Summer 11_Kubal.wmv

This film was taken at Kouts High School in Kouts, Indiana. This is a remote rural area, where everyone in the community knows each other. As these kids have been together for the past thirteen years of their lives, they are now celebrating the end to one part of their lives and the beginning of adulthood as they all venture in their own paths of life. The graduation ceremony itself is culturally constructed to celebrate the passage into adulthood as most of the students will leave their parents homes and settle someone where new to start a different chapter of their education, which was explained in an interview with Beulah Becker. In contrast to other cultures, such as the Hispanic communities where the young girls get their passage to become a woman when they celebrate their fifteenth birthday and have a Quinceanera celebration. Similarly, in the Jewish communities, there are two ceremonies called the bar mitzvah and the bat mitzvah to celebrate the passage of young boys and girls into becoming adults, respectively. One thing that all of these rituals have in common is that the passage into adulthood means that each of the individuals are now fully responsible for his or her own actions and moral duties. However, the graduation consists of more than just the ceremony which was explained in an interview with Gerri Kubal. Often following the ceremony, each graduates family will hold their own individual open house celebration. This film shows the open house celebration of Charles Harness, which was located at the Kout's Legion Hall. The open house celebration consists of different memories of the graduate's youth through displays of scrapbooks, but also the accomplishments completed so far in his or her lifetime, including different awards, honors, and the high school diploma received earlier that day at the graduation ceremony. Furthermore, there is almost always cake and different variations of food. The food served at each individual's open house often reflects the ethnicity of the family. For example, at Charles's open house there were meatballs served but to reflect on his heritage of being part Belgium, the meatballs were prepared with a mixture of beef and pork with breadcrumbs and sliced onions. The celebration continues as family and friends gather at different tables to eat and carry on in conversation about the graduate's accomplishments and his or her feature plans. For Charles's, as discussed in the interview with him, it will be a two year Associates degree at Vince University to study Precision Manufacturing. Then, he plans to move onto Purdue Columbus to receive a Manufacturing and Engineering Technology degree where he will end his education. However, he hopes that all of this preparation will lead him to developing connections with the Commons Corporation, so that he can earn a job to carry out his adulthood. While carrying out this fieldwork, the most difficult part was getting past the point of being uncomfortable with taping and asking people to participate in the interviewing process. However, once I became more comfortable and people started to understand why I was constructing this film it became an easier task. I feel like this is a reflection on what anthropologist must deal with when they carry out participant observation and must get individuals that they are living with to open up and express their true being.

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Entertainment

Tags:

• Summer
• 11
• Kubal