family life? Social Service Review, 81, 229-243.

Nielson, T., & Bucaria, R. (2009). Grandparent Custody Disputes And Visitation Rights: Balancing The Interests Of The

Child, The Parents, And The Grandparents.

Journal of Law and Family Studies, 11, 521-530.

Quadagno, J. (2011). Aging and the life course (5^th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill

Grandparents Custody and Visitation Rights

A Look into Grandparents’ Custody and Visitation Rights: The Importance of a Grandchild-Grandparent Relationship 

Monica Rios

University of Texas Pan-American

The population is aging in the United States; in the start of the twentieth century only half of twenty year olds had living grandparents compared to the 90% that was calculated in 2000 (Quadagno, pg 192).  Notably, this was due to increased life expectancy, which eventually leads to people occupying longer intergenerational relationships with family members (Quadagno, 2009).  Obviously, the family structure has changed along with the population, times are changing and so are the people; divorce rates have raised from 10% in the early to mid twentieth century to 50% in 2000 (Quadagno, 2009).  When a person is getting divorced and in need of assistance, they turn to their family members; which are usually the child’s grandparents, for support.

This is why Grandparent rights are an important topic for society as a whole for three beneficial reasons: First, grandparents give stability and security to their grandchildren and during a family crisis such as divorce or death children need stability; Second, it can be traumatic for a child to lose contact with a loving family member during a time when they need them the most; Lastly, just because a parent wants to cut ties from the grandparent does not mean the child wishes to sever ties as well. In addition, according to Quadagno, the involvement of grandparents in a family structure is important because it serves as a support bank for the parents and is valuable in the development of a child (2009).

Grandparents’ are a unique member of the extended family; they can serve just about any role that is needed of them: a role model, a listener, a babysitter, or a surrogate parent.  The relationship between a grandparent and a grandchild is important because visits with grandparents are a precious and beneficial experience that a child cannot derive from any other relationship (Fernandez, 1988).  Equally, the relationship a child creates with their grandparents is a happy and healthy one (Fernandez, 1988).  However, grandparents are excluded from many state statutes for visitation and custody.  The rights grandparents currently have are minimal when it comes to gaining custody of their grandchildren (in all types of cases), with their limitations increasing and their chances of gaining visitation becoming increasingly narrow (Ognibene, 2005).  Visitation rights are extremely hard to receive for grandparents, even more if the visitation is objected by the child’s legal parent and only under “special circumstances” is when a grandparent may be granted visitation (Stein, 2007).  My goal is to evaluate current grandparent rights (or lack there of) for visitation and custody of a grandchild and demonstrate the importance of a grandparent-grandchild relationship.

These policy issues are of concern for current and future grandparents in the United States, they affect every parents’ ability to see their grandchildren if anything should arise.  Federal and state laws determine grandparent rights; state laws has its limitations and challenges in awarding custody or visitation rights for grandparents.  Above all, the Supreme Court is reluctant to expand enumerated rights to grandparents by the Due Process Clause (Stein, 2007).  The Supreme Court sees that an extension of the Due Process Clause to grandparents will continue to be a never-ending process, because the constitutional protection of a grandparent-grandchild relationship can lead to the requests of constitutional protection to any extended family member (Stein, 2007).

Before a person can ask for custody of a child, they would need to be capable to “stand” for petition, and grandparents are not included in the preference for grants of custody in most state statutes (Ognibene, 2005).  This is shown in an article from Michelle Ognibene (2005), she stated, “Generally, state law does not require petitioners for adoption to notify grandparents of adoption proceedings, nor does it require grandparents’ consent” (pg 1475).  She then proceeds to explain that the courts may even deny grandparents the right to intervene in any parental termination case, following with the state taking the child away and not allowing the opportunity for grandparents to offer an alternative home for the child (Ognibene, 2005).  Once parents rights are terminated, so are the grandparents and once a child has gone into foster care or has been adopted, it can mean the end of the grandparents relationship with the child (Ognibene, 2005).  It is not stated in the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, but it provides an in context assertion that grandparents can have greater rights in custody; considering that “grandparents have a fundamental liberty interest in their familial integrity and companionship with their grandchildren” (Ognibene, 2005, pg 1477).  Although, grandparents are not protected by the constitution per say, there are still ways in which grandparents can be extended some protection found in constitutional protection in family matters (Ognibene, 2005).

One way a grandparent can gain custody of their grandchild is by asserting the freedom on intimate association, where grandparents demonstrate that their relationship with their grandchild is so essential and intimate that they fall within the Fourteenth Amendments protection of “liberty” (Ognibene, 2005).  Nevertheless, there are still challenges that grandparents still face when asserting towards this protection, there are many state statutes that require a grandparent who is petitioning custody of a child to prove that the two do in fact have an emotional attachment that is in the child’s best interest (Nielson and Bucaria, 2009).  Lastly, if a parent has been considered unfit or has abandoned the child, a grandparent has a good case in gaining the custody of their grandchild (Nielson and Bucaria, 2009, pg 525)

At common law, grandparents did not have the right to petition visitation rights for their grandchildren; with recognition, acting without federal interventions, all fifty states enacted statutes by the year 2000 (Stein, 2007).  The statutes enacted gave grandparents the right to petition courts for visitation rights over the objection of a fit parent (Stein, 2007).  In other words, even if parents had made the decision that they did not want grandparents to have visitation towards their child, grandparents were then allowed to petition against it.  However, there are still some limitations that grandparents face in their thought of petitioning.  One limitation is, a majority of state statutes do not grant grandparents the right to petition visitation if both of the child’s parents are still married.  Another limitation is that some statutes require the grandparent to prove that the child’s parents have been divorced or separated for a certain period before being able to petition for custody.  Lastly, if one parent is deceased or has been missing for a long period; then a grandparent is able to petition for custody of a child.

Moreover,  since the family structure has dramatically changed due to high divorce rates, AIDS, the acceptance of single parenthood, and excessive substance abuse; there is consensus that the grandparents assume the roles of primary caretaker towards their grandchildren (Stein, 2007).  The fact that some state statutes are acknowledging these changes and their effects on the modern family and because of this conferring grandparent rights, thus, it increases the number of custodial care of children for parents that cannot and will not do (Stein, 2007).

I will be focusing on the importance of a nurturing intergenerational grandparent-grandchild relationship and how it is sometimes overlooked within state statutes, custody, and visitation cases.  The evaluation of these policies that have been enacted with increasing limitation makes it incredibly hard for a current grandparent to gain custody or visitation towards their grandchildren, especially, when the child has been put under custody of the state or has been adopted.  This influences future cohorts, since anyone who currently has children or will have children in the future may be put in any situation without knowledge or recognition of what their rights are, he will be affected in the loss of a loved one.

The recognition of the value of intergenerational relationships and its importance are currently noted in most of the resources used for this paper; most state statutes hardly acknowledge the role of the grandparent (through rights) in the case of custody for a child.  What I first noticed when reading the resources was that the courts first focus is on “what is in the best interest of child”, when making determinations.  According to Tara Nielson and Robin Bucaria (2009), the courts look at the “totality of the circumstance” because they are no longer required to base a decision on one fact (pg 571).  They state, “the courts take into account: the wishes of the parent (s); the wishes of the child; the relationship between the child and the parent (s), siblings, or any other person who may significantly affect the child’s best interest” (Tara Nielson and Robin Bucaria, 2009, pg 571).  This sums up what I have read in what courts use when determining most custody and visitation cases that involves a child.  Michelle Ognibene (2005) also acknowledges a child’s best interest, she explains that many state statutes contain a preference of granting custody to those who have the closest emotional ties to the child.  Ognibene’s (2005) view on state statutes in a child’s best interest and adoption is, “although adoption ultimately turns on a determination of the child’s best interest, a failure to notify grandparents adequately, or to prefer their petitions, ought to be regarded as a violation of the grandparents right to due process”(pg 1473).  Ognibene’s article constitutionally analyzed grandparent’s rights and focused on the imbalance statutory framework that left grandparents in the dark by not requiring preference or notifying them when their grandchildren were put into state custody; thus, disadvantaging the grandparents when trying to compete with the state officials and foster care (Ognibene, 2005).  Like Ognibene’s views on the rights for grandparents to become first in line to petition for their grandchildren; Patricia Fernandez (1988) shows a similar view when she says: “even if adoption is in the best interest of the child, the disruption of beneficial relationships created by lack of continuing contact may be traumatic for the child” (pg 120).

According to Theodore Stein, grandparent visitation rights fall under the law of domestic relations and is governed by state law, which means legislation has no authority over the area; although, they can influence the states to enact legislation in support of grandparent visitation rights (2007, 232).  In the subject of grandparent visitation rights, the best interest of the child and parental autonomy are what is most focused on in research.  However, there have many twists and turns in grandparents’ visitation rights throughout the decades that have probably left the older, more experienced grandparents with whiplash. Three of the articles used in this research explain the evolution of grandparent visitation rights mostly because it had risen in the nineties and swiftly declined in 2000 following the Troxel Vs Granville case.  According to W.B Hartfield, during the nineties, in response to social phenomena (including political activism from older citizens and high divorce rates) state legislators acknowledged the importance of grandparent’s values and morals towards grandchildren that lead to the expansions of enactments in grandparent visitation rights in every state in the U.S. (1996).  Although there are still enactments for grandparents’ visitations, all of the states have narrowed and limited variations in most cases.  After the “years of the grandparent” as Hartfield would call it, a case in 2000 revolutionized most of the previously enacted rights for grandparents, Troxel Vs Granville.  In general, the case went from court to court granting visitation to the grandparents against the parents’ wishes; in conclusion, the Court of Appeals reversed the lower courts visitation order and dismissed the Troxel’s petition for visitation (Tara Nielson and Robin Bucaria, 2009, pg 527).  The reason why the higher court reversed the previous granted visitation is because it is unconstitutional for the government involvement in the private realm of the family, and also because there is a presumption that fit parents are able to act in the child’s best interest in the way they raise them (Tara Nielson and Robin Bucaria, 2009, pg 527).

Discussion of the Academic Research

All of the previous information leads to one of the focuses that are used to determine the visitation rights of grandparents, which is, parental autonomy. Why does it help determine visitation rights?  Nielson and Bucaria’s (2009) reason says, the presumption of parental autonomy rearing a child and in the presumption in favor that a parent is fit to make the best decision for their child, makes it harder for grandparents to obtain visitation rights when it is contrary to the wishes of the biological parent (pg 522). Michelle Ognibene also relates parental autonomy to the custody of children, that it is established parents have the rights to exclusive control over the decisions made pertaining their children because the courts regard these rights as “far more precious” than other rights (2005).

