The Karen People
Ethnicity
The Karen people are an ethnic group living in South-East Asia with their own distinct languages and culture. The Karen people who are from Burma are ethnically distinct from other groups living in Burma and Thailand. The Karen are unique in which it is not necessary to have Karen parents in order to be Karen. To be the Karen people, a person must identify himself or herself as Karen by knowing Karen culture and customs as well as speak a Karen language. The Karen are consisted of at least 20 sub-groups rather than being a single ethnic group (International Organization for Migration (IOM), 2006). The estimations for Karen population vary widely ranged from 3 to 7 million (Barron et al., 2007; UNHCR, 2007).
The Karen …show more content…
Women are often responsible for cleaning the house, cooking, fetching water, feeding animals and overall maintenance of the household. On the other hand, men mainly doing labour and heavy work such as ploughing, farming, hunting, building, and maintaining the physical structure of the family home. Karen women also weave clothes and blankets while men weave baskets (Barron et al., 2007). Both men and women are responsible for raising children. Both husband and wife are involved in decision-making as decisions made affect the whole family, but the husband is often the one to communicate the decision in public (Mekong, …show more content…
The Karen also eat many kinds of animal meat, fish, and insects, as well as maize, roots, millet, sweet potatoes, eggplant, bamboo sprouts, gourds, and fruits. Chilies, salt, and spices such as turmeric as well as fish paste which is a favorite for adding flavor are used in nearly every meal (Barron et al., 2007). Ngapi which is a famous dish eaten in the Karen culture consisting of a sharp-tasting and salty paste made with fermented fish, shrimp or prawns is used to flavour many dishes. Talapo, one of the popular Karen dish, is made of rice and bamboo shoots, lemon grass and fish paste (Ewen, 2012).The Karen people refuse invitations to eat with one another initially as a manner of respect and then they modestly accept (The Cleveland Clinic Office of Diversity, 2012). For Karen people, food is eaten with the fingers of the right hand. Those who live in more urban areas may eat with a fork and a spoon and sometimes chopsticks are used while eating noodles (Ewen,
Ethnicity
The Karen people are an ethnic group living in South-East Asia with their own distinct languages and culture. The Karen people who are from Burma are ethnically distinct from other groups living in Burma and Thailand. The Karen are unique in which it is not necessary to have Karen parents in order to be Karen. To be the Karen people, a person must identify himself or herself as Karen by knowing Karen culture and customs as well as speak a Karen language. The Karen are consisted of at least 20 sub-groups rather than being a single ethnic group (International Organization for Migration (IOM), 2006). The estimations for Karen population vary widely ranged from 3 to 7 million (Barron et al., 2007; UNHCR, 2007).
The Karen …show more content…
Women are often responsible for cleaning the house, cooking, fetching water, feeding animals and overall maintenance of the household. On the other hand, men mainly doing labour and heavy work such as ploughing, farming, hunting, building, and maintaining the physical structure of the family home. Karen women also weave clothes and blankets while men weave baskets (Barron et al., 2007). Both men and women are responsible for raising children. Both husband and wife are involved in decision-making as decisions made affect the whole family, but the husband is often the one to communicate the decision in public (Mekong, …show more content…
The Karen also eat many kinds of animal meat, fish, and insects, as well as maize, roots, millet, sweet potatoes, eggplant, bamboo sprouts, gourds, and fruits. Chilies, salt, and spices such as turmeric as well as fish paste which is a favorite for adding flavor are used in nearly every meal (Barron et al., 2007). Ngapi which is a famous dish eaten in the Karen culture consisting of a sharp-tasting and salty paste made with fermented fish, shrimp or prawns is used to flavour many dishes. Talapo, one of the popular Karen dish, is made of rice and bamboo shoots, lemon grass and fish paste (Ewen, 2012).The Karen people refuse invitations to eat with one another initially as a manner of respect and then they modestly accept (The Cleveland Clinic Office of Diