SOWK 506
Assignment 3: Life History Interview
David K. Baldwin
20 November 2018
Professor R. Villa
Introduction
We are all born into families. They are our first relationships, the reference point of our first experiences of the world, and our first understanding of belonging to a group. We learn, grow and develop within the context of our family. McGoldrick, Preto and Carter (2016) shares that as individuals progress through the family life cycle, their growth within the larger social construct of society is shaped. As the dynamics of the family structure evolves over time and boundaries shift, roles within and between family subsystems are redefined (Norris & Tindale, 1994). The life history interview with Ms. Gabrielle Brash is a classic representation and depiction of how much influence and guidance her family had over decisions she made in life and how the outcomes of those decisions made her the person she is today.
The Narrative
Gabrielle Brash was born in Hawaii on the island on O’ahu on 05 April 1939 to a Native Hawaiian family. Next year, she will be 80 years old. Gabrielle is the middle child. She has two older sisters and a younger brother, who is a well-known local radio disc jockey. Both of her parents were fluent Hawaiian speakers, so she grew up immersed in the language and culture of Hawaii. Gabrielle is a 1957 graduate of Kamehameha Schools Kapālama, which is a private school dedicated to and established for educating Hawaiian children. She comes from a line of Kamehameha graduates, dating back to her father who graduated from the school in 1927, the same year that he recorded the Hawaiian Wedding song.
As she recalls her early years at Kapālama, she tells me that she was not well liked and often times was made fun of or singled out by peers and teachers. Her earliest recollection of this memory was when she was in the 7th grade. As a first year student at the school, she recalls one specific day where all the students were doing the do-si-do and when she tried it, she was teased and laughed at by her schoolmates for performing it incorrectly. If being teased by her peers wasn’t embarrassing enough, she was also made a spectacle of by the teachers who announced it over the loud speakers. She was embarrassed; yet, it was those early school years that built her resilience and toughness to the young-minded teenage teasing and nonsense.
Her upbringing was typical of most Hawaiian families, where she and her siblings were not allowed to ask any questions or speak when the adults spoke. It was a form of disrespect to ask an adult a question when they directed you to do something or to correct them publicly, if at all. Gabrielle recalled many times in which she was curious to know the reasons why her parents asked certain things of them, but never dared to ask in fear of the consequence. In fact, one of Gabrielle’s concerns with today’s generation is that “the respect that they have for elders is no longer prevalent.” She shared of a time when a student corrected a teacher of Hawaiian language. This level of disrespect did not go unnoticed. The teacher, upset, walked out of the classroom with all intentions to quit, which she did.
She also solemnly shared that she didn’t know anything about how her parents met and that they were not close to her father’s side of the family. It wasn’t until her dad’s sister had passed and the family held her funeral services that she met her pure Hawaiian paternal cousins. She remembers how they all sat respectfully during the funeral services and how the young children took care of the younger children, all while her mixed blood cousins were loud and running around. Today, she feels that it was a real loss to not know or ask about her father’s family. As a divorced mother, she vowed that her only daughter would grow up knowing her father and his family.
Growing up as a tomboy, Gabrielle enjoyed playing marbles with her friends and one day tested her father’s direction to be home by the 4:00pm curfew. She reminisced about how she could hear her father’s deep base-like voice calling her home, saying, “I just left my marbles and ran home so fast, but still got lickens (spanking).” Gabrielle said she used to get lickens all the time because when she did, she never cried. That frustrated her father and so he would spank her again. When asked about her marbles and the rest of her belongings, she answered, “I knew exactly how many marbles I had and my friends knew better than to take any from me.” We laughed.
As she grew older, Gabrielle didn’t have many friends and her mother decided to enroll her in a hula halau (hula school). She learned the basics of hula, but didn’t enjoy it. It wasn’t until she joined her second hula halau, under the direction of Kumu Hula Maiki Aiu Lake, better known to many as Aunty Maiki, that she felt a spiritual connection to the culture and a sense of belonging. She loved hula and humbly shared that she believed “hula will bring peace to the world.” Living on her own in a little apartment, Gabrielle immersed herself in hula practice and viewed the halau as her second home. Gabrielle’s relationship with her kumu was one of respect and admiration and she felt that she could confide in her kumu to impart her own mana’o (knowledge) and na’auao (wisdom) unto her.
