The Speckled People Book Review

             The Speckled People was written by Hugo Hamilton in 2003 based on his childhood memory perspective. Hugo grew up in Dublin, Ireland during the 1950s and 1960s after the end of World War Two. His mother, Irmgard, was originally from Germany and his father, Sean, was from Ireland. This memoir focuses on Hugo’s struggles as a half-Irish, half-German boy dealing with the taunting from other school children while trying to find his own identity. The story also encompasses the many difficulties Hugo witnessed, growing up, between his mother and father.

            Like many people, Hugo is trying to accept cultural roots from both sides of the family. He wants to understand the Irish culture and the German culture and adapt both into a culture of his own. He got different tales from his parents and spent most of the time trying to turn their words into some truth. Since he is a mix of clashing cultures, he is considered “speckled”. Quite literally, he looks different from the other children because he is only half Irish, but living in Ireland. In the first chapter, he is wearing clothing from two different cultures so his physical appearance is odd to the other young children in the area. Hugo and his brother are bullied and called Nazis and Eichmann and are afraid they will be put on trial and not know what to say.

Hugo speaks Irish, German, and attempts to speak English, even though his father strictly enforces the Irish language as the only priority in their household. Hugo struggled to find a place to call home. He couldn’t find anyone else like him and speaking three different languages gave him the sense that he didn’t belong to any one particular culture.

Throughout his childhood, Hamilton also witnessed the struggles that his parents went through. His mother’s light-hearted sprit clashed with that of his father’s stern and often violent behavior. Hugo speaks of the troubles his mother dealt with while in Germany, calling the stories “films”. During one of her films, she recalls a man with whom she worked for that was nice to everyone during the day, but would come to her in a drunken stupor at night and abuse her. She never went into many details, telling the children that they were too young and could watch the film when they got older, but offered the advice of, “Everybody can make mistakes but there are some mistakes you can’t even talk about, because you feel so stupid that you can only blame yourself” (18). Her experiences through life made her a strong, but compassionate woman.

Hugo’s father, on the other hand, was spiteful when it came to the British people and the English language. He was adamant about Ireland remaining true to its original heritage and even rallied on the streets in order to convince the Dublin people to change their street signs to Irish language. Sean never spoke of his family and did not allow English-speaking children into their home. He was a violent man and became furious when he was defied. “The goat wanted to have a long tail but only got a short one, my mother says, whenever we want something we can’t have” (61). This quote from the book is fitting in the situation with Hugo’s father not getting what he wanted and that he lost the language battle with his family.

Sean’s biggest struggle with himself was having a father that fought for the British navy. He got extremely mad when Hugo was rummaging around his wardrobe and messed with the navy medals. Sean came in and smacked Hugo, but Hugo recalls feeling no pain because they “were all safe again and my mother was making cake” (15). This mention of cake-making is repeated throughout the book. It seems as though this has symbolic meaning for the mother to fix life’s problems with making a cake. Even though Irmgard tried to leave the home and her husband several times, but she was unable to do so. ““She’s just a bit homesick, that’s all”, my father said.” (32).

The way his mother is portrayed as a strong woman who takes care of the family is not much different for the time period. We can see a pattern in Hugo Hamilton’s story and much of society today where the mother is the strong figure and home life heads back to a form of a matriarch society. With the help of his mother’s encouragements over the years, Hugo began to stand up to his father’s ignorant ways and established his inner self and found his voice in the world.

Toward the end of the memoir, Sean realized that he made several mistakes while raising his children, Sean tried to make up for lost time later in life. He knew he lost the war with his family and became soft in his older age, as I’ve noticed with many older gentlemen. He even broke down and bought a television and began watching shows in English. Sean eventually died from several bee stings; bees that he taught Hugo to how to catch during their migration period before they disappeared to a new location.

During Sean’s last trip to Germany, he purchased presents for the children that were delivered back to Ireland with the rest of his belongings and his coffin. At the funeral, Hugo saw how many people actually looked up to his father and claims he never knew how many people were friends with his father.

After that, Irmgard made one last trip to Germany and recognized nothing. She returned to Ireland and took all the children on a trip to find a new place they could call home; one that could be recognizable. She knew a lot of different territories in Ireland from her pre-marital days spent traveling across the country. They were all considered orphans and lost, but at least they were lost together and able to start a new life.

Kinship System v. Social Group

In Barbara Miller’s textbook, Cultural Anthropology in a Globalizing World, the term kinship system is defined as the predominant form of kin relationships in a culture and the kinds of behavior involved. The term social group is defined as a cluster of people beyond the domestic unit who are usually related on the grounds other than kinship.

So how can and how do we differentiate between the two on a daily basis?

We can first take a look at kinship and how different cultures create kinship. A key component is sharing. Sharing a child with someone is a universal form of kinship, but cultural kinship can change based on shared foods.

