Surviving On Their Own: What Determines And At What Age Does A Child Successfully Leave His Parents?
Brazil
Education
Children outside school in Brazil
Gaining a good education in industrial and post-industrial Brazil is very important. However, the Brazilian culture places a huge status on the family and the home (3), so the idea of college dormitories is not as grounded in Brazil as countries such as the United States. In an interview, it came to light that children leave home only when they need to. She said that children who go to a higher education will stay in the home as long as the home is close enough to the city and university in question. Many people will not choose to leave their city if it has a university in order to go to another, as they will be forced to leave the home. Usually the only reason young people in Brazil leave their home is to attend a university in a city, because their home does not have one, or marriage (10). College dorms and living away from the home are not as popular in Brazilian culture as they may be in others.
Marriage
Marriage is an extremely important custom in Brazilian society and one of the ways in which children commonly choose to leave the parental home. Because the home is so central to Brazilian thought and culture (3), setting up a home can be seen as one of the integral parts of Brazilian life. According to an interview, marriage is usually the reason a child leaves home when schooling is available has been available to them (10). Once someone gets married, it is their opportunity to set up a home and family in which they can represent both their personal and private life (3). In Brazil, getting married and leaving the parental home is a serious step in showing one’s transition to adulthood and preparation for the responsibilities an adult holds. These responsibilities could be so varied as to finding and taking care of a home, asserting oneself as a leader in the community, and raising children. Marriage is extremely important to Brazilian culture and the time at which a child leaves his home.
Initiation Ceremonies
Parts of Brazil have highly industrialized and evolved societies, like the United States. In these communities, initiation ceremonies do not happen because of the complexity, size, and permanence of the society (8). However, in other parts of Brazil, such as Amazonia and parts of central Brazil where small, perhaps indigenous societies still survive, initiation ceremonies are present and important. For example, in the Kayapo community in Central Brazil, initiation ceremonies are an integral part of understanding society. The Kayapo use naming as a method of welcoming young children into the community, welcoming a child to adulthood, and gaining and transmitting status among the community (7). It also promotes the feeling of kin and cements brother-sister relationships, which is relatively rare within a society (7). This is because in general, societies practice same sex initiation ceremonies (8). This example proves that initiation ceremonies do take part within Brazilian society, though they are generally found in less technologically developed areas with societies based on relationships between kin. These initiation ceremonies can be crucial to the time at which a child is allowed to leave home and start his own life as an adult.
Cultural Variance
In Brazil, there are many different environments and systems. Due to this variance, there is also a huge variance in culture. There are cities with industrial and post-industrial societies, and yet there are people who live in Amazonia whose people have been practicing the same culture for generations. These cultures may be being threatened by the larger society, but they still exist and have their own beliefs and practices. Even within cities, there is cultural variance due to the history of Brazil and South America. The many different explorers and countries that had an effect on Brazil brought cultural change with them, and it created a mixture of cultures. Due to this mixture, it is impossible to point to one specific culture as being the one all Brazilians share. For this reason, trying to find an answer to the question of at what age a child leaves the parental home varies throughout different parts of Brazil and Brazilian cultures.
Resources
3.) Robben, Antonius C. G. M. "Habits of the Home: Spatial Hegemony and the Structuration of House and Society in Brazil." . American Anthropological Association, Sept. 1989. JSTOR. Web. 14 Apr. 2010. < http://www.jstor.org/stable/680866>.
7.) Bamburger, Joan. "Naming and the Transmission of Status in a Central Brazilian Society." University of Pittsburgh, Oct. 1974.JSTOR. Web. 15 Apr. 2010. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/3773052>.
8.) Schlegel, Alice, and Herbert Barry, III. "The Evolutionary Significance of Adolescent Initiation Ceremonies." American Anthropological Association, Nov. 1980. JSTOR. Web. 15 Apr. 2010. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/643477>.
10.) Belo-Silva, Jessica. Phone interview. 19 Apr. 2010
7.) Bamburger, Joan. "Naming and the Transmission of Status in a Central Brazilian Society." University of Pittsburgh, Oct. 1974.JSTOR. Web. 15 Apr. 2010. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/3773052>.
8.) Schlegel, Alice, and Herbert Barry, III. "The Evolutionary Significance of Adolescent Initiation Ceremonies." American Anthropological Association, Nov. 1980. JSTOR. Web. 15 Apr. 2010. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/643477>.
10.) Belo-Silva, Jessica. Phone interview. 19 Apr. 2010