The second focus that courts use to determine visitation rights for grandparents are “the best interests theory”, as Patricia Fernandez calls it.  Every person has his or her own views and opinions on a child’s best interest, and I found that Patricia Fernandez has the most interesting views on it.  She first initiates that legislations had failed to define grandparent visitation rights adequately by its practice of the right (1988).  Shen then boldly states “Legislative pronouncements on a child’s best interests usually provides no guidance to what those interests are” (1988, 122).  This was the last research article I read, as I realized that there was not much guidance in what exactly is  in the child’s best interests, I assume that every state has their own limitations and requirements, but, there is not one exact definition of what a child’s best interest is.  On what grounds do the states base their “child’s best interest” on? According to Tara Nielson and Robin Bucaria, the standard of a child’s best interest was “the totality of the circumstance” which was stated earlier in the paper, is some ways that courts might look upon when approaching certain cases.  According to Stein, each courts standards on a child’s best interest is narrow and limited.  Some states clearly compel the grandparents to prove that visitation is in the best interest to the child (Stein, 2007, pg 233).  Arkansas defers the decision to the fit parent (Stein, 2007, pg 233).  California grandparents must show that visits are in the child’s best interest; and in Massachusetts, petitioning grandparents must show that the objecting parents are putting a burden and substantial risk to emotional welfare of the child (Stein, 2007, pg 233).  Consequently, the standards for grandparent visitation rights all vary from state to state law.

Throughout the sources, I found some interesting and important suggestions that can help the policies and rights that have interfered with past and current cases.  Theodore Stein (2007) suggests that the courts make more equitable co parents for children in custody. For instance, this suggests that the state offers any relative that has co parented the child in custody the right to be an equitable parent, since, grandparents are not the only relatives that a child can form deep attachments too.  Patricia Fernandez (1988) recognizes that times are changing and there are more people having children at a young age and out of wedlock; she believes that parenting is a learned skill (pg 113).  She suggests educating young abusive and neglectful parents on better skills on parenting and providing” watch dog” supervision to for troubled families (1988, pg 113).  This is a unique suggestion that I think will serve better over the methods of permanently throwing the children straight into foster homes Michelle Ognibene (2005) suggests that the grandparents be included in Due Process, so that they will be able to be notified of custody proceedings and most significantly be preferentially considered in custody cases (pg 1496).  Lastly, Nielson and Bucaria (2009) suggest a non-litigation centered approach that can help increase the likelihood that the outcome of visitation related litigation is in the best interest of the child, and also a process by which the outcome can be obtained (pg 530).  All of the academic readings that I have read and along with their suggestions have ultimately helped me evaluate the current visitation rights for grandparents in certain areas and lack of custody rights that are seen throughout the readings.  The entire research articles had example cases and the evolutions of the custody and visitation rights that aided me in realizing how the modern family has changed to and the problems that millions of families are going through.

The importance of a grandchild-grandparent relationship is known and acknowledged throughout the research of grandparents’ rights on visitation and policy.  However, it is but parental autonomy that has the foremost determination on visitation and custody rights with grandparents. Parental autonomy has been seen as one of the most precious rights, that cannot be broken because it is stated in the fourteenth amendment that parents have the fundamental right in the control, care, and custody of their children.  It has also been seen as unconstitutional for courts to force visitation with grandparents when a fit parent has objected to it.  A child’s best interest is another important factor in determining the visitation and custody and there are variations, limitations, and challenges that differ from state to state.  Moreover, as I see it, in the “child’s best interest” is not even fully defined or used properly in granting custody to anyone. Furthermore, it was constantly repeated that grandparents are not included in common law, nor due process, so they basically have no legal rights of custody or visitation, just ‘moral rights’.

Policy Implications

After being educated on grandparent’s rights, I would definitely make some changes in the current policies and rights for grandparents. I suggest that states should change their current policy of Due Process by including grandparents so they be notified when their grandchildren have been in custody of the courts and might be put in foster care, so the grandparents may be able to petition for custody (Ognibene, 2005). Along with that, the states should prefer grandparents during custody proceedings as well. By preferring grandparents in custody proceedings, it would cost less by having states cut down costs on paid custodial parenting. In addition to cutting down costs, by preferring grandparents over foster parents in custody proceedings can avert many conflicts between grandparents and foster care parents that can disrupt the child’s life, so, it would be in the child’s best interest to prefer custody to the grandparents so they child lives a valuable life (Ognibene, 2005). Throughout this research I have found these few suggestions most vital when thinking of new policy implications for grandparent rights. Granted, I believe that the inclusion of grandparents in a child’s life is important in the child’s upbringing.

Fernandez, P. S. (1988). Grandparent Access: A Model Statute. Yale Law & Policy Review, 6(1), 109-136.

Hartfield, B. W. (1996). Legal Recognition Of The Value Of Intergenerational Nurturance: Grandparent Visitation Statutes In The Nineties. Generations, 20(1), 53.

Nielson, T., & Bucaria, R. (2009). Grandparent Custody Disputes And Visitation Rights: Balancing The Interests Of The Child, The Parents, And The Grandparents. Journal of Law and Family Studies, 11, 521-530.

Ognibene, M. (2005). A Constitutional Analysis of Grandparents’ Custody Rights. The University of Chicago Law Review, 72(4), 1473-1499.

Quadagno, J. (2011). Family Relationships and Social Support Systems. In Aging and The Life course: An Introduction to Social Gerontology . (5th ed.). (p. 512). Boston, Massachusetts: Macgraw-Gill Higher Education.

Stein, T. J. (2007). Court-Ordered Grandparent Visitation: Welcome Event or Unwarranted Intrusion into Family Life?. The University of Chicago Press, 81(2), 229-243.

Chavin

Huaraz, Peru

que bonito es…

The Struggle and Sacrifice of the Transition

The story behind the lives of Mexican Immigrants with degrees from Mexican Universities, but are not recognized in the United States;

No existe una organizacion nacional por no existir aspiraciones nacionales. Y no hay aspiraciones nacionales por no poder ponerse de acuerdo en la auto-definicion del grupo que no sabe que es, ni como llamarse. Si no hay union cohesiva, no puede haber aspiraciones; y por la misma razon, no hay aspiraciones por no haber union cohesiva del grupo. –Renato Rosaldo 1968

The phrase, “Mexican immigrants in South Texas”, sounds very ridiculous when considering the fact that Mexican immigrants are the only immigrants out of the general group of people coming into this country that had ancestors actually living on the land before the Anglo Americans took over. There are no European or Asian immigrants that can claim this, yet it seems when America uses bigotry when calling for “illegal aliens” or even when speaking of documented immigrants, they seem to be referring to the Mexican and Hispanic group. Negative stereotypes leads to these Mexican immigrants to be stigmatized as dirty, lazy, non-educated people who rely on welfare to survive in America. The unfair treatment and Anglo domination over the Mexican immigrants comes to shape even the minds of the immigrants themselves. Like Renato Rosaldo once expressed in his text De Mayoria a Minoria, Mexican immigrants “cuyo problema primordial es la busqueda de su propia identidad,” meaning that the main problem that Mexican immigrants face is trying to find their own identity among the society they enter. It is sad that these working immigrants come to internalize such assumptions made of them which eventually adapt into their way of life. From my experience, coming from a family of Mexican immigrants, I know these stereotypes are not true and I wanted to find a way to expose it by proving the opposite or other end of the story to the Mexican immigrant groups. Many Anglo-Americans assume that all Mexican immigrants are not educated and come across to take up space in their children’s schools that could and should be filled up with more of their own Anglo kids. However, this supposition is wrong in so many ways. There are many immigrants who come from Mexico with a college or university degree from a Mexican institution whose degrees are no longer valid when they cross the borderlines. In these situations, many of them, which had completed between four to eight years of university education in their homeland, have had to either look for a new profession that is not related to their career path or even go through the education process again at an American university to revalidate their degree for it to have use in the United States. In the latter scenario, ironically the supposition of Mexican immigrants being stigmatized as lazy and uneducated can be completely thrown out; they learn their career in two different languages in two different countries.

I interviewed five Mexican immigrants from the Rio Grande Valley in South Texas who attended a Mexican University (and by coincidence they all attended either a college or university in Monterrey) in order to share the struggles and sacrifices they swallowed to make the transition to a better life a success. Maria and Elizabeth are sisters who went to different universities in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico. Elizabeth went for her studies in teaching, while Maria went for a private accounting career. They both graduated, but when they moved to the United States only one of them obtained a job in her career path. Juventino was born and raised in Tamaulipas and attended La Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon in Monterrey. He earned his bachelors as a civil engineer and when he decided to move to the United States, he had it tough at first but eventually landed a job in his career path and is making a very good living. Dr. Leonel Cantu studied among the most prestigious ophthalmology doctors in Monterrey at La Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon. They helped inspire and guide him into becoming a hard worker in the medicine field. When he decided to move to the United States however, he had no one by his side as he struggled until finally revalidating his medical license. Yet not everyone is as fortunate as Juventino and Dr. Leonel Cantu. Irasema attended La Universidad del Norte in Monterrey and came out with a licensiatura, or masters, in corporation administration. She decided to move to the United States so her children could have a better life. Irasema doesn’t work as an administrator of any corporation; she works at a McDonalds as a cook.

Degrees Lost in the Transition

Maria is 48 years old and now resides in Edinburg, Tx. She was born and raised in a small town in Northern Mexico. Her parents nurtured her very strictly growing up. Her father was the towns sheriff and her mother had a little local business in making and fixing dresses for the locals. When Maria finished her primaria and secundaria studies in her hometown, her father was transferred to the Monterrey police academy and she moved to a suburb in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon called Guadalupe to pursue her pre-college studies in a preparatoria in the city of Monterrey. After getting her pre-requisites at the preparatoria she attended the college of Oxford de Monterrey Nuevo Leon. “Tenia que tomar dos autobuses para llegar al colegio.” Maria not only had to take two buses to get to the college, but she also had to walk fifteen blocks in between those bus rides. She remembers that the bus cost was only 15 cents in American currency, but some people were not satisfied with the price. One day Maria describes that the town decided to host a “wuelga”, boycott, against the buses. That day was pouring rain and Maria’s forty-minute journey to school turned into a five-hour walk. Americans in South Texas who are going to high school do not experience this problem because the government pays for school buses to use for transportation. A similarity though does fall upon another subject. Like in the United States, Maria’s basics in college were “biologia, literatura, historia, matematicas y contabilidad,” like the university requirements in the United States.

Maria graduated and moved back to her hometown where she had a job as a secretary at the only bank in town and eventually was promoted to being the private financier for the bank. Her father was politically involved and when the new alcalde, or mayor, was elected Maria became his treasurer. She worked four years and when she got married her husband told her she didn’t have to work any longer and they moved to the United States. Her culture had denied her to work in the United States. When her husband lost his job and they needed an extra income to help out, Maria realized that her long-studied degree had no value in this new country. She claims that the English language was the biggest barrier to jump because she didn’t understand one bit of it and she had to take all of her college courses all over again in English. The language barrier was and still is something Maria hasn’t been able to overcome. Maria however, with the help of Mary Kay, now owns her own business. She isn’t working in the career path she studied but she has a job where the language barrier doesn’t affect her. She has a website where people all over the United States can shop without speaking to her personally.