Healthy development requires individuals to establish a connection to others, albeit through cultural, spiritual or psychological identity (Hooyman, 2010). This context involves the development of a sense of belonging, as we go through life. For Gabrielle, she was blessed with an opportunity to enter the workforce, but at the same time, she was challenged with obstacles of employment that took her away from home. For 10 years of her life, Gabrielle, like many of us was forced to take on her role as an adult and enter the Early Adult Transition period as defined by Daniel Levinson (1996). At the age of 18, she was given the opportunity to work as a receptionist for Republican Senator Hyrum Fong in Washington, D. C. Although social and psychological terms say that early adulthood is a time for forming and pursuing youthful aspirations (Levinson, 1996), Gabrielle felt a disconnect from her family, home and lifestyle and only yearned to return to Hawaii.
During her time working on Capitol Hill, Gabrielle experienced many different historical events, yet one that stands out in her mind is that of the Civil Rights riots of 1968. Being from Hawaii and not understanding the depth of racial discrimination, segregation and color differences, Gabrielle saw first hand how people were treated based on appearance. She distinctly remembers wanting to take in an orphan upon her arrival to D.C. and along with two friends, they contacted an orphanage. When they arrived to pick up the children, they realized it was a black orphanage. The children came out with braided hair tied with colored hair bands. She recalls how “cute” the children were. They took the children to a local park in Virginia and noticed that within minutes they had the whole park to themselves as all other families had vacated the area. After their time at the park, they decided to go and visit their white friends at their home. Again, within minutes they noticed the street full of kids instantly cleared out. Confused and perplexed, Gabrielle admitted that she had no idea that blacks weren’t allowed, but she did everything she could to care for those children.
Theoretical Analysis
This life history interview project is an excellent way to demonstrate mastery in the application of theoretical and empirical work relevant to the various developmental stages of an individual across the life course. Utilizing theory and social work concepts to acquire an informed understanding of an individual’s development and behavior across the life course can help social workers better serve and meet the needs of these individuals on a case by case basis. Below are the theories most relevant to the life course of Ms. Gabrielle Brash as shared by her through this interview.
Social Cognitive Theory
Social cognitive theory explains how people acquire certain behavioral patterns (Bandura, 1997) and evaluating behavior changes depends on factors like environment and people. Gabrielle’s upbringing and childhood experiences of physical discipline helped shape her development and thought process. She remembers a time later in her life, when her father, with sullen eyes, apologized to her for all the spanking she got when she was a child. However, she was animate on not wanting to change anything about her childhood and readily admitted to her stubbornness. She retold stories that her physical disciplining was with a stick and that her disciplining lasted longer than that of her siblings because she refused to cry.
Her choice, purpose and motivation epitomize how she did not need to receive positive reinforcement or a reward to interact with her father. Gabrielle reciprocated her world and imitated her determined father. She chose to meet the challenges in her world through self-efficacy. She met her physical punishment with stubbornness, which eventually led her father to believe that it was not effective in changing her behavior, and he eventually stopped. However, her past performance reinforced future choices such as moving out of her parent’s home soon after she graduated from high school, because, once again, she disagreed with how she was being parented. She felt comfortable with rebellion, opposition as an emotional state and she was persuaded by her own efficacy. Being called stubborn often by her father created another type of reinforcement. Because her thinking was set, her behavior followed suit. How she viewed her father constructed her world growing up. If her interactions with her father were not limited to negativity, she might have been able to prevent the development of cognitive distortions such as rationalizations or all or nothing.
Parraga (1990) helps us understand that environment and situation provides the foundation of understanding behavior. Social environment includes the people within the context of our group, while physical environment includes the size and temperature of the space in which we function and operate, as well as the availability of resources. Situation refers to the cognitive or cerebral interpretations of the environment that affect a person’s behavior, like place, time or physical features (Glanz et al, 2002).
Gabrielle remembers descending into Baltimore for the first time to begin her job. It was the winter season and she had never experienced close to freezing temperatures before and quickly learned what it meant to layer her clothes. She said, “the trees had no leaves and the weather was gray and dismal.” She hated it and immediately regretted her choice of leaving home. Being too proud to quit and go home, she devised a plan to work to save enough money for a plane ticket back to Hawaii. That plan didn’t quite work out the way she envisioned because the senator was very impressed with her work, offered to increase her pay and refused to let her quit. Instead, as a trade off, he offered to take her back home to Hawaii every year for three months, while Congress recessed. Consequently, Gabrielle endured the harsh environmental conditions, created a social support group with a few of the other receptionists, joined in various civic clubs that provided opportunities for her to participate in various events around town and ultimately, served in her role as the Senator Fong’s receptionist for 10 years.
Resilience
Stress is a reality in our daily lives. At some point, most people will experience one or more potential traumatic experiences that will influence their life course. Resilience may change over time as a function of development and the interaction one has with their environment (Kim-Cohen & Turkewitz, 2012). Additionally, one’s response to stress happens in the context of the interactions he or she has not only within their environment, but also based on the situations at hand, including access to resources, people, culture, religion, etc. Gabrielle’s childhoods challenges, in school and at home, were met with resistance and consequence, yet, she learned to overcome or meet those challenges in order to obtain resources that encouraged her well-being (Panter-Brick, C, 2014).
