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Race is basically evaluated on genetic traits however with recent discovery genetics has been ruled out to be the core identification of the human race basing with Barbujani (1997) of the human genetic diversity .Human heritage Race, ethnicity, culture and values are primary identification of a specific belonging or group: especially the term race and culture are often used to identify the cultural belonging and originality of individuals and widely a society. My family are proud natives of Kingston Jamaica where it is the Jamaican Capital, after moving to the United States in the early 90’s we have rather maintained and kept touch with the Jamaican culture and heritage. Jamaica is well known for its colorful culture and its wide list of traditions that has retained over the decades, its due to my parent strict and consistent parental roles that has allowed us then conformed with the Jamaican heritage .The family setup is critical in the Jamaican culture , it considered to be the foundation of the Jamaican identity. The Jamaican household can perfectly describe with the saying that “it takes a village to raise a child” since this outlines the societal basis of any Jamaican culture and values. Although many families are embracing to modern norms that weakens the traditional and cultural values and norms. The Jamaican people more so our family has held to the core identity of our culture. A typical Jamaican family will consist of the extended family such as the aunts, uncles, grandparents they are all considered to be an extended unit of the family, the values and Customs are tightly monitored and ensued in a young family to ensure a strong and a tight family bond.
Jamaican Culture
The Jamaican culture is basically defined by a diverse aspect from the food, dressing, the dance and mostly the communication and attitudes of its people. Born in Jamaica and raised in Connecticut has enabled me to assimilate and conform to my surrounding although I still hold to my culture I have had the opportunity to develop the American accent which is quite different from my parents , who still have the Jamaican accent. The Jamaican language is somewhat mixed, since the nation’s earlier colonization, the Jamaican language and accent is a mixture of the English, Spanish and Rastafarian languages. The dialect is quite unique as still it is English although the pronunciation of words may comparatively differ with the American accent.
Similarly our culture distinctively known for its different cuisines, The Jamaican culture is enriched with flavorsome and spicy taste. Bearing in mind the Caribbean origin, the foods are a blend of spices and fusion of foods around the globe. The Jamaican culture mainly identifies with African ancestries, where they almost have similar traditional tastes such as yams, plantains and corn bread. Although most Jamaican are celebrated for their love of seafood such jerk and spicy marinade. Living in the United States has provided us an opportunity to accommodate and have a taste of a diverse cultural foods.
Moreover, our culture is known for its custom music, dance and crafts which is of huge significance with identifying the Jamaican culture. The Jamaican people have a form of seemingly expressing themselves through their music and vividly doing this through the art of dance. While the Jamaicans identified form of music in the reggae which has been known worldwide, the form of music is seen to have a laid back sound that predormantly identifies with the Rastafarian movement. However, with the development in the music scene, the music genre has evolved to dancehall, which has been derived from reggae.The genre of music has he traditional form of dance that was identified with the Jamaicans has also advanced overtime t accommodate styles from the Europeans and Africans
Religion
Religion plays key in the Jamaican culture it provides the primary identity of our people’s values and long standing traditions. Religion significantly identifies with the Jamaican family culture.Similar with most family around the neighborhood, we belong to the Catholic dominion where our parents first brought us up in the church. The extended family and the parents instils strict principles to ensure the family is brought up in the faith. Such is evident whereby almost 80 percent of the Jamaican are Christians the people have a diverse dominion Christianity dominates in term of religion fractioning. Contrary to stereotypic beliefs of the Jamaican people identity whereby all Jamaican were identified to be Rastafarians. The Rastafarian movement more so the Rastafarian culture is considered to a derivative of the Christian culture where the founders felt the culture needed to connect with the African origin. The Rastafarian movement developed and was influenced from the growing consciousness of the African continent, this likely developed the growing popularity of the movement and also leader such a Marcus Garvey and Heille Selasie. Although a significant amount of people will identify Jamaican with the culture it is partially biased considering many Jamaicans are considerably Christians.