The case of Irasema is similar but with a different ending. Irasema went to primaria and secundaria in her small hometown in Mexico. She was very bright and could see herself going very far. She attended a preparatoria in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon and then transferred to La Universidad del Norte. She took all her basic requirements and eventually attained her licensiatura for corporation administration. Seven years later she decided to move to the United States. She had heard stories of the pay being way higher, but she had never heard of the consequences. When she came to the United States, language was a barrier. In order to have a GED you have to pass an English written exam. Everywhere she applied didn’t accept her for not having a high school diploma or GED. She said it wasn’t hard for her to explain her situation because the person in charge of hiring was almost always Mexican American. She would explain in Spanish that she had a masters in Mexico, but they still considered her ‘uneducated’ and wanted her to at least complete a GED to be considered. This completely counters the claim made by Lisa Catanzarite and Michael Bernabe Aguilera from the University of California Press when they state, “recent immigrants (those who came to the U.S. within the past five years) tend to find employment in fields where co-ethnic predecessors are concentrated.” Irasema makes it clear that discrimination against her was even made by Americanized Mexicans who didn’t try to help her in any way possible. Irasemas big dreams of making a better life in the United States soon vanished and now that she has left everything behind she had to find a way to make money to survive. Up until today, Irasema the corporate administrator works as a cook for McDonalds.

Juventino Gonzales did his primaria and secundaria studies in Reynosa, Tamaulipas. He then left to Monterrey to pursue his high school diploma. After he acquired his diploma Juventino went on to finish a career of civil engineering at La Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon. It took him five years to accomplish his career and he started working in Tamaulipas for the next four years. He decided to move to the United States to pursue a bigger paycheck within his career pathway. Juventino was disappointed that his civil engineering background was nothing of value in the United States. All of his experience had gone to waste, but now that he had made the transition there was no time for complaining, he needed a job. The English language was a barrier for Juventino who didn’t know how to speak much of it, just understand it. He needed a job where he could execute orders, not give them. Juventinos wife’s brother in law gave him a job cutting fabric in a store located in downtown McAllen; not exactly the job Juventino had in mind when moving to the United States. He quit the fabric shop after five years and invested money into building small projects like small sheds, roofing, and patios to sell. Juventino eventually attracted the attention of big construction companies in the Rio Grande Valley, and was even sponsored to help him build bigger projects. Without his civil engineering degree being labeled “valid” in the United States, it seemed Juventino was on the road to redeem his bad start. Today, Juventino owns his own business called JUVILEE Construction Inc., and has partnered up with the biggest construction companies in South Texas. His latest project had a commercial cost of about $900,000.00 dollars, the biggest construction site he has built and it was here in the Rio Grande Valley. Juventino always had partners and co-workers when he came across to the United States and he says that everyone treated him equally. He has never worked with an African-American, but every Anglo-American has treated him fairly. He did benefit from staying in the South though, because he didn’t have to go through the tough language barriers that some Mexican immigrants face. Since he worked in downtown McAllen throughout his early years in the United States, he was among his own ethnic group the whole time, “el ingles fue la uniqua barrera al comenzar en los Estados Unidos, pero como trabaje en la frontera se me facilito porque bastante gente habla espanol.”

Double the Struggle

Elizabeth is Marias sister who grew up with strict parents. Elizabeth also studied her primaria and secundaria in their small hometown. She then moved to Monterrey to a nocturnal preparatoria to complete some pre-college requisites. Elizabeth then transferred to La Universidad de Escuela Normal Senenaria y Benemerita and completed four years in her career choice of teaching. Right after she finished her bachelors, she was accepted into the licensiatura program at La Universidad Pedagogica de Nuevo Leon. With her masters degree she taught at a school for twelve years in Monterrey, Mexico. She then decided to move on to better and bigger goals by migrating to the United States. When Elizabeth first moved to Texas she took an English class at UTPA to begin the step in revalidating her license. She then moved to Freeport, Tx where she continued taking English courses for teachers, “el ingles al principio era problema solamente por la pronunsacion y los sonidos del accento.” She was able to get a job as a teacher aid in an elementary called O.J. Fleming thanks to a school official who was in charge of the bilingual programs. They needed help translating some of the material to the Spanish speaking kids so they hired Elizabeth to do so. She was a teacher aid until she passed the exams required by the state of Texas to become a teacher. She became a 3^rd grade teacher and caught the attention of the principal of the elementary. The 4^th grade bilingual class had a very low percentage of students passing the TAAS so they promoted Elizabeth to take on the responsibility. It was very difficult for Elizabeth because she faced 4^th grade students with kinder garden reading levels. A bigger task that Elizabeth took responsibility on was teaching the Spanish speaking kids to learn the material that was going to be in the TAAS examination in English. She had to double her work up by translating material subjects from English to Spanish so the kids could understand, and then back to English to prepare them for the exam. It wasn’t easy, but Elizabeth’s bilingual class ended up with a 90% passing rate; she beat even the regular classes passing rate and was crowned teacher of the year. Elizabeth didn’t try to Americanize the students, she worked with what they had, improved it, and eventually pushed them forward. Just like Emory Bogardus once said, “Americanization as it is sometimes proclaimed does [the Mexican immigrant] more harm than good.” Even though Elizabeth succeeded in her mission, she ran into a lot of trouble. All of the bilingual teachers at the elementary were Anglo, and were jealous that Elizabeth could communicate with the children better. They started using bigotry towards Elizabeth, “decian que no tenia estudio, ellos no sabian que yo habia estudiado mas de diez anos en Mexico, y trabajado con estudiantes que hablaban espanol por doce anos.” As Elizabeth showed more success, the Anglo bilingual teachers used harsher bigotry in saying that Elizabeth had bought her papers to teach in Mexico. All Elizabeth had to say about this was, “no solo les gane a las maestras de clases regulares, pero yo tenia doble el trabajo, los tenia que empujar mucho mas. Hice todo lo que pude para sacar a mis ninos, a mis estudiantes adelante. Eramos como una familia, habeces los padres de los estudiantes venian hablar con migo de sus problems personales.”

Dr. Leonel Cantu is the definition of a man that every Mexican immigrant should look up to. He was raised in poverty in his hometown of Bravo, Mexico. He attended his early years of school there and went to a preparatoria in Cadereita, Mexico. He transferred to Monterrey soon after to finish his pre requisites for college. He then attended La Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon Facultad de Medicina. He studied medicine for seven years along the side of his mentor, one of the most prestigious ophthalmologists in the city of Monterrey, and came out with his doctorates. Dr. Cantu knew that in order to accomplish his dream he had to start early. So after graduating with his doctorates, he took an intensive English course for a year at the Autonoma University. He then moved to San Antonio and took another intensive English course at Palo Alto College. He didn’t have any scholarships or financial aid so he had to work at a construction job to make money to pay for his school. His mentor back in Monterrey got in contact with Dr. Cantu and informed him that he could get him an internship in Baltimore, Maryland. Dr. Cantu did not hesitate and looked for a construction job in Baltimore that could help him get by while he was interning at the University of Baltimore. He did research for a year on ophthalmology and impressed important heads enough to be offered to finish his career in Las Vegas at the University of Nevada while working. He finally validated his degree after four years at UNLV and decided to move to the Rio Grande Valley, closer to his home. He traveled across the United States jumping across every obstacle that got in his way in order to reach his goal. Dr. Leonel Cantu claims that he moved back to the valley, “to be closer to my people from my town. Now the poor people from my little town cross over to the United States and need help. I honored my little town by naming my clinic after it, ‘Bravo Medical Center.” Now Dr. Leonel Cantu is one of the most prestigious doctors at the Doctors Hospital at Renaissance. He honored his town, and his town honored him back, on November 18^th, 2007 he was named Predilect Son of Bravo, Mexico and the story was published in the Monitor.

Renato Rosaldo believed that historical facts influence a man’s culture. That a man’s interpretation of beliefs, values and culture depends on his position in the current world. When this theory is applied to Mexican immigrants it can mean two things. The first idea I conclude from applying this theory to the situation I explored is that Mexican immigrants with degrees have it almost impossible to succeed in the United States. They internalize discriminations and structural and cultural bias to the point where the Americanized Mexican culture is looked down upon. The second idea I conclude from this theory is that Mexican immigrants with degrees in their home country, like the interviewees above, use the historical patterns to motivate themselves and account their interpretation of their home countries beliefs, values and culture to try their hardest to succeed in a system that was never meant for them to succeed in. In other words, they push themselves to the very end to break the position they have been placed in by bigotry, exploitation, structural and cultural bias. The fact that these Mexican immigrants come to the United States risking their degrees in hope of better wages, safer lives, or a better opportunity for their children is something to admire. We are in an era where we would think mistakes from the past would somehow allow for ideals to come out and put an end to such dominations against people just trying to better themselves. Lets end this ridiculous ranking system and start helping each other out instead of leaving each other out.

-Leo

Works cited

Rosaldo, Renato. De Mayoria a Minoria. Hispania, Vol. 51, No. 1, Mar. 1978, pp.18-28

Catanzarite, Lisa & Aguilera B. Michael. Working with Co-Ethnics: Earnings Penalties for Latino Immigrants at Latino Jobsites. Social Problems, Vol. 49, No.1, Feb. 2002, pp.101-127

Bogardus S. Emory. The Mexican Immigrant and Segregation. The American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 36, No.1, Jul. 1930, pp.74-80

Other references:

Rosaldo, Renato. Grief and a Headhunter’s Rage. From Culture and Truth (1989)

The Social Organism

 

I recently finished up a Theory and Method course at the University of Texas-Pan American and found Herbert Spencer’s text quiet interesting and I believe it should be made familiar to all those interested in theories, or those who just want to appreciate the different approaches to the laws of nature. I read one of his text in particular, “The Social Organism”, taken from “The Westminster Review” in 1860 and found his words very controversial compared to the new age studies being made on the same laws or conditions Spencer was theorizing about. Spencer was applying the laws of the human organism to the laws behind mans evolutionary process in which it carries his nature, knowledge, culture, constitutions, and other conditions.

Spencer argues that constitutions are not created by man or groups of men, but instead have an evolutionary growth process in which he explains himself by giving examples of how society is a work of evolution and not manufacturing. His three backbone “evidences“ is that society, like biological organisms, grow from small groups to large collections, they also grow from simple to complex structures, and they grow from a collection of independent units to an organism that is formed by interdependent parts. Spencer’s claim is also backed up by suggesting that societies and organisms develop by increasing their skills and work process until specializing for the function they are designed for.

“The fact that constitutions are not made, but grow, is simply a fragment of the much larger fact, that under all its aspects and through all its ramifications, society is a growth and not a manufacture.”- Spencer

It is a law of nature, in Spencer’s view, that societies change from simple to complex. Purpose of the article is to outline the process of change and to demonstrate the similarities to the corresponding process in biological organisms.

1. They grow from small groups to large collections
2. They grow from simple to complex structures.
3. They grow from a collection of independent units to an organism composed of interdependent parts. The activity and life of each part is made possible only by the activity and life of the rest.