Describing herself as headstrong, she didn’t feel it fair that as an 18-year old workingwoman, who contributed to the family household, she should be held to curfews and certain teenage rules. So, she moved out. Living on her own added another stressor in her life and the difficult separation from her parents compounded the situation. Soon after, she was offered the job 5,000 miles away from the only place she had ever called home. The transition was daunting for her to think about. It was at that time when she confided in her kumu, who encouraged her to take the job, saying it would be a wonderful experience. Resilience can best be described as having the capacity to survive adversity, and if “knocked down” having the strength of will to get back up (Psychology Today) Gabrielle put great faith in the advice from her kumu and her ability to adapt to unseen and unknown changes.
Gabrielle shared a story of how she was treated being the third sister to attend an all-Hawaiian school taught by Caucasians. Her teacher choosing to publicly humiliate her in front of the entire school for not being able to do the do-si-do dance was embarrassing. In shame resilience, we learned that the impact upon a teenage girl could result in intensely painful feelings of being flawed and unworthy of acceptance (Robbins, Chatterjee & Canda, 2019), layered by expectations of who, what and how they should be. These feelings of unfitness stuck with Gabrielle throughout her life.
Ethnic Identity Development
Ethnic identity is often used interchangeably with racial identity. However, an individual’s ethnicity is more than just his or her heritage. Ethnicity is the culture, beliefs and values of one’s heritage (Phinney, 1995). Gabrielle’s love for hula and her immersion in Hawaiian cultural practices grounded her in the traditions, beliefs and values of home. Her desire for a “homeplace”, a place of belonging, for rootedness and a connection to place (McGoldrick, Preto & Carter, 2016) comforted her. The halau was a physical space that provoked feelings of empowerment, commitment, safety and renewal and emerged as a pivotal force (Burton, Hurt, Eline & Matthews, 2001) throughout her life course. Although her employment took her away from hula and her family, her connection to her homeplace and her relationship with her kumu was essential to her well being as she experienced those changes.
Gabrielle was also a part of the Hawaiian Civic Club in Washington, D.C. and along with her friends from Hawaii, they formed a Hawaii contingent and would perform hula and chant at various events around the area. The significance of this was that the group of hula dancers was all minorities and formed during the late 1950’s and early 1960’s during a time of civil unrest. Regardless of the social issues that surrounded Gabrielle, she was determined to continue living her cultural practices.
She believed that her cultural practices transcended geographic location and that wherever she went so to did her belief system. Gabrielle was able to withstand initial warnings and criticism by her Caucasian peers to earn the appreciation of those she entertained. Retrospectively, she realizes now that she was part of a “show” and wished that she stuck with her initial intent, which was to bring together people from Hawaii and alleviate homesickness. She was so resolute in her perspectives and belief system that she described herself as being “bullish”. This steadfastness resulted in a collection of like-minded people from Hawaii that supported her courage and joined her hula movement. As a result, senators and political event planners included her hula group in many of the special ceremonies that occurred in Washington, D.C. Regrettably, winter weather and tropical attire were not pleasant experiences she stated, but the exposure of Hawaiian culture to people living on the East Coast was described as a proud moment.
Spiritual Dimension & Faith Development
Although the number of attachment relationships may not necessarily decrease with age, there is an expectation that the attachment figures may change (Doherty & Feeney, 2004). Spiritual dimension and faith development was an important part of Gabrielle’s life and the older she got, the more prominent the symbolic attachments in her life became. Gabrielle shared that her greatest achievement and joy was finding her way to the Lord. She openly shares her spiritual connection to God and often refers to “the voice” as being her direction or guide to help her through her days.
Robbins, Chatterjee & Canda (2019) mentions the interdependence of deep ecology and interconnectedness of ecofeminism between humans and nature aligns to Gabrielle reference that the Kumulipo or creation chant before Genesis explains Hawaiians’ existence. She is a strong proponent of the Hawaiian culture, believing that the human-nature relationality has guided her towards a greater understanding of life. She believes that Hawaiians are God’s chosen people of the future. The hearing of God’s voice and resulting visions lead her to trustingly searching out their meanings. She was vivid and the most animated when sharing about her spiritual values and beliefs.
