Multicultural Concerns in Marriage and Family Therapy Essay

Multicultural Concerns in Marriage and Family Therapy - Essay Example According to the finding of the ancient Chinese history, the Hmong were a culturally unique set of Asian individuals that lived in the mountainous regions of Siberia, their original homeland. Sects of their civilization settled by the banks of the Yellow River in northern China who were later attacked by the Chinese for the fertile land present along the Yellow River. Thousands of Hmong people have resettled in the Western countries ever since the 1970s primarily in the United States. Others thou have returned to Laos under the UN-sponsored rehabilitation programs. There are about 8-12 million Hmong living in the southern parts of China. â€Å"The remaining Hmong, approximately 1-2 million, are found in Laos, Northern Vietnam and Thailand due to the migration during the mid-1800’s† (Quincy, K, 1988) The Hmong kinship system is the core foundation regarding the social and biological structure among all the other systems prevailing in the Hmong society. It is a relationsh ip based on blood and marital aspects and connects the blood relatives in the same clan, within other clans as well as between them. The Hmong that was born in the 18 major clans namely have established ties as the primary and most crucial relationship within their blood relatives but on the other hand, they do acknowledge their marital ties as secondary relationships among themselves and to those who belong to other clans.This kinship system adopted by the Hmong clan plays an important role of an institution providing various essential functions to provide of the needs of the Hmong members, their extended family as well as the society. It divides the Hmong into 18 major clans which acts as a social organization providing lifetime support, both spiritual and material, to their clan members throughout their life. Marriage In The Hmong Culture Via The Rule of Exogamy The 18 clans of Hmong support the practice of marriage through the rule of exogamy to both genders of the clan’s members allowing them to marry outside of their own clans. This rule of exogamy is a compulsory procedure which prohibits members belonging to the same clans to get married to each other reason being the Hmong rationale which states that all members (in theory) of the same clans were biologically related in the beginning and have descended from the same ancestors and thus are actually brothers and sisters. Therefore they are not allowed to get married to each other within the same clans as their own. The Formal Marriage Request (Begging) By the Groom’s Family The traditional Hmong marriage mainly occurred at an early age where the boys and girls were between the ages of 14 and 18 years (as cited in Lao Family Community of Minnesota, Inc. 1997). This formal marriage practice is started by the groom’s father along with his older married brothers who would go to the bride’s parents and make a formal marriage request. In case the groom has no father or elder marrie d brothers, he could seek the aid of other male relatives or clan leaders to help him in putting down the formal marriage r