Spencer argues that both societies and organism develop in the direction of increased specialization of function. After reading this short synopsis of Spencers, “The Social Organism”, I hope that you enjoyed it as much as I did. You can always look up Spencer’s full text on the internet and if they don’t have it just get back to me and I will try to find the text myself.

Herbert Spencer

“The principles of organization are the same; and the differences are simply differences of application”-Spencer

Herbert Spencer, “The Social Organism”, From “The Westminster Review” (1860).

-Leo Rodriguez

Marijuana Use in the RGV of South Texas

Marijuana use is Deviant in the RGV

Current Issues Among Young Adults with Marijuana Use in the Rio Grande Valley

In the year 1960 approximately less than 5% of young adults had tried marijuana (187). A recent study in 2004 made by the national Survey on Drug Use and Health revealed that 16.1% of young adults had used marijuana in the past month (Erich Goode 187). In just 40 years time, the usage of marijuana among young adults didn’t just triple but the usage of it changed as well. It is no longer something to just try and have a one-time experiment with, it is something that young adults are getting hooked on. It has become an issue in our society with many different opinions circulating about this epidemic, whether it is a deviance or not to be a marijuana smoker. There are medical reasons and money making reasons why many do not consider marijuana a deviance yet most of the American society associates marijuana users as deviant. From interviews I conducted to research I did on this topic, I want to expose the issues among young adults that are associated with the use of marijuana in the Rio Grande Valley. I will start off the research by giving a little background and present information on why marijuana is seen as a crime and deviance. Some of the issues I will be covering are different point of views of marijuana users and non-users; how labeling young adult marijuana users can affect them, the reason why they choose to either smoke marijuana or not smoke marijuana, and where and how do the users or non-users believe the usage started and came about. The main purpose of this research in exposing the pro marijuana voice, and the anti marijuana voice as well is so we can evaluate their opinions and understand a little better what side their on and why among this current social issue.

Marijuana a Deviance and Crime

When the 1980’s hit and Ronald Reagan became president, he ended the marijuana tolerant movement (Goode 189). Marijuana was now to be looked at as a dangerous drug and the possession of such drug was recriminalized resulting in people who were caught in possession to be thrown in jail. In the Rio Grande Valley, the number of people being thrown in jail and fined for the possession of marijuana is increasing every year. A second apprehension with distributing or possession of marijuana can put a person in jail for a year or more. Some people who are caught using marijuana while under parole can be sentenced to life in prison like the case of the African American minority depicted in the film, “Justice & Privilege in America.” While many think this punishment may be a little too harsh, many authority figures like Texas-State Trooper Victoria Lopez believe this punishment is fair. When I asked her why she thought marijuana was such a dangerous drug she responded that while on duty she has “seen the effects on a person who is under marijuana” when stopping someone and can obviously tell that marijuana “impairs a persons ability to walk, talk, and operate machinery correctly. Sometimes people who are already aggressive naturally can lose self-control and they can become violent and aggressive because they are not thinking straight.” She is implying that marijuana impairs the users psychological ability to function properly. Four sociologists under the American Sociological Association did a study that backs up what State Trooper Lopez has to say. A study they conducted revealed that “marijuana use is associated” with adults who “lack stability in adult role performances” (65). In 1970 a study research concluded that “adult [minority] men with a history of marijuana use during adolescence scored worse on indicators of psychosocial functioning than adult [minority] men who had never used the drug (Benjamin Zablocki 65).” Counties in The Rio Grande Valley have been recently rated among the poorest counties in the nation with the most minorities counted; therefore these studies also help reflect the status of minorities in this area when it comes to psychosocial functioning associated with the use of marijuana.

Labeling Theory

I interviewed five people that came from very different backgrounds that could give me diverse opinions on their view of the effects that labeling can do on a marijuana user. I interviewed 46-year-old Texas State Trooper Lopez who opposes marijuana, 54-year-old Technician Jose who is neutral on the issue, 20 year old University of Texas Pan American student John who regularly uses marijuana, 21 year old South Texas College student Erick who uses marijuana regularly, and Tori, a 21 year old female that attends UTPA who just had a baby and claimed she used to be a regular marijuana smoker until recently. I asked each person to give me some examples of labels that are attached to the user of marijuana by the American society and they all as I expected responded with the same answers; potheads, bums, people who live at home and don’t have a job or a life, and in Jose’s words, “dumb and dumber”. Erick who is a regular user believes that this labeling method is used as a way of “society to brand you, and that’s how everyone is going to see you, society sees potheads as bad, so everyone is going to see you as bad, its horrible”. To my surprise, the respondents didn’t mention anything about labels affecting their chances of getting into a job or school; instead they talked about the emotional distress that labels for being a marijuana user can cause. John said that marijuana users are “given negative connotations causing negative thoughts to those who use it”, while neutral Jose said that from his experience growing up in the 70’s, the labels do not affect the marijuana users physically, like getting jobs or such, but instead emotionally, “they feel like society has created a nick name for them and they don’t like it, it puts them down”. This approves and backs up the claim made by Louis P. Case who states, “labeling usually leads to the stigmatization and isolation of the rule-breaker (75).” Jose, Erick, and John believe that the labeling aspect of this marijuana usage emotionally harms the user, yet people who do not smoke like Texas State Trooper Lopez believes otherwise along with Tori, the ex marijuana user. Tori told me that young adults in the Rio Grande Valley who were regular users of the marijuana substance are clearly not affected by this labeling society puts upon them, otherwise they would have stopped. She believes from experience that marijuana users “know what they like and do not care what other people think about them”. On the other hand, State Trooper Lopez reveals that she thinks the labeling works as a positive aspect in young adults who use marijuana in the Rio Grande Valley in which for example the user feels “empowered” and “they feel cool like, ‘wow, I am a pothead”. Different social groups create a different definition of what labeling means to them, along with the definition of deviance. Howard S. Becker wrote an article in which he explains, “social groups create deviance by making the rules whose infraction constitutes deviance (Becker 39).” My interviewees all came from different groups in the valley, two of the non-smokers believe these labels do not affect the marijuana user because either they do not pay attention or they even feel empowered by the stigma that is given to them. The two regular marijuana users and Jose who stands on neutral ground on the subject believe that the stigmatization of being a regular marijuana user affects the user emotionally and causes them to feel like outsiders or looked down upon.

The Reason to Engage & How It All Begins

The Rio Grande Valley is one of the fastest growing areas in the nation. Having that said, it is still lacking the attractions and distractions that it very much needs for young adults to stay out of committing deviance acts according to its society. We are also very close to the border country, Mexico, one of the highest growers of marijuana plants. The Rio Grande Valley among the marijuana smokers is known as the area where marijuana is at its best quality for the cheapest price. The low price explanation being that it doesn’t have to be exported to other states therefore raising the price much higher, instead all it has to do is make it across the border. Ginsberg and Greenley from the University of Wisconsin believe that “among high school-aged males”, one of the significant reasons for marijuana usage is not only because of perceived personalities, but also because of “perceived environment (Ginsberg 22).” John and Erick both said that the reason they choose to engage in marijuana usage is because this area lacks social activities that would prevent young adults from being bored and needing a substance in order to escape their everyday stress. The non-users like State Trooper Lopez, and Tori believe that it has to do with friends whom are constantly peer pressuring the non-smokers to relax and take a spliff. Jose goes beyond this idea by stating that “the Native Americans long before used marijuana and the American population adapted it to its own culture, the only difference is that the American culture abuses its use while the Native Americans used it for free spirits.”

I asked the person who I believed for sure had never smoked marijuana during their whole life, State Trooper Lopez, how she believed marijuana usage starts in the Rio Grande Valley among young adults. She gave me a list of three simple answers:

1. The user wants to be included in a crowd.
2. When a person is dealing with stress or rapid life style changes and the person cannot cope with it, the person turns to a substance to make them feel better by erasing whatever is going through their mind.
3. Some people are raised in families where it is okay to smoke marijuana therefore they grow up thinking it’s a norm.

These answers sound exactly like what any educated authority official who works for the government would say. Then when I asked the young adults from the Valley who used marijuana how they started their usage, the answers did not match. John said he just wanted to have the experience of trying marijuana, Erick remembers that when he was about to try it for his first time he was hesitating but then thought “hey, no one has ever overdosed or caused a crime by just being on marijuana alone so why not?” Two very opposing views among the reasons why young adults choose to smoke for their first time in the Valley.

Conclusion

The purpose of this article was to find a way to expose the voices around the young adult marijuana users. This deviance they are committing is being viewed by this society as breaking a norm. I accept that, but the authorities need to treat these users like human beings, not look down upon them like they are some sort of needle-sharing junkies who are stigmatized as bums and losers. In order to be able to deal with the marijuana users here in the Rio Grande Valley we need to consider many issues associated with them, hear what they have to say for once, not what the media or the authorities are depicting them as being. In the future I see this issue not being resolved at all. American society will never accept marijuana as a norm, therefore the marijuana user will always be seen as deviant and a stigma will surely always follow. I do believe that the government officials will turn to be marijuana tolerant at one point like Amsterdam and other countries where marijuana is not legal or decriminalized, but it is tolerant. I also want to conclude this study by stating this phrase, idea, or random thought that came to my mind after I had conducted the interviews; “marijuana usage in the Rio Grande Valley may be the symptom of this neighborhoods’ lack of communication with the young adults perspective.”

-Leo Rodriguez

Sources

Ginsberg J. Irving, Greenley R. James. Competing Theories of Marijuana Use: A Longitudinal Study. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, Vol. 19, No.1, Mar. 1978, pp. 22-34

Case P. Lois, Lingerfelt B. Neverlyn. Name-caling: The Labeling Process in the Social Work Interview. The Social Service Review, Vol. 48, No. 1, Mar. 1974, pp. 75-86

Zablocki Benjamin, Aidala Angela, Hansell Stephen, White Rasking Helene. Marijuana Use, Introspectiveness, and Mental Health. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, Vol. 32, No. 1, Mar. 1991, pp.65-79

Becker, S. Howard. “Labelling Theory.” Readings in Deviant Behavior. Sixth Ed. Alex Thio, Thomas C. Calhoun, Addrain Conyers. Boston, MA: Karen Hanson, 2010, 39-41, Print.

Goode, Erich. Deviant Behavior. New Jersey: Pearson, 2008. Print.

Interviewees (Pseudo names used, occupations real)

Victoria Lopez, 32 years of age, female, Interviewed on April 22^nd in Edinburg, Tx. Her occupation is a Texas-State Trooper.

John , 20 years of age, male, Interviewed on April 21^st in Edinburg, Tx. His occupation is Junior Undergraduate in Journalism at UTPA.

Tori, 21 years of age, female, Interviewed on April 20^th in Edinburg, Tx. Her occupation is a Senior undergraduate in Education at UTPA

Erick, 21 years of age, male, Interviewed on April 24^th in Edinburg, Tx. His occupation is Junior undergraduate in History major at South Texas College

Jose, 54 years of age, male, Interviewed on April 21^st in Edinburg, Tx. His occupation is a Technician.

