Sociology Internal Assessment

RATIONALE

Over the past 20 years, technological advancements have served to make the world a

smaller place. With fax in the place of telegrams, email in the place of letters and the creation

of the internet and social networking the world is narrowed and its proportions has become

virtually pocket-sized.

These innovations have helped the world in many ways but there are disadvantages as

well. With the United States of America deemed as the ‘super power’ of the Western

Hemisphere more and more people are trying to be American in order to achieve success.

Despite the rich cultural heritage of Jamaica more and more you hear persons ‘twanging’ and

using expressions like ‘dude’ – words that are stereotypically American. The purpose of this

research is to determine just how the use of the internet and the impact of cable television has

contributed to the Americanization of students in Brown High School between grades 7 and 9.

SECTION ONE

THESIS : The high level of internet and cable usage among students of grade seven to nine of

Brown High School has decreased the overall awareness of typical Jamaican folklore and

customs.

Aim: Identify the relationship between internet, cable usage and Americanization

OBJECTIVES:

1. Research the level of internet and cable usage among lower school students

of Brown High School

2. Research the percentage of lower school students who are aware of typical

Jamaican folklore and customs

3. Outline effects of cable and internet on the awareness of Jamaican folk

culture but Brown students between grades 7 and 9

4. Draw conclusions, state variables and make recommendations

Section TWO

THE RESEARCH DESIGN

For the purpose of this research a structured interview was used. Candidates were randomly

selected and each asked the same twenty-seven (27) questions on a one-on-one basis and their

answers recorded. The final few questions were left open ended. This gave the candidate a

chance to relate to the interviewer knowledge of any folklore and custom they knew and based

on the validity of their answer a yes or no was recorded – this answer was kept from the

candidate. This served as the primary data. The use of structured interviews had a number of

advantages.

SAMPLE

The interview was administered to one hundred and fifteen (130) candidates by the researcher

in groups of four to five students at each time. The candidates were randomly selected and

each interview session lasted a maximum of ten (10) minutes. Brown High School’s Lower

School consists of eight classes for each grade level – seven, eight and nine. Both males and

females were interviewed and the sample population age ranged from 11 to 16.

DATA COLLECTION INSTRUMENT

You have been randomly selected to participate in a study for an Internal Assessment for Cape Sociology. These questions are simply to answer, most requiring a listed option, and the entire process should take no longer than 10 minutes. There is no right or wrong answers and each answer provided is strictly confidential and will only be used for the purpose of this study. Thanks in advance,

Student, CAPE Sociology Interview Sheet

1. Age: 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

2. Sex: M F

3. Grade: ____

4. Religion/ Denomination: _________________

5. Parish of residence: _______________

6. Type of family you reside with:

Single parent

Nuclear

Extended

Sibling

7. Age range of parents

30-40

41-45

46-50

51-60

8. What is your social status?

Upper Class

Upper Middle Class

Middle Middle Class

Lower Middle Class

Lower Class

9. Are your grandparents alive?

Yes No

10. If yes, how much time is spent with them?

Reside with them

1-2 days per week

Weekly visits

Monthly visits

Biannual visits

Annual visits

Biennial visits

None of the above

11. On average how many hours are spent browsing the internet per week

Less than 10

10-20

20-30

30-40

40-50

50 and over

12. What activity do you usually conduct on the internet (tick all that apply)

Social networking

Research

Play games

Watch videos and movies

Other ____________________________

13. On average how many hours are spent watching cable each week?

Less than 10

10-20

30-40

40-50

50 and over

14. What type of programs do you usually watch?

Documentaries

Cartoons

Movies/TV shows

Reality shows

News

Other __________________________

15. On average, how many hours are spent watching local television shows each week?

16. Less than 10

17. 10-20

18. 30-40

40-50

19. 50 and over

16. Of the following shows please indicate any that you do watch

Joint Tenants Kingston House ER

Schools’ Challenge Quiz The Blackburns of Royal Palm Estate Talk up Youth

The Susan Show Profile ER2

17. Do you watch “Hill and Gully Ride”?

18. Yes No Sometimes What is that?

18. Do you watch “Lime Tree Lane”?

Yes No Sometimes What is that?

