Folk Groups

I found the discussion of folk groups to be very intriguing, because having taken a very fun anthropology class last semester, what the book described as a folk group sounded to me like a code word for culture. In anthro, the term culture was used in a much broader way than I think people often think about it: it meant roughly a group of people who shared some common characteristics, ideas, beliefs, livelihoods, etc. and formed communities connected to those characteristics (which could then be studied by anthropologists). As a result I found the references to folk groups to be a bit annoying, because it felt like I had to translate them to get at their actual meaning. Now I realize someone may object to that substitution, but I really couldn't see any major differences.

Now as to what "folk groups" I belong to:

For occupational groups, I belong to several. I am perhaps first and foremost a student, both of GMU and my home university. I am also an employee of several different work places, making me a member of folk groups of those various occupations.

For age group, I am a young adult, but because I am very recently out of high school and still interact very much with people in that age group, I think that I straddle the boundary between teenager/high schooler and young adult, particularly when I come home for the summer and interact again with all my high school friends. Even when at college, I think my friends and I act in ways that can meander back and forth across the boundaries of age groups, and we still retain some of the trappings of the younger age groups folklore.

For family group, I am a member of my family. However I think that this category can apply in other ways as well. For example, next year I am going to be sharing a house with a number of my close friends, and although I haven't experienced it yet, I wouldn't be surprised if we become a family, although the structure is more fluid than the traditional family structure.

For gender-differentiated group, I am female. I don't often think about this particular folk group and what it means to me, but I think that is because it is so ingrained into me that I just don't really notice it. Whether or not we believe that females are freed from past restrictions and societal constraints, we will always be very much defined by our gender, and be a part of the folklore of that group.

For regional group, I am from Northern Virginia, from Arlington, and from DC (or the DC Metropolitan area). While separating out all these different regions may be a bit extreme, I think it is legitimate, because depending on where you are at a given time, any of these groups can mean something and you can find connections with people from these regional groups. For example, while when I am in Northern Virginia, being an Arlingtonian might seem the most relevant, because I'm not really from DC, and don't really consider myself to be a part of that culture, when I am away at school (in another state), finding other people from the DC Metropolitan area can feel very significant, even though we might have fewer things in common, because relative to my relationship with someone from Texas, I will feel a lot more connected to someone from Bethesda, MD.

For ethnic group, I am American, and have a heritage that is a mixture of German, French, Irish, Danish, and Italian. Because I am so mixed, and I am many generations American on both sides of my family, we have not retained too many of the traditions from our original ethnic groups, so as a result I think I would consider my ethnic gorup to be more American than anything else.