In postfigurative transmission, adult community members pass on values, beliefs and behaviors to the upcoming generation with little alteration. Usually, in such contexts, the children question the cultural patterns they receive from elders very little. In the United States, the Amish and Hutterite subcultures closely represent postfigurative processes. Immigrants from traditional or rural societies may also have a background of strong postfigurative transmission. (Ovando, 168)
My father grew up on a farm in Shanghai China and my mother grew up on a beach in Taiwan. Both received a very Confucian childhood where when they were children, they were expected to obey their elders without question. The elders were the head of the family. The elders had the right to choose husbands or wives for their children. If the elders scolded their children, the children obeyed without question or else face dishonor and shame. I remember my grandmother scolding my mother for making foods that were not good enough for her family. My grandmother also told my mother that the American way of dieting to promote weight loss was wrong. My grandmother said, you always eat several plates of food to show your appreciation to the family for having plenty of food on the table. Only poor peasants eat very little and lose weight because they are poor. Wealthier people take pride in their weight gain. My mother just took it. She never questioned my grandmother's authority. My mother always did what she was told. When her elders told her to do something, she just did it without complaining. My mother and my grandmother did not like each other. No matter what my mother did, it was never good enough to please my grandmother. As a small child, I never realized why my mother and grandmother always sat at opposite ends of the room. Yet despite my mother's dislike for my grandmother, she never disrespected my grandmother by arguing with her or showing her point of view.
When immigrant parents come to the US, they expect their children to adhere to these strict rules of obedience to their elders. They expect the children to obey them, in the same way they obeyed their elders. They have strict limitations on what you can or cannot do. Everything is done for the good of the family, the group. If a child thinks for himself, he is considered selfish and immature. Children are expected to sacrifice their own individual happiness for the good of the family. Family loyalty in Chinese culture is paramount. Group think is expected and honored. A Chinese child in China is taught to obey without question. These values are then passed down from generation to generation for hundreds of years. In fact, Chinese literature celebrate heroes who give up their own happiness to take care of elderly parents rather than marry the girl they love. So in a Chinese story, the hero walks off into the sunset with his elderly parents, not his wife/girlfriend like in American or European movies. Immigrant parents are in for a shock when they raise their children in the US. This is the topic of my next post on Configurative Transmission as the immigrant parents have to deal with their Americanized children.
Ovando, Carlos & Combs, Mary Carol Bilingual and ESL Classrooms 6th Ed.
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