1991_05 Hye Sharzhoom Newspaper May 1991

              May 1991
Hye Sharzhoom
EDITORIALS, Page 3
Intermarriage among Armenian-Americans in
Fresno County: A Sociological Perspective
By Matthew A. Jendian
Staff Writer
Social theorists have for a long time
described American society as a "melting
pot" into which all ethnic groups simply
blend. However, more recently, many
pluralist theorists, using the analogy of a
"mosaic" to depict American intermarriage rates of Armenian-Americans in
order to derive a sense of the degree of
structural and overall assimilation that this
particular ethnic group has reached while
living in American society.
Using marriage license records from
Fresno County, I have collected and examined the records of marriages of people
of Armenian descent for the years 1930,
1960, and 1990. Access to a similiar study
of Armenian-American intermarriage in
Fresno County done by Beth Najarian,
who looked at the years 1940 and 1980,
allowed me to combine the two data sets to
make one large set
Structural assimilation refers to the
occurrence of socially intimate relationships, such as friendship and marriage
between members of an ethnic group and
the mainstream society (Alba, 1985). Intermarriage rates serve as a sensitive indicator of the boundary around an ethnic group.
Give Me Boston or
Give Me Death
By Joel Mazmanian
Contributing Writer
As I stare tunelessly at an old
photo of Larry Bird, I can't help but
remember the ol'days. Days when
visiting the famed Boston Garden was
a routine. Heros like Bird, McHale,
Dennis Johnson (D.J.), and Robert Par-
rish weren't simply basketball players
to me. Over the years of triumph and
heartbreak they had grown to become
family.
My infatuation was not a rarity
in Boston, but rather a flourishing
emotion shared by countless Bostoni-
ans like myself - loyal Celtics fans for
better or worse.
After over a decade of life on the
eastcoast, my life changed. Fresno was
my new home. The sun was too hot, my
skin was too white, and the choreg
didn't taste right I wanted out.
Against my will, I made the best
out of living here. I often felt like an
outsider when I threw on an old Celtics
sweatshirt. Many times I would catch
dirty looks just for wearing green. Life
was tough, but so was I.
Instead of taking the continuous
punishment from opposing Laker fans
in Fresno, I did what any loyal Bosto-
man/Armenian would do, I fought back
verbally and physically (on some occasions). Before long, I was respected as
"the Boy from Beantown." Once again
I could openly support my hometown
dispite my long distance living arange-
ment
Today, my pride runs deep in my
viens and I insist on returning anually to
Boston to catch a Celtics game or two.
Grandma'shomemadekadeyifalsoen-
courages the trip back East.
I believe you can take the kid out
of Boston, but you can't take Boston
out of the kid. I'm living proof! I thank
Fresno for its acceptance, but I am
forever indebt to Boston, its people, and
of course, my Celtics!
Simon the Jpuse
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If the intermarriage rate is high, which
means that members of different ethnic
groups intermarry freely, it is likely that
they do not see themselves as very different, and it is also likely that society in general does not treat the groups differently or
have various patterns of "racial etiquette"
which require that the groups remain separate.
Findings
The first important conclusion iron the
analysis of these data is the overall intermarriage rate of people of Armenian descent in Fresno County for the years 1930,
1940, 1960, 1980, & 1990. The results
showed an inter-marriage rate of 50.9%
and an in-marriage rate of 49.1% (with a
total of 324 marriages).
Table 1 shows that the rate of intermarriage has increased between the years 1930
and 1990 in Fresno County among those
whose parents were both born in a foreign
country, while showing very little change
among those whose parents were both
born in the U.S., although it is very high
(over 90%). Generation has some impact
as to whether one is more likely to to intermarry. The higher the generation, the
more likely one is to intermarry.
Table 2 shows that church affiliation is
related to intermarriage. 32.1% and 31.4%
of the marriages that were perfomred in
the Armenian Orthdox and the Armenian
Protestant churches, respectively, were
intermarriages. This difference is statistically insignificant. But, the percentage of
Table 1
Both parents
foreign bom
Both parents
bora in U.S.
Total
By
when we look at those who were married
in civil and non-Armenian religious ceremonies, respectively.
Discussion
Interpreting this data is easier ifi put it a
context in which we can compare them to
other white ethnic groups. Fortunately,
similar data is available on other groups.
Three somewhat similar groups that the
Aremenians can be compared well with
include the Italians, the Greeks, and the
Jews. All are similar Middle-Eastern/
Mediterranean cultures and immigrated to
the U.S. at approximately the same times.
All of the groups are currently in their
third or fourth generations.
Alba found an intermarriage rate of 75%
for Italian-Americans born after 1950. The
interemarriage rate of Greek-Orthodox
Americans is 49%, according to
Aharonian(1983), but this figure is likely
to be an underestimate because it does not
account for Greek-Americans who were
married in non-Greek Orthodox Churches.
The Jews are estimated to have an intermarriage rate of approximately 31-40%
(Alba, 1985, Aharonian, 1983).
All things considered, it appears as
though the Armenian intermarriage rate is
among the highest of any of the comparable white ethnic groups. However, the
smaller the population of any group within
the larger populatio, the higher the intermarriage rate is likely to be for that group.
Milton Gordon, a sociologist, has stated
mat "once structural has occured... all other
types of assimilation will naturally follow." From these high rates of intermarriage that I found, it can be suggested that
the cultural distinctiveness of these Arme
nian-Americans has largely disappeared.
Alba refers to this state of ethnicity as the
"twilight" of ethnicity. The ethnicity of
the group remains visible but is vaguely
defined. The fourth and fifth generations,
being the first generations without direct
contact with anyone from the original
immigrant group will further assimilate
into American society. Alba is not stating
that the ethnic identity is or will fully disappear. He is simply stating that the ethnic
identity is different from before in that the
"ethnic" can lose the "identity" at any
time. One is no longer stigmatized by his/
her ethnic origin. This lends support for
the assimilationist "melting pot" theory of
y   _££»    * -i American society.
J Cl     jrVllTOrilHIl      From my own observati°ns of the
Armenian community, it appears as though
the losses from the community, as a result
of intermarriage, far outweigh the gains.
In other words, as a result of intermarriage, more people seem to be 'leaving'
the Armenian community than 'identifying' with it. The "ethnic" seems to be
losing the "identity" much quicker and
easier than before.
However, further research is necessary
to actually determine whether these new
"mixed" families identify themselves as
Armenians and interact with the Armenian community or whether they gradually dissociate form the Armenian community. Interviews can be conducted with
intermarried couples to determine their
degree of "Armenian-ness" (i.e. ethnic
identity) and whether or not they and their
children identify with and are involved in
the Armenian community.
1930 1940 I960 1980 1990
10.4 16.9 44.9 72.7 42.3
(48) (65) (49) (22) (26)
(0)  (0)
100.0 94.4
(13)     (36)
90.6
(32)
71.6
(67)
10.4 17.6    58.6  83.1
(48)  (65)   (70)   (71)
(Note: Read the table in the following way. In
1930,10.4% of the 48 marriages in Fresno
County of people whose parents Were born in a
foreign country were intermarriages.)
Table 2 - Intermarried Percentages
Armenian   Armenian-  Non-Armenian Civil
OrhOdox     Protestant
32.1 31:4
(44) (22)
Religious
92.5
(74)
66.7
(20)
	
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