19. Do you know any Anansi stories?

20. Yes No What is that?

20. Are there any Cerasee, mint, ginger, fever grass, and sinklebible (aloe vera) plants present in

your home/yard?

21. Yes No What is that?

21. Does your family practice the tradition of making “bush teas” as an alternate remedy to

modern medicine?

Yes No What is that?

22. Do you know any traditions about pregnancy? If yes, please state.

23. Do you know any traditions about death or ‘duppies’? If yes, please state.

24. Do you know any traditions about funerals and ‘nine nights’ or wakes? If yes, please state.

25. Do you know any traditions about marriage? If yes, please state.

26. Do you know any other traditions? If yes, please state.

SECTION THREE

PRESENTATION

Sex of candidates

Male Female

57 73

Table 1. Table displaying ratio of male to female

Candidates with at least one available grandparent

Yes No

114 6

Table 3. Table displaying candidates with grandparent/s

Upper Class Upper Middle Class

Middle Middle Class

Lower Middle Class

Lower Class

5 70 30 20 5

Table 5. Table showing candidates' social status

Table 2. Table showing ratio of candidates' grades

Table 4. Table displaying parishes of residence of candidates

Grades of candidates

Grade 7 Grade 8 Grade 9

47 23 60

Parish of residence Number of persons

Kingston 22

St. Andrew 59

St Catherine 49

9%

24%

22%

37%

6%

2%

Age of candidates

11 years old12 years old13 years old14 years old15 years old16 years old

Figure 1. Pie chart displaying age distribution of candidates

98%

2%

Religious prefernces of candidates

Christianity None

Figure 2 Bar graph showing religious preferences of candidates

4% 4%

15%

4%

8%

4%

62%

Denomination of candidates

PentecostalChurch Or God7th Day Adventist Church of ChristRoman CatholicJehovah WitnessNot mentioned

Figure 3 Pie chart showing denominations of candidates

Single Parent51%

Nuclear29%

Extended20%

Family Types

Figure 4 Pie chart displaying the various family types of the different candidates

30-40

41-45

46-50

50 and over

2.5 7.5 12.5 17.5 22.5 27.5 32.5 37.5 42.5 47.530-40 41-45 46-50 50 and over

Number of persons 47 35 44 24

Age of candidates' parents

Figure 5. Bar graph displaying the ages of candidates’ parents

Reside Daily 1-2 days per week

Weekly Monthly Annually Biennially None

21

5 5

20

16

27

3

33

Average time spent with grandparentsNumber of persons

Figure 6. Column bar displaying average time spent with grandparents

Less than 10 hours

10-20 hours 20-30 hours 30-40 hours 40-50 hours More than 50 hours

Internet 8 43 4 47 5 23

Cable 55 46 2 18 0 9

Local Televi-son

111 9 0 5 0 5

10

30

50

70

90

110

Average time spent on internet, watching cable or local televisiong each week

Num

ber o

f can

dida

tes

Figure 7. Showing average amount of time on each activity each week

Hill and Gully

Lime Tree Lane

Anansi stories

Medicinal herbs

Bush tea' Preg-nancy

Death or 'duppies'

Nine nights

Marriage Others

Yes 8 0 115 96 77 62 58 73 10 13

No 80 57 15 32 53 68 72 57 120 117

Some-times

7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

What is that?

35 73 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0

1030507090

110130

Average knowlegde of Jamaican folklore and tradi-tions

Figure 8. Displaying categories of folklore and customs that candidates report being aware of

Joint Ten

ants

Schools'

Challen

ge Q

uiz

The B

lackb

urns o

f Roya

l Palm

Estat

e

Kingston House ER ER

2

Estrip

HitList

Talk

Up Youth

The S

usan Sh

owPro

file0

5

10

15

20

25

30

Local Television shows watched by can-didates

Number of viewers

Figure 9. Bar graph showing Jamaican television shows that candidates reported watching

ANALYSIS OF DATA

Throughout the course of this research the researcher was exposed to the many

categories of Jamaica’s rich folk culture. Extensive background was done to determine which of

the traditions the candidates put forward were Jamaican and which were not.

The data collected showed that females reported to having greater knowledge of

Jamaican folklore than males.