Effect of Religiosity on Sexual Behaviors; Latino’s background example and a proposed study method

Sculptured Kama Sutra

The Effects of Religiosity on Sexual Behaviors

Religion plays a massive role in everyday life whether an individual is Catholic, Muslim, Jewish, even Atheist because although Atheists do not associate themselves with a particular religion they still have their own set of beliefs which is the belief to simply not believe in a God. Religion has been broadly defined as a set of institutionalized beliefs in a higher power and includes statutes or regulations for how to guide one’s life (Holder et al., 2000). According to Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Human Needs Pyramid (Berger 2005), religiosity falls under the Self-fulfillment needs portion of the pyramid which includes Self-actualization (achieving one’s full potential, including creative activities).

Sex (sexual intercourse) also plays an immense function in the lives of not only human individuals but every living organism on the planet. Every animal is biologically constructed to reproduce.  According to Freeman (2005), reproduction is the unconscious goal of virtually everything that an animal does. This statement refers back to the theory of evolution by natural selection which explains why animals reproduce. Consequently, sex should fall under the Physiological Needs portion of Maslow’s Pyramid which includes the most basic needs.

What is the result then, of these two elements combining? Religiosity and sex, a combination of a basic human need and a self-fulfilling need, does one overpower the other or can they both impact an individual equally? Hunt & Jung (2009), argue that religion (including its secular equivalent, i.e., global capitalism) remains a powerfully influential cultural force that shapes people’s lives, in general, and sanctifies their beliefs, in particular, about what makes for good sex. Religions have traditionally been guardians of sexual norms and practices. Religious beliefs and practices vary widely, but they form an important resource when reflecting on human sexuality.  This indicates then, that religiosity can actually control individual’s sex lives by how powerful someone’s belief system and faith seem to be. A devout religious person would then be controlled more by their sacred values opposed to their biological human needs. According to the results of Barkan (2006) who focused solely on premarital sex by never-married adults it was found that religiosity has a consistent, fairly strong, and statistically significant deterrent effects on the number of sexual partners. Barkan was able to demonstrate that the more religiosity someone possesses, the smaller the number of sexual partners they tend to have opposed to a person who is not very religious.

Religious practice and participation such as attending Sunday mass, baptisms and burials among people has also undoubtedly declined in the past few decades. In fact, according to Orathinkal and Vansteenwegen (2007) the Sunday Mass attendance in Belgium (one of the most predominantly catholic countries in Europe), dropped from 94% in 1967 to 71% in 1995. When taking only church attendance into consideration, after reviewing this data an exchange in a person’s way of thinking could possibly take place in which religiosity would take a backseat when it comes to sexual decisions and actions. If then, there is a correlation between mass attendance and how religious a person seems to be, human biological impulses due to sex would more than likely overpower the beliefs of celibacy until marriage that most religions do acknowledge as the “precise” thing to do. When merely considering church attendance however, a few psychological questions concerning attitudes over behavior need to be analyzed more carefully.

For instance, in an article by Bradshaw and Cowden (2007) it is stated that early on, religiosity was generally operationalized as church attendance, which is potentially problematic because this measures behavior rather than attitudes, and behavior is influenced by non-attitudinal forces, such as social and familial pressures. This fact will be measured carefully and taken into massive consideration when collecting data to ensure the validity of the study (religiosity will be measured by what the individual indicates opposed to taking into consideration how many times that person attends religious services).

Example of a specific ethnic background study that could take place among the Latinos:

There is no doubt that a variety of different results could be the outcome of this study which is why ethnic background and culture as well as a general demographic location are also being taken into consideration. Latinos all hold an ethnic similarity and therefore certain cultural similarities as well. The decision to focus on one ethnic group assists the research on its clarity of reliability through the population while still having variability among the participants through random sampling. The decision to collect data in one demographic location increases the cultural similarities among the participants.

Latino culture then must be taken into consideration. Often in the Latino culture, males and females take on different gender roles which then contribute to the sexual activities that take place.  Latino males tend to be more sexually active than Latino females and this is probably due to machismo and marianismo. Machismo is a concept that describes the male role as dominant, independent, and protective of the family, whereas marianismo refers to the female role as a caregiver, a virgin, and obedient to men (Gloria, Ruiz, & Castillo, 2004). Due to these exceedingly different gender roles, it is apparent that males are given more sexual liberty while females are expected to remain celibate. The influence of machismo and marianismo in the lives of Latino adolescents may depend on their level of acculturation; Acculturation has been defined as the process by which one is influenced by the host culture and one’s own culture of membership (Edwards et al., 2008; Berry, 2003). This straightforward culture value has a significant function when it comes to drawing conclusions about the data that will be collected about religiosity and sexual activity among Latino youth.

I hypothesize that the more religiosity a person possesses, the less likely they are to engage in sexual behavior such as masturbation, premarital intercourse, marital intercourse, and other intimate acts. Sexuality, being viewed as a socially disapproved behavior should be less prevalent in Latinos who are more religious.

Proposed Method

Participants: Due to the nature and context of this study, I propose to select 300 Latino university students at random. These students will have to be over 18 years of age but no older than 26 years of age. Of the research sample, 150 participants will be men and 150 will be women, in order to keep the ratio of the two sexes balanced. Therefore the proportion of males to females will be more generalized when calculating data between the two sexes. The participants are going to be selected from The University of Texas Pan American where there is a vast population of Latinos. The student participants are to be informed of the nature of the study as well.

Materials: The materials for this experiment include the Religion as Quest Scale, the I/E-R scale, and the ASC Scale. The I/E-R is a 14-item, 5-response Likert-type scale, which according to Bradshaw and Cowden (2007) has been extensively used. Questions include: “I try to live all my life according to my religious beliefs.” (I) and “I go to church because it helps me make friends.” (E). The Religion as Quest Scale is a 12-item, 9-response Likert-type scale. Questions include: “As I grow and change, I expect my religion to also grow and change.” The Attitudes Related to Sexual Concerns Scale is a 28-item, 5-response Likert-type scale that was developed to measure attitudes that have been identified as associated with a variety of sexual concerns. Demographic variables will also be examined such as age differences and gender differences. My data will fall under the assumption of nonparametric statistics using The Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test. A scantron will also be used for easier statistical analysis to be sorted out and calculated towards the end of the study. The responses of the questionnaire will be placed in a software program called PASW (Predictive Analytics SoftWare; formerly SPSS).

Procedure: Before the actual questionnaires are distributed, an informed consent form would be explained and read thoroughly. Each participant would have to fully understand the purpose of the study and what it entails before signing the form. After the forms are signed, the participants would receive each survey separately. Note that there is no time limit to complete the questionnaires and inclusion in the study is strictly voluntary. A scantron which is to be used for all three surveys will be handed out at the beginning of the study before any questionnaires are passed out. The scantron would have three separate sections indicating where each survey is to be filled out. Each questionnaire will be administered separately. After one of the questionnaires is filled out completely, a participant would turn in the first survey and receive the next and so on until all surveys are completed. Participants would be surveyed in classroom settings throughout the university. When all of the surveys are completed they are to be separated by gender, this is for a later data comparison between the two genders. After separating the 300 surveys into two stacks of 150, calculating data may begin by imputing data into the PASW system.

Results: The data will fall under the assumption of nonparametric statistics using The Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test. It was hypothesized that the more religiosity a person possesses, the less likely they are to engage in sexual behavior such as masturbation, premarital intercourse, marital intercourse, and other intimate acts. I anticipate that the future results will support this hypothesis.

Discussion: The present experiment examined the effects of religiosity on sexual behaviors in the young adult Latino population. It was hypothesized that the more religiosity a person possesses, the less likely they are to engage in sexual behavior such as masturbation, premarital intercourse, marital intercourse, and other intimate acts. I anticipate that the future results will support this hypothesis. Previous research has proven that religiosity does play a role in sexual behaviors. Barkan (2006) found that that religiosity has a consistent, fairly strong, and statistically significant deterrent effect on the number of sexual partners. He also found that the belief that premarital sex is wrong accounts for almost half of this effect. A limitation of this study would be that only one demographic location would be used as well as only one college Latino population opposed to various populations. This however, could be very simply solved by future research on this topic over a wide range of different Latino populations. A future study concerning different ethnic groups would be a great idea considering the fact that little research has been conducted on Latinos alone. Another limiting factor would be the proportion of heterosexual participants to homosexual participants. According to Bradshaw and Cowden, in most research, unless special recruitment methods are pursued, the non-heterosexual sample tends to be so small that statistical significance is hard to achieve. The generality of this study also needs to be taken into consideration because the sample population did come from a university setting. The results would yield greater generalizations if a larger sample was selected outside of the college atmosphere. Future data collected from UTPA students may represent systematically different information from young adult Latinos in general. In addition to these motives research has suggested that few studies have focused specifically on Latino/a youth especially examining the relationship between religiosity and sexual activity among Latinos, therefore more research is needed (Edwards, Fehring et al., 2008). Not only are more studies needed for Latinos but more studies need to be conducted concerning the subject matter of sexuality and religion itself. Perhaps future research examining homosexual religiosity or the effects of religiosity on sexually deviant behavior should be considered. Future research in this area however shouldn’t solely consist of Western cultures and religions. A wider Anthropological approach needs to be taken into consideration also. Studies from different cultures and other countries would be a valuable addition to this branch of psychological research.

-Monique T. Cano (Undergraduate at the University of Texas Pan-American majoring in Psychology with a minor in Anthropology)

References

Barkan, S. E. (2006). Religiosity and premarital sex in adulthood. Journal for the Scientific Study                   of Religion. 45, 407–417.

Berger, K. S. (2005). The developing person through the lifespan (6^th ed.). New York: Worth                   Publishers.

Berry, J. W. (2003). Conceptual approaches to acculturation. In K. M.Chun, P. B.Organista, &                   G.Marin (Eds.), Acculturation: Advances in theory, measurement, and applied research (pp. 17-38). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Bradshaw, S. D. & Cowden, C. R. (2007). Religiosity and sexual concerns. International Journal                   of Sexual Health. 19, 15-22.

Edwards, L., Fehring, R., Jarrett, K., & Haglund, K. (2008). The influence of religiosity, gender,                   and language preference acculturation on sexual activity among Latino/a adolescents.                   Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences. 30, 447-462.

Freeman, S. (2005). Biological Science (2^nd ed.). New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall

Gloria, A. M., Ruiz, E. L., & Castillo, E. M. (2004). Counseling and psychotherapy with Latino                   and Latina clients. In T. B.Smith (Ed.), Practicing multiculturalism: Affirming diversity                   in counseling and psychology (pp. 167-189). Boston: Pearson Education.

Holder, D. W., DuRant, R. H., Harris, T. L., Daniel, J. H., Obeidallah, D., & Goodman, E.                   (2000). The association between adolescent spirituality and voluntary sexual activity.                   Journal of Adolescent Health. 26, 295-302.

Hunt, M. E., Jung, P. B. (2009). “Good sex” and religion: a feminist overview. Journal of Sex                   Research. 46, 156–167.

Orathinkal, J. A. Vansteenwegan, A. (2007). Religiosity and forgiveness among first-married                   and remarried adults. Mental Health, Religion & Culture. 10, 379–394.

Book Review: Women in Ancient Egypt

Robins, Women in Ancient Egypt

Robins, Gay

1993 Women in Ancient Egypt. Harvard University Press, Cambridge Massachusetts.

Chapter one explains the importance of royal women in ancient Egypt and queen ship. However, the first topic viewed in this chapter is about kings and kingship.  At first, male gods were in charge of the lands but later on human kings started to govern Egypt and they acted as a ‘mediator’ between the divine worlds and earth so they were responsible for humans and the universe (Robins 1993: 21). The divinity of queenship section explains how royal women, since early times were defined from their relationship to the king through titles like: ‘kings wife/principal wife’, ‘kings mother’ or ‘king’s daughter’ (Robins 1993:23). This section then questions the divinity of being a queen, since being a king is known as divine since early ancient Egypt. One-way to approach this question Robins suggests; do queens in ancient Egypt wear the insignia? Robins (1993: 23) then refers to queens specifically by “king’s mother” or “king’s principal wife”, who wore vulture headdresses, which was originally worn by the vulture goddess, Nekhbet, known from the Old Kingdom. The items of queenly insignia that are mentioned in the book are all divinely originated, then transferred to royal context, which made the queens who wore them seem divine, just as their kings. The origins of kings’ wives of non-royal birth section show no evidence of how the king chose his non-royal wives; this may suggest that maybe the king did not have a sister to marry. By the New Kingdom, the kings’ were polygamous and this introduced the title ‘king’s principal wife’, which singles out one wife from a number of wives (Robins 1993:27). Along with brother-sister marriage, father-daughter marriage was also arranged within ancient Egypt.

Joining the kings’ marriage to Egyptian women, he also included diplomatic marriage to foreign princesses to make alliance with residing countries. There were two types of Egyptian diplomatic marriages, the one in which the father of the bride is of equal rank or when the father of the bride is a vassal to the king and addressing him as ‘lord’ (Robins 1993:30). Although, royal children were rarely mentioned or even documented in most of the dynasties’ texts, some of them were lucky enough to be included in rituals, but a majority of them were not mentioned.  Lastly, Chapter one explains the institution of the ‘harim’, which is an independent institution where the ‘king’s mother’, ‘king’s principal wife’ and sometimes maybe even the king would reside, this establishment is endowed with cattle and is administered by a whole level of male officials. Some kings even made ‘harims’ just for the ‘king’s principal wife’ to reside in and her entourage or even for extra wives with whom he had gotten bored , in which to live and produce textiles.

Chapter two is about, Queens, their power, and the assumption of kingship. The concept of queenship is complementary with kingship; one does not exist without the other. Royal women were important ritually, but most of the time Queens were not given much power, even of being ‘king’s principal wife’ or ‘king’s mother’. Even so, queens were given their own estates and male officials to be loyal to them.  An example of a queen who exercised real power was Ahhotep II; she might have been queen regent for the young King Ahmose when he conquered Nubia and drove the Hyksos out of Egypt. Hatshepsut gained her prominence after her husband, Thutmose II, died. As Thutmose III was a boy, Hatshepsut was acting as a regent and was controlling the affairs of the land (Robins 1993:42). Hatshepsut made many kingly prerogatives during her reign, like having a pair of obelisks quarried and set up for her at Karnak, or having herself depicted in ceremonial scenes on a building in Karnak (Robins 1993:46). However, as Thutmose III got older, Hatshepsut’s reign was starting to look vague, but luckily there was a system in Ancient Egypt that two kings may rule at the same time, and Hatshepsut kept her role as king. Moreover, Hatshepsut was the only female ruler who ruled during the middle of a flourishing dynasty, and ruled for more that seven years. Other female kings like Nefrusobk and Nitiqret were reigning at the end of their dynasties and when their family had used them as a last resort as they came to the end of their fortunes. Robins (1993:55) then concludes that women like Ahmose and Hatshepsut were strong-minded individuals and although the divine offices were not opened up to women, royal women were still important in Ancient Egypt because they brought potential heirs to the throne.

Chapter three focuses on defining marriage in Ancient Egypt. One important level of social organization in Ancient Egypt was the concept of family groups, of one man, his wife and his children (Robins 1993:56). There are a few unusual cases that occurred in ancient Egypt involving family group. One can be of adoption of a son for an heir, an economic arrangement marriage, and lastly when a father gives up his daughter to marry another man (Robins 1993:59). There are also evidences of marriage contracts since the seventh century BC all the way to the Late and Ptolemaic Periods. These marriage contracts are basically made so that if the woman gets divorced she will not be left with nothing, or if the man wants to leave the woman she receives money or land in return, unless the woman has been unfaithful. Divorce was not uncommon in ancient Egypt; there could have been many reasons for a couple to get divorced. But two main reasons that Robins (1993:62) suggests are if the woman is in infertile or infidelity. From about 500 BC there are accounted evidence that women were about to initiate divorces from their husbands; this suggests that men were becoming unfaithful as well. Most likely male infertility was not known or explained in Ancient Egypt, so in most cases women may have been blamed for being infertile when in reality it may have been the man. There was no proscription about being polygamous in Ancient Egypt, even though men were usually monogamous. So if one was basically able to afford more than one wife, then one can have them. Most of the women were already able to work and make enough money with textile or cloth work to reimburse themselves in their marriages; so multiple marriages were not hard to keep (Robins 1993:64). It is unfortunate to discuss how men were able to have sexual affairs outside of their marriage and it was not allowed for women to commit adultery. With this is mind, the men knew that married women were off limits. There were various Ancient Egyptian texts that explain if ‘a man has a sexual relationship with another man’s women ‘ then he will be killed (Robins 1993: 70). Robins (1993:74) then explains that being married was a natural state for people in ancient Egyptian times, but there is nothing to show how they chose their partners, except that close kin marriages were to keep property and land in the family.

The main purpose of marriage for Ancient Egyptians (in chapter four) is to produce children and sustain a family; this made fertility of the biggest importance to families in Ancient Egypt. Thus infertility is a main explanation for many divorces during this time. At sites such as Dier El Medina there are to have been domestic shrines of fertility gods like: Taweret, Hathor and Bes. These are only a few of the many fertility and childbirth deities and figurines that occupied ancient Egyptian homes (Robins 1993:75). An answer to childlessness was adoption; many couples who were not able to have children bought them off of slaves or owned slaves. Like modern times, when a woman did not get her ‘purification period, there was a sign of conception (Robins 1993:78). They then did a series of random tests that could show is she really was pregnant, like the color of her skin and the size of her breasts and even through her urine samples (Robins 1993:79). In childbirth, women were usually squatting on two large bricks, with one person behind her and one person in front of her. Since childbirth mortality was high, Ancient Egyptians did a series of different seals and spells to protect the baby and mother during childbirth. Children usually suckled on their mother for no longer than three years; some elite peoples were able to provide wet nurses for their baby. Usually Royal families were the ones who hired wet nurses for their infants, but soon elite peoples started doing this to show their high statuses.

Chapter five shows how the family and the household of elite and the middle class families lived during Ancient Egypt. The plans for both the elite and the middle class households were similar, except the elite houses were larger. They each had central areas (reception) and surrounding rooms that could have been the kitchens and storage rooms, as well as another central section with surrounding rooms for the bedrooms. The housing provided by the state were very close to each other and were provided with a slave. They were rectangular with two main sections and two sections within the main sections. These workplace homes were owned by the state and housed only for state workers (Robins 1993:94,95). It was ideal for a man to bear many children with his wife in Ancient Egyptian times. So the typical household could conclude: the husband, his wife, his children and maybe the females mother and sisters, considering if the females father had died (Robins 1993:99). The ‘mistress of the house’ makes sure that all of the duties (mainly food production) are being done and in some cases she does most duties herself. Some household duties could be childbearing, food supply of wheat and barley, baking, weaving, brewing of beer (male servants), or business transactions (Robins 1993: 101, 102). The business transactions are when the women are producing foods or textiles or even clothing in their home and exchange it in their markets for other products of servants (Robins 1993:103,104). The lower class had the small illiterate professions, which made up a majority of the population. This class was unable to leave written records, because they were not able to write; they were not able to get an education. Robins and other authors had to rely on how the elite saw the non-elites. The lower class men worked in the fields (fisherman etc.) and most of the lower class women worked in the fields as well or did weaving and childbearing. They bore a lot of children so that they had free agriculture labor and so that some would be alive (high infant mortality rate) to take care of them when they are old (Robins 1993:110).

Chapter six deals with what women do outside of the home. Since women were responsible for controlling the household, then they were allowed to leave the home. Though, women were not allowed in the bureaucratic structure, they were not sent to school and left with no chance of literacy, unless the mother was literate and taught her female children. Thus in elite families, since women had no hope for bureaucratic positions, at least they were able to write letters to each other or read and copy literacy books (Robins 1993:113). The work that women did in ancient Egypt surprisingly did not depend on the status of her husband. During the Old Kingdom women actually were able to hold administrative positions, like in private homes, but this soon disappeared during the Middle and New Kingdoms; all levels of society eventually became male dominant. But of course women were still called upon to do state labor with the men; there are also various evidences that there was a division of labor based on gender in Ancient Egypt.

Chapter seven deals with the economic and legal position of women. Robins explains how women along with men can own land, dispose of it, exchange it and sell it (1993:136). Not only could women do their own economic transactions, but they could initiate lawsuits and even own their own slave’s; they were treated equal to men with punishment and seen as equal in the court system (Robins 1993: 129-137). Another way that a woman can gain property was to inherit it from her father, unless it was in a state property. For example: if the father worked at Dier El Medina and left the house to his daughter, then her husband would be in charge/own the house; but any other storage room or extra rooms made by her father by his own hand would be labeled hers by law (Robins 1993:134). Fathers usually made extra rooms of storage or huts so in this case if the husband leaves the daughter, then she has someplace to live and not become homeless. The most common type of lawsuit was usually for debt collecting, of financial equals or poorer. There were never any lawsuits of poor people suing elite people.

Chapter eight is about women in temple ritual.  There is evidence that in the Old Kingdom, women had potential and important roles in temple rituals and that a large number of high-class women were priestesses of Hathor (Robins 1993:142). But there was still a male dominancy in ritual and the high administration in the Hathor cult. Outside of the Hathor cult, the amount of women actually in position in other rituals drops to a handful, nor did we ever find women lector priests, the ones that read the ritual from a papyrus roll; this may have been from the women’s lack of being able to read (Robins 1993:144). By the Eighteenth Dynasty women held no positions at all in cults or rituals and the closest that they could get to working in a temple would to be as a musician. Female musicians carry a loop sistrum frequently and hold the sistrum by the loop and shake it; this sistrum is a rattle sacred to Hathor, used to pacify deities and goddesses when shaken (Robins 1993:145). Robins also explains that musicians also carried a beaded necklace called a menit, that was also sacred to Hathor, this was used In temple rituals as well (1993: 146). From the Old Kingdom you can find troupes of women called ‘musical troupes’, they are attached to religious and secular institutions and are made up of two rows, which have five female dancers and three women clapping (Robins 1993:148). Parts of the function of ‘god’s wife’ was to play her sistrum before her god to pacify him and avert his anger elsewhere so and also use ‘god’s hand’ to keep fertility from flagging in the universe (Robins 1993:156).