For Gabrielle, her spiritual development helped her create balance in her life. Experiencing turmoil, change, stress, etc. were offset with a spiritual search for understanding the message God was sending her. The spiritual development that resulted in a more complete person who lived in equilibrium with various aspects of their life (Robbins, Chatterjee & Canda, 2019) best describes Gabrielle’s behaviors. Her spirituality provided an orientation process for addressing and interpreting her every interaction. These interpretations were a profound part of her daily life.
Her format for religion was not location or denomination. She communicated her spirituality to be that God is omnipresent and thus can be found in any four-wall sanctuary, church or home. In the realm of social work, deep ecology and ecofeminism suggest that when there is an imbalance (Robbins, Chatterjee & Canda, 2019) or laulima (harmony) is out of place, challenges arise. Gabrielle states, “God always has a plan. Every time I feel challenged, I say ‘hallelujah’!” The outlook on every situation she is faced with is met with excitement and an overwhelming desire to figure out “the master’s puzzle.”
Personal Reflection
The State of Hawaii has a total population of 1,427,538 of which 200,381 reside in Hawaii County on the Big Island of Hawaii (Census.gov, 2017). Gabrielle was the seventh person I attempted to interview, the previous six were either related to me or too young. Being tasked with finding someone to interview doesn’t seem like a daunting task when there are so many people in the state, yet, finding the right person seemed to be part of this assignment. After sitting and talking with Gabrielle for two minutes, she informed me that she knew my mother and was in attendance at her funeral service 21 years earlier. The world got really small and stayed there as our conversation lasted for nearly three hours, but felt like three minutes.
Through this assignment, I experienced first hand the smallness of this place and the degrees of separation that actually brings us together. Gabrielle’s story and life history was interesting and put into perspective the time line in which she lived. Growing up, I remember reading in textbooks about similar events that Gabrielle experienced throughout her lifetime. It amazes me to know that many of our ancestors, family members and friends have life experiences that transform them into such spiritual beliefs. After her near death experience, Gabrielle became more dedicated to her spiritual voice and searched for answers to what she heard in her everyday life.
I anticipated that the interview would follow a “conversational flow” and not a typical interview format. This proved true as each answer was given in story form, which led to something that triggered a related or entirely new story. I prepared 24 questions, but only needed to ask six during the almost three hour time we spent talking. I was surprised at how quickly the time passed due to my engagement and interest in her answers. I utilized Dr. Myrie’s suggestions about how to conduct geriatric interviewing and assess the environment that in this case was her home. It was small, humble setting and she was casually dressed. I then utilized several discovery type questions to measure her alertness. I was especially impressed with her memory retention after my explanation of bio-psycho-social (and spiritual) questions. She chose which “categories” she wanted to start with.
This life history interview confirmed my perspective that decades of living allow a person to achieve a level of personal understanding about themselves. It is the type of personal acceptance that alleviates regret and increases appreciation for life lessons learned. I am amazed at her self-efficacy. It was her ability to reinforce what life taught her. No matter where life led her. She believed that everything she experienced contributed to making her who she is today. She was animate about never wanting to change anything about her life. Not the physical discipline. Not the near death experience. Because she believed that if she changed anything about her life, she would be a different person. That is the epitome of self-efficacy.
I was challenged by how much she referenced her spirituality as her reasoning for most decisions she made in the second half of her life. Her spirituality and faith were consistently part of each answer, especially when she concluded each story with a “God result.” It was difficult to pursue life answers or wisdom due to her biblical based responses. Even basic bio-psycho-social questions were given faith-based answers. It was evident that since her near death experience she felt that she had been given a purposeful path to walk and find answers to the Godly visions she was having. The ability to complete the tasks assigned by this paper may have extended our interview as I listened intently to her answers and tried to make connections to relevant theories.
Gabrielle was truly her own person. She immediately decided what bio-psycho-social information would be shared and then determined the flow of information and stories shared. Self-determination is a concept synonymous with Gabrielle’s life. Her entire life course was a series of historic events such as statehood and the civil rights movement. To be able to obtain and nurture a feeling of purpose, belongingness and basic satisfaction with one’s self and one’s existence (Cowen, 1991) is an exceptional accomplishment in life.
Learning about the person-in-environment through my asynchronous work helped me apply it to Gabrielle’s life. She never stood alone in any of major life decisions, but her systems changed throughout her life. For example, her family system changed from her father and mother to her kumu hula after she moved out of her home. Her work environment changed several times with one drastic geographic example moving from Hawaii to Washington. Consequently her support circle also changed as she left her friends in Hawaii and made new friends and co-workers in another state. These dynamic system shifts challenged her support systems. But what was important to note for Gabrielle was that her internal system, her cognitive self remained consistent. She was an example of how someone can shape their environment through inter-relational systems. Gabrielle’s adaptive responses to her environment resulted in gainful employment and peer group acceptance.