In many cultures, it is common to breast-feed a child or it will not recognize its mother. Once the baby is weaned in cultures such as Asia and Pacific Island areas, it is common to then share cooked rice. This is considered as special bond between mother and child and also sets the basis for kinship rule. If a child breastfeeds from its mother, it cannot marry another child breastfed from the same mother.

Another form of sharing is adoption. This is defined as a formal and permanent form of child transfer. There are many reasons why parents share their child with someone else. In the Maasai tribe of East Africa, a woman that has several children may give one to a friend or elderly woman in the tribe that has no child to care for. Even though there is a sharing-based kinship, the adopted child might seek to find their real family.

Another form of kinship is ritually established kinship such as a godparent. This is a common ritual amongst Christians and Catholics worldwide. The reason people choose a godparent is for a sense of comfort should anything happen to the parent. There are also financial ties. The godparent that is chosen needs to have a good financial status in order to care for the child.

The third basis for forming a type of kinship or close relationship is through marriage or marriage-like relationships. Although marriage is defined differently by each person you ask, a standard definition is the social institution under which a man and woman establish their decision to live as husband and wife by legal commitments, religious ceremonies, etc. This definition can also include man and man or woman and woman. This concept of marriage exists in all cultures even though it takes different forms and serves different functions.

Kinship is forever changing and households no longer follow such standard traditions. People are pushing marriage until a later age and focusing more on career and education first. In some cultures, the trilineal kinship is declining and mothers and fathers are sharing head of the household.

On the flip side, being part of a social group might be just as important (or even more important) than being a part of a kinship. The social group in today’s mind is about fitting in and feeling wanted. When someone is included in a social group, whether it be a primary or secondary group, they have a sense of rights and responsibilities to that group. Social groups are informal (face-to-face or friend groups) or formal (where membership is required). People tend to feel social stratification when they are the head of their social group. Social stratification appeared with the surfacing of agriculture, but is now universal.

Based on the book and the films we saw in class, we know that defining “class” structure is still present today. Even though someone is born in one class, they can move to another class level. An example is someone that is born into lower class and worked their way up to high class by the end of their lifetime.

People all throughout the world want to be a part of the higher class. It’s not just specific to America. Although we do tend to place more emphasis on defining each class, Asian cultures want to be the best of the best as well. The difference between American and Asian culture is Americans tend to focus on themselves and stepping on the little person to get ahead in life, whereas, Asian cultures focus on a unified group helping each other achieve the same goal together.

Many new social movements have surfaced around the world. With the new technologies, activity is improved through the availability of cell phones, Internet, email, blogs, and social networking sites. Social groups can easily stay in contact with each other through these technologies.

It's a Jungle Out There!

Anthropology. Sounds boring, so who knew it could be so fascinating?! The term is defined as the study of humanity, including its prehistoric origins and contemporary human diversity. Boring, right? So let’s break it down to something fun.

I bet you didn’t know that there are several types of anthropology and that they all tie in together to form one connected world. The four main categories are biological, cultural, linguistic, and archaeology and some argue that there should be a fifth element called applied anthropology. By far the most intriguing of them all is archaeology. This is where images of Indiana Jones and treasure hunting come to mind.

Through all of these methods, we are ultimately trying to study the culture of previous civilizations. By using the tools we have today, we can make determinations about how people lived, their religions, beliefs, hunting methods, and more. Cultural anthropologists agree that the study of culture is very important, but the means of defining it properly are still debated. The official definition is people’s learned and shared behaviors and beliefs.

Cultures can be defined and separated based on the smallest thing such as eating, drinking and sleeping. Each culture is accustomed to different foods and each food has its own meaning. In China, they turn their noses as cheese, but favor pork. In Islamic countries, pork is sacred and forbidden. In France, cheese is exquisite. Even in each culture, drinks can differ. Most Americans get water with their meal, but in India water is served after the meal. In French culture, wine is an acceptable drink even for children, whereas in America, we have an age limit of 21. Even something as simple as sleep can define a culture.

So what is the best way to research culture? It was determined by anthropologists that research would best be done in the field. Get off that chair and go outside. What a great idea! The best way to gather information to form a meaning of culture is to get out and dig a little.

Since there are very few isolated cultures in the world today, researchers have come up with different techniques. One method is multisided research, which is fieldwork conducted on a topic in more than one location and studying many topics. Fieldwork is exciting, but dangerous as well. It can be quick research or take several years. In the 1980s, Michelle Zimbalist Rosaldo lost her life in the Philippines due to a slippery path on a high-land.

Anthropology had to adopt a code of ethics due to two events in the 1950s and 1960s where researchers were sent out to gather data without understanding of the intended use of that information. The first event was in South America and the second was the Vietnam War. In 1971, the AAA (American Anthropological Association) adopted the code of ethics that states: an anthropologist’s primary responsibility is to ensure the safety of the people participating in the research.

The research techniques vary by using qualitative and quantitative research methods. While most anthropologists take notes in the field, the modern use of technology helps tremendously. Examples of the technology are photography, audio recordings, and video recordings. Using their data, researchers have also begun using collaborative research methods.