Chapter nine is the chapter on personal religion and death. Robins says that temple cult is the state religion the people of Ancient Egypt were not forced to go to these temples or become part of a state cult, although they did go and leave offerings to deities at these temples often (1993:157-160). Since the Middle Kingdom any person could set up votive stelaes and statutes in temple precincts in order to establish a connecting between the deity/temple and the individuals (Robins 1993:157). Women and men could both erect votive stelaes, as long as they could afford it, since mostly men are the ones bringing in high incomes, the male votive stelaes outnumbered the women. Thus, the votive stelae and figurines found could be told who made them by the dominance of sex that the piece has, sometimes one find’s stelae’s called ‘mistress of the house’ or ‘musician’ (Robins 1993:159). Though when women do have their own stelae, their husbands mostly accompany them. This is due to the two basic rules of decorum. The first rule is that the owner of the monument must be occupy the primary place, and second, women with only a few exceptions can take a subordinate position in relation to their husbands (Robins 1993:159). Moreover, if the owner of the monument is a woman then the primary place is hers, her husband cannot be shown because he would be forced to appear in the secondary position (Robins 1993:159). It is known that women are not barred from dedicating votives to male deities, but they frequently prefer female deities like: Hathor, Isis, Mut, the snake goddess Meresger and Renenutet; there is always a tendency of gender distinction especially in honoring deities (Robins 1993:160). Burial for women is the same for men (for scribal classes), they share the same after life for men, but men get a tomb chapel and women cannot (Robins 1993:164). Once the burial was done, there was a funerary cult for the deceased one made in front of the temple tomb or false doors, false doors are where the living and the dead could meet (Robins 1993:169). Since women and men were somewhat equalized in funerary actions, then by no means does the female not get the same after-life as the male.

Chapter ten is on the images of women in literature and art. Since scribal men in all of the surviving texts wrote more scripts, this is the only viewpoint we have of women. Therefore, at least we can see how men perceived women and women’s place in society through the male scribal class. Literary texts that perceive images of women are known as the ‘wisdom texts’, ‘Instructions of Any’ and the ‘Instructions of Ptahhotep’. The ‘wisdom texts’ gives advice to young scribes on how to treat their mothers, sisters and wives, and also how to comport themselves in society, the ‘Instructions of Any’ texts reveals that women are in charge of the household and the “Instructions of Ptahhotep’ cautions the reader against approaching women from other households (Robins 1993:176, 177). All of this literary evidence suggests that men had a dual perception of women, one of honoring them and the other of being cautious of the ones who want to approach them.

The representation of female and male figurines in Ancient Egyptian art was basically idealistic. The ideal form for women was characterized by a slim and slender figure with youthful beauty; they did not show how pregnancy or the spreading waistline of childbearing could change a figure as part of an image (Robins 1993:180). Although men were also shown with a slim and youthful figure, they did add rolls of fat and big muscular breasts to the elite and official ideals. The women did not get this because they could not work for the government. Also other distinctions between male and female figures was the body proportions (Robins 1993:180, 181). From the Old Kingdom women wore tight sheath dresses that are lower than their breasts and showed their figures, but later was changed to loose rectangle clothing along with the men’s costumes in the Middle Kingdom (Robins 1993:181-183). The motif of the naked adolescent girl was a female image ( in tomb temples) that was shown to represent dancers, musicians and servant girls; it also decorated ritual spoons (Robins 1993: 185). Moreover, chapter ten explains the differences on how women were perceived in literary texts and within arts during Ancient Egyptian times, and how men were given difference in looks even for figurines, when women where not.

I really enjoyed this book. There was many disappointing information to read on how little women were given authorities to many different things, with a few exceptions, but in all it was a good read. The author presented the information well; he was able to link many examples into his presentations and images that he used. This book did not have any argument to any other information because it was just a lot of information on how women were perceived and what they were able to do during the Ancient Egyptian times. But for soundness in explaining both the views of women and men, and even though there was a lack of lower class information due to their illiteracy, Robins was sound in his arguments. It explains a lot about the customs of Ancient Egypt and really gave me a good insight on what our next topics may be in class, for women. The general readability was fine, it was not a boring read, and will not make you fall asleep. Therefore, I would recommend this book for anyone to do their own book review on it, if interested in women specifically.

-Monica Rios (Undergraduate at the University of Texas-Pan American)

Book Review: Rape of the Nile by Brian Fagan

Fagan, Rape of the Nile

Fagan, M. Brian

1975 The Rape of the Nile Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, NY.

PART ONE: TOMBS, TOURISTS, AND TREASURES

Brian Fagan starts off the book by giving the reader an insight of the destruction of the pharaohs. We learn from the introduction of part one that the Valley of the Kings was a rocky valley chosen as a burial place for the Egyptian pharaohs of the XVIII to XX dynasties for around four hundred years during the sixteenth century BC. The pharaohs were buried in tombs made out of rock and had carefully concealed entrances constructed to avoid them falling to the hands of looters and grave robbers. What attracted these raiders were the preserved riches in these tombs that included; rich furniture, ceremonial thrones, ushabtis, fine alabaster vessels, jewelry, and other statues and toys made out of fine gold and silver. These looters consisted of many different types of classes and people. For example, the classic looter has to be the noble man who is in the lower class of the society just trying to make enough money to live by. The noble men who did this probably had the most struggles to get to these graves since they had to either drug the guards or beat them in order to get access to the burial sites. You can’t really be mad at these types of looters because they needed that wealth to provide for their family. The other type of looter is the foreign antique collector. These collectors would hire these rough excavators that would literally use gunpowder to break through the walls of the tombs and bring the riches to Europe. The most interesting type of looting that Fagan points out is the organized tomb robberies that Pa-wero controlled as a business. He had connections and access to the burial grounds so he went into the business of grave robbery. According to Fagan, Egyptians were motivated by profit because of the need to make a good living and foreigners were driven by the dreams of finding treasure and wealth, but it was the foreigners fault that their efforts made the world become away of the glorifying Ancient Egypt (Fagan 1975:13).

In the second chapter of this section Fagan explains why Herodotus is the father of history even if at times, his writings were inaccurate. He was the first to try to write the history of Egypt in nine books, but with modern knowledge we now know that he was a very gullible man and believed every story he was told. His stories are also very much exaggerated, yet his geographical descriptions of Egypt’s Nile Valley and Nile River is very accurate. Many scholars like British Egyptologist Sir Alan Gardiner call Herodotus the Father of History for taking such interest in the subject, yet many other scholars like French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette despised him and was even quoted saying once that she detested the traveler and also said it would have been better for Egyptology if Herodotus would not have existed (Fagan 1975: 19, 29).

The third chapter of this section, Fagan goes on to concentrate on the destruction of certain ancient Egyptian monuments by the beliefs of the Coptic Christians. The Coptic Christians were a mix of Greek and Egyptian values and language that were protesting against world of sin that was controlled by the elite (Fagan 1975: 34). The Coptic Christians were not unified in their customs but were all determined to a new religious order and despised and tried destroying every old order around, including institutions, monuments, statues, inscriptions, and etc.

The fourth chapter Fagan goes on to give an explanation of the sixteenth century and its fascination with the business of antique collections from Egypt. Many collectors were interested in coins, mummies, Indian scalps, baskets, Polynesian axes, and papyri documents. During the seventeenth and eighteenth century the most enthusiastic collectors of antiques were the French kings and their noblemen (Fagan 1975:51).

In the fifth chapter of the first section Fagan expresses that Napoleon Bonaparte was the man responsible for pushing Egypt into the center of the world (Fagan 1975:65). Napoleon soon enough hosted an expedition into Egypt along with his 167 donkeys, the given nickname to the scientist and technicians that accompanied him. Bonaparte’s research in three years of work became then the largest library that had obtained a copy of almost every book to ever have anything written about the Nile, measuring instruments, and scientific equipment used in Egypt (Fagan 1975: 69).

PART TWO: THE GREATEST PLUNDERER OF THEM ALL

The sixth chapter in the book, Fagan starts off with the Italian Giovanni Battista Belzoni’s biography and some of his achievements. Belzoni was known for his strong physical characteristics and is even said he carried up to twenty-two men for a circus act. His famous act of carrying a massive iron frame that weighed 127 pounds and carrying twelve people on it is recorded in articles. One can say he was perfectly built to be a grave robber. Belzoni was hired by French collectors to bring back obelisk and other treasures of Egypt. He sailed the Nile and recorded in a diary everything he excavated and looted.

The seventh chapter is a description of the town of Cairo in Egypt. It talks about the riches it had for trading like cotton, flax, grain and the products it did not have like slaves, gold, ivory, salt, spices, fine clothes and china that were imported from Asia and Africa. According to Fagan (1975:112), it is said that around 250,000 people lived in the busy city, and was after Constantinople the most influential political and economic center in the Near East.

In the eighth chapter, Fagan describes the importance of the Swiss native, who was a outstanding scholar, and an expert in linguistics and chemistry, with a traveling passion, Johann Ludwig Burckhardt (Fagan 1975: 124). Burckhardt’s observations inspired and intrigued Belzoni, specially the granite head of a masterpiece that is known as the Young Memnon. A couple of months later with the help of a carpenters car, the flood of the Nile, and a few rollers, Belzoni manages to get the Young Memnon’s head out into the riverbank to be shipped to Britain in which it now lies in the British Museum.

The ninth chapter is by Fagan described as the Nubian journey. The river travels, to Belzoni brought many beauties, which include the Kom Ombo, Aswan and the island of Elephantine. He came across and recorded the temple of Horus at Edfu. Belzoni experienced circumstances in which his physical characteristic and decisive behavior played a role in preventing him and his crew trouble. For example, when traveling afloat in Nubia he encountered a tribe when the party was ashore that came rushing to his boat with spears and Belzoni had to bring out his pistol and prevent the men from entering his boat.  Belzoni encountered Abu Simbel and was quoted saying in one of his diary entries that if the sand could be cleared away, a vast temple could be discovered underneath (Fagan 1975: 145). Belzoni achieved more than any of his rivals in a shorter time, including what Napoleon Bonaparte and his army failed at doing. He had surprisingly unique qualifications that he retained from being a circus and theatre actor that gave him an obvious advantage over his rivals in moving large objects out of his way (Fagan 1975: 154).