Grade seven students reported the lowest overall knowledge of Jamaican folklore and

customs, with grade 8 averaging a slightly higher figure, grade nine had the greatest average

awareness of Jamaican folk culture. This outcome was in accordance with expectations

because the older students would’ve had greater experience and in many cases, a wider

exposure to the culture.

All of the candidates interviewed reported living in the metropolitan area with 16.9% in

Kingston, 45.3% in St Andrew and the remaining 37.6% in St Catherine. 66 of the 130

candidates reported that they lived in a single parent household; 38 lived in a nuclear family

structure and the remaining 26 in an extended family type structure. Of the 130 candidates 44

reported living with a parent/s who were aged between 45 and 50, another 35 stated that they

lived with parents who were between 41 and 45, 40 candidates stated that their parents were

between 30 and 40 while the remaining 24 stated that their parents were between the ages of

51 and 60.

With technological advancements, folklore has become greatly associated with rural

areas. This means that those living in the urban areas are less likely to be exposed to the

traditions which have been passed down from generation to generation by their community

and the everyday happens that would occur. Of the candidates who participated in this study,

those living in nuclear households reported fewer truly Jamaican traditions when prompted

than those of single parent and extended family types.

The candidates from extended family types, on average, knew the most about Jamaican

folk culture while those from single parent families could only recall very few stories or

traditions and many of the ones they did were either American traditions or the combination of

a Jamaican tradition with an American. The data collected also shows very poor knowledge of

Jamaican folklore and customs by those candidates interviewed from nuclear family types.

Most admitted to having knowledge of the popular topics – Anansi stories, customs associated

with ‘duppies1’ and nine nights and 56.1% had no idea what ‘Lime Tree Lane’ meant. ‘Lime Tree

Lane’ is a soap opera of Jamaican origins which was usually shown on IDTV. The prevalence of

Anansi stories and ‘duppies’ is due to their general popularity but ‘Lime Tree Lane’ lost

popularity after it was removed from air. On average, candidates with parents between 30 and

40 years old knew more about Jamaican folklore and customs, this was followed by those with

parents between the ages of 46-50, then those with parents 50 years and older and finally

those with parents between 41 and 45.

Those candidates who reported having at least on grandparent alive recorded much

better figures than those who had none. Of those with grandparents, those who resided with

1 A ghost or apparition.

them had the highest recordings of knowledge of Jamaican folklore and customs, the exact

same figure was recorded for those who visited their grandparents weekly. Next were those

who saw their grandparents annually, then monthly, those who saw their grandparents none at

all, daily, biennially and finally 1-2 days per week.

Of the candidates interviewed, those who spent 10-20 hours per week on the internet

knew the least about Jamaican folklore and customs, closely followed by those who spent 30-40

hours per week on the internet. Those who spent 40-50 hours averaged next followed by tjose

who spent 20-30 hours on the internet per week. Those who spent at least 50 hours per week

on the internet had the second greatest figure. Those who accessed the internet for less than

10 hours per week knew the most about Jamaican folklore and customs. The average candidate

who watched less than 10 hours of cable television each week knew the most Jamaican folklore

and customs followed by those who watched 10-20 per week. Next were those who watched

20-30 hours per week, those who watch 30-40 hours per week and those who watch more than

50 hours per week. The group of candidates who watched between 40 and 50 hours of cable

television per week knew the least. Those candidates who reported spending less than10 hours

per week watching local television, on average, knew more about Jamaican folklore and

customs than those who reported spending more than 50 hours per week, those who spend 30-

40 hours per week and those that spend 10-20 hours.

Of the traditions the candidates were questioned about, Anansi stories were the most

widely known as all candidates could recall at least one story and 5 admitting that they had

heard them from their grandparents. The growing of medicinal herbs in one’s yard – whether

naturally of not – was the second most popular custom. 47.6% of candidates could recall at

least one custom related to pregnancy, 56.1% could recall at least one relates to ‘nine nights’

while 44.6% could recall traditions and customs related to death and ‘duppies’. The use of ‘bush

tea’ in the place of modern medicine is a custom that recorded fairly high figures with 73.8% of

candidates knowing about the tradition or having personal experiences with it. Only eight

candidate reported being an avid watcher of “Hill and Gully Ride” with seven saying they only

viewed the programs occasionally. All other traditions which were not a part of any of the

categories stated by the researcher but was still of significance was recorded under other, of

which only 13 candidates reported any knowledge.

DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS

During the collection and analysis of data the researcher noted that there were certain

variables which made the data collected differed from expectations. Such variables included the

presence or lack thereof of grandparents, the availability of internet or cable television at home

as well as the type of families and the age group the candidates’ parents fell under. Each played

a vital role in the compilation and analysis of data. Those who spent more time watching local

television knew more about Jamaican folklore and customs mainly because the Jamaican

Government through the Jamaica Information Service (JIS) makes this information known and

though this information is available on the internet most candidates spent their time on social

networking sites, playing games, watching videos and movies and other such things instead of

taking an interest in the information available.

Anansi stories are most widely known because of their popularity. Books have been

published with Anansi stories and a most favorite pastime of children is to gather with friends

and trade stories of comedic value. Many of the herbs mentioned by the interviewer (Cerasee,

mint, ginger, fever grass, and sinklebible) are plants that can be found growing naturally all over

the island and its popularity may be as a result of such and not necessarily conscious

cultivation.

When questioned, many of the candidates could only recall two particular custom about

pregnancy – if a pregnant woman should yearn for a particular type of food while scratching her

body the baby will develop a birthmark in the shape of the food the mother yearn for, in the

exact same position she scratched as well as the belief that if a lizard was to jump on a woman

it would indicate pregnancy – very popular customs in recent years .

While most customs that candidates could recall about death or ‘duppies’ were

incorrect many were associated with one specific custom – when leaving a ‘nine night’ or wake

one should never announce his/her departure. He or she should simply touch the person he or

she is leaving with or they might be followed home and terrorized by the ‘duppy’. Many of

those who were correct described the same folklore custom while others spoke of the “Rolling

Calf”.

The use of bush teas to cure certain ailments is a practice that, in its time, was more

widely used than actual medicine. The practice was thought to be safer than anything a doctor

could prescribe and more often than not it was a free resource but the practice is being

associated with the rural areas and has not yet lost all its popularity with Jamaican families

living in the urban areas.

Candidates associated with older folk (parents over 50 years old or grandparents) have a

wider knowledge base about Jamaican folklore than those who have younger parents or spend

little or no time with grandparents.

Of all the candidates, one proposed the most difficult data to analyze. Candidate

number 3, an eleven year old male in grade from St Catherine was of a nuclear family structure

with parents between 41 and 45 and no grandparents. He reported spending more than 50

hours per week browsing the internet and less than 10 hours watching cable or local television

each week. He repoted having knowledge of only one folklore custom – Anansi stories – but

nevertheless provided a break in an otherwise expected trend (candidates who spent less than

ten hours watching cable television knew more about Jamaican folklore and customs)

The trends produced by the data collected are as follows, females knew more about

Jamaican folklore and traditions than males, grade 9 and grade 8 students knew more than

grade 7 students, candidates who lived in single parent household and those an extended

family structure knew more about Jamaican folklore and customs than any other family type,

candidates with parents over 50 years old knew more about Jamaican folklore and customs ,

candidates who had grandparents and spent a large amount of time with them greater records

of knowledge of Jamaican folklore and customs and candidates who spent less than ten hours

on the internet and 10 to 20 hours watching cable per week (except for the case of Candidate

#3) and more than ten hours watching local television had the greatest knowledge base.

Another trend produced was that those watching local television did not seem to affect the

candidates’ knowledge of Jamaican culture, a disappointing finding.

According to the figures collected, the general assumption about is that there are various

factors which affect the level of Americanization of students and variables to offset this to some

extent. The Jamaican media, as proven above, is also playing little part in educating students

about their rich cultural heritage in a way that appeals to them as many express disgust at the

mention of local television.

RECOMMENDATIONS

The researcher advises that measures be implemented in high schools to teach students to

respect and appreciate their own culture.A programme could be implemented to work

alongside the Personal Development Program and the Guidance and Counseling Departments

of every school to teach students about times of old as the preserve the rich folklore customs

that were developed over the years as well as books could also be published and made

available to schools whereby customs and traditions can be shared during a once per week

session and incentives given to those who have done research.

Conclusion