The tenth chapter of part two is labeled The Most Magnificent of Temples. This subtitle is describing the Temple of Amun at Karnak. Belzoni found at The Great Temple of Amun a seven foot seated statue that was divided in two at the waist. Belzoni though, lost some of his workers to the agents of Drovetti, who was another rich antique collector from Europe. While he was waiting for more funds, it was said that Belzoni wandered the Great Temple of Amun alone. Even though Belzoni was not known to be a romantic man, he was glorified and stunned by the fabulous architecture of the Egyptians (Fagan 1975:161) and was recorded in his diary saying that he was lost in deep thought of so many object because for a time he was unconscious whether he was on earth or on another planet (Fagan 1975:161). Belzoni was interested in the burial chambers found in caves behind Kurneh. This is the site where he found papyri paper which many collectors in Europe were fascinated with. Belzoni recorded in his diary that his purpose was to rob the Egyptians of their papyri; of which he found a few hidden in their breasts, under their arms, above the knees, on the legs, and were all covered by folds of cloth (Fagan 1975: 164). So clearly Belzoni here used rough excavations to reach his destination of the papyrus papers by tearing through the clothes and body of mummies. Since Belzoni was having much success in finding antiquities, Consul Drovetti soon heard of Belzoni’s work and ordered a number of operations against Belzoni which included documents preventing him from hiring workers, to the beating of one of Belzoni’s kachif, to the forbidding of locals to sell any antiquities to anyone but Drovetti. Disgusted, Belzoni took a boat to Nubia to await further instructions on what to do next. From there he united with adventurous English naval officers Captain Charles Irby and James Mangles, and engaged to a quest to uncover more at the site of Abu Simbel. It was then when the interior of Abu Simbel was uncovered and was Belzoni’s most important discovery up to date (Fagan 1975: 175). A seated figure of Pa-ser, the governor of Nubia under the reign of Ramesses II was also found by Belzoni in the Abu Simbel temple.

In the eleventh chapter, Fagan goes into Belzoni’s continued excavation of the Valley of the Kings. Belzoni originally wanted to go back to Thebes but some of Drovetti’s hated agents moved into Kurneh during Belzoni’s absence and began digging around Belzoni’s area and found mummies. Some of those agents had threatened to cut Belzoni’s throat so he did not want any trouble and decided to go back to the Valley of the Kings where he had previously had some success.

Fagan’s chapter twelfth includes the tragic death of one of Belzoni’s most influential and valuable friend, Burckhardt. Belzoni had to sell two lion-headed statues of the goddess Sakhmet to make money, which he did sell to Count de Forbin for 7,000 piasters. Belzoni rapidly acquired the label as an archaeologist of genius whether the French liked it or not. Belzoni is joined by Alessandro Ricci, a copyist, to go to the Valley of the Kings and do work on Sethy’s tomb for about two months.

Chapter thirteenth talks about the new small expedition that Belzoni took a part in with a party of eight. They hired a small boat and traveled upstream to Edfu, where they would have to cross the desert towards the Red Sea. That year the Nile River had a record flood of three and a half feet and as Belzoni traveled he recorded many of the villages he saw the inundation had damaged. The further upstream they traveled, it was even more critical and Belzoni began to see, whole villages washed away and people piled up on patches of higher ground with their grain and stock (Fagan 1975:204).

Chapter fourteenth is dedicated to the Obelisk of Philae. The obelisk was fought between Drovetti and his agents and Belzoni. Belzoni had taken claim of the obelisk three years before Drovetti’s agents began trying to abduct it. Belzoni had paid guards to watch the obelisk for him so they did not allow Drovetti’s agents to take the obelisk or offer their help. One of Drovetti’s agents known as Lebolo even tried bribing the gullible locals by claiming he could read the hieroglyphs and told the locals that the monument belonged to Drovetti’s ancestors (Fagan 1975:218). Belzoni arrived and got help to remove and ship the obelisk to Europe from the same captain who refused to help Drovetti two months earlier. The Obelisk of Philae now lies in its final resting place in the grounds of Kingston Lacy House, Dorset, England.

The fifteenth and final chapter of part two in Fagan’s book concentrates on the success of Belzoni’s work. By the time he left Egypt, the interest in Egyptian antiquities were at its peak. He had been more successful than any other of his rivals in recovering or looting the riches of Egypt and returning them back to Britain to lie in a museum. Most of his victims ended up in the Egyptian Hall in Piccadilly, London. In the 1820’s he wrote a book about his adventures as an archaeologist and looter for collectors of Britain. They hosted exhibitions that made Belzoni look like a hero of his time for discovering ancient Egypt and exposing it to the world. On the other hand, Drovetti was viewed as never being a great pioneer or expert on the field of Egyptology (Fagan 1975:248). He ended up dying in a lunatic asylum but not before he sold his antiquities to the king of Sardinia for 13,000 pounds. Belzoni and Drovetti both reached financial gain and fame, but according to Fagan (1975:248) there was one loser involved, Egyptology.

PART THREE: ASSAULT ON ANTIQUITY

In the beginning of this part of the book, chapter sixteenth, Fagan sadly tells that after Belzoni left his days as a tomb robber, he also left a hunger for thousands of collectors, amateur antiquarians, and curious tourist who jumped onto the Nile during the twenty years after Belzoni had left Egypt grounds (Fagan 1975:251). One of the more important collectors was Anthony Charles Harris (1790-1869), who was an English merchant that lived in Alexandria. He specialized in papyri antiquities, which ended up in the British Museum in 1872. Another famous monument looter was the French collector, Sebastien Louis Saulnier and his agent Jean Baptiste Lelorrain, who looted the zodiac relief from the ceiling of the temple at Dendereh (Fagan 1975:253). This section also mentions the famous Jean Francois Champollion who in September of 1822 with the help of comparing cartouche’s from Abu Simbel he deciphered the hieroglyphic code.

The seventeenth chapter explains that after Belzoni left Egypt and with the help of Champollion’s deciphering of the hieroglyphics, suddenly serious travelers became interested in the Nile and its treasures. A famous English treasure hunter John Gardner Wilkinson, became one of the founders of Egyptology in Britain. He arrived in Egypt in 1821 and rapidly became interested in studying and deciphering dozens of inscriptions and deciphered many royal cartouches (Fagan 1975:264). Unlike Champollion and many others, Wilkinson did not have any government support and achieved a lot of work with little funds and resources (Fagan 1975:264). Another Frenchman Auguste Mariette who was born in Boulogne, gained an interest in Egyptology. He seeked manuscripts but soon found out they were not of any value other than his own research, so he began excavating. He began excavating at the Serapeum at Memphis and had immediate success finding sphinx after sphinx and the famous Sitting Scribe figure.

In chapter eighteenth, Mohammed Abd-el-Rasul and with the help of Emil Brugsch made one of the most important discoveries of Egyptology in Luxor, they found the burial tombs of Thutmose III, Seti I, Ahmose the Liberator and Ramses II. The chamber was surrounded with bronze vessels and canopic jars with coffins of queen bunched up together in piles. Wallis Budge was a collector who was taken by a dealer to a tomb one night where the seventy-eight feet long complete Book of the Dead was found.  He would go on to uncover several other important papyri documents from the tombs and seal them in tin containers to be hidden in safe places.

The nineteenth chapter has Fagan talking about the interest in Egypt had expanded so much that in the winter time it was the place to visit. With steamboats one could travel through the ruins in half the time it would have taken the fastest Roman galley. Thomas Cook and other pioneer travel agencies helped tourisms become a safer way to travel to experience the beautiful ruins of Egypt. By the 1870’s, according to Fagan (1975:307) 300 American tourist had registered to enter Egypt at the consulate in Cairo in a year. Even the famous Mark Twain visited the sphinx and pyramids. Amelia Edwards took a journey down the Nile River and wrote a book and many articles on the public opinion about Ancient Egypt. Egyptian writings, which included novels and books, related to myths and wonders of Egyptology became a widespread trend and would sell thousands of copies at this time in history. Exposing the Nile of its’ riches for the world to read, as if it had not already been exposed enough.

Fagan ends this section of part three with chapter twentieth’s description of Flinders Petrie who was born in 1853. He had education surveying, casual scientific inquiry and an interest in traveling. Flinders left to Egypt in the 1880’s and was there when he realized he wanted to excavate. At first he just wanted to do a survey of measurements and observations but he saw the way the previous excavators had treated the rich pyramids with such rough and disrespectful tactics that he felt disgusted. He wrote about his feelings towards rough excavation and soon got the attention of other archaeologist who felt the same way. He noticed how the previous archaeologist that excavated before he began his surveying would concentrate on the gold, jewelry and big statues and monuments. He found a passion for the smaller objects like pottery and toys and believed they were an important key into the understanding of Ancient Egyptian culture. He asked for funds and sponsorship from the Egypt Exploration Fund but got very little back. Petrie brought back boxes of pottery from each site he visited to Britain. Petrie felt like he brought specific skills to the field of his work which included; the art of collecting and securing all the required information with the ability to weave a history out of scattered evidence using all materials of inscriptions, objects, positions and probabilities, and he could also list material culture, archaeological surveying and weights (Fagan 1975:344). Petrie would go on to found an English school of Egyptology and introduce excavation methods that were later improved as he trained whole new generations of new Egyptologist.

In the epilogue and twenty-first chapter Fagan reflects the success of Belzoni when he arrived at the Nile. He also does not blame Napoleon and his men for their desire to strip the Egyptians from their antiquities, after all they are only human, and have human desires. Fagan defends the collectors attitudes of ambition by giving an opportunistic point of view by saying that the collectors saw it happening everywhere they turned their heads to and when they saw an opportunity of an unprotected area with many riches like Egypt, they took their shot. Fagan mentions that the collectors might have done the Egyptians a favor by striping them away of the mummies and monuments because now they rest safe in a British Museum and during those times of the looting, the own Egyptian government was giving them away and destroying them for political reasons. Ironically, after three long parts divided into sections of the Raping of the Nile, Fagan (1975:365) explains that in a sense, it was the educated foreigners who saved Ancient Egypt.

Opinion:

Fagan put this book together very well. I really enjoyed reading this book because Fagan made it easy for the person who doesn’t know much about anthropology terms understand. The material was really familiar to me because of the readings I have done in the past along with other classes I have taken that touch some of these subjects. This is the second time I read one of Fagan’s books, I have read Quest for the Past, but I have to say this one is my favorite of the two. He presents his material straightforward and his interpretation of the information is factual. Fagan being whom he is obviously studied and knows what he is talking about. He is one of the best in his field of writing at the moment so with that being said his soundness of his arguments were very researched, accurate, and strong. It seemed as if every argument he had, if he did not have a reference from another book, he had an image to go along with it. I also could not help but noticed that most of the material covered in this book is covered by Tom Pozorski in his “Archaeology of Ancient Egypt” course so I believe Pozorski is also influenced by Fagan’s writings.

(Tom Pozorski is an undergraduate from Harvard University who received his doctorates at the University of Texas-Austin in 1976. Professor of Anthropology, Department of Psychology and Anthropology ,  at the University of Texas-Pan American)

-Leo Rodriguez (Undergraduate at the University of Texas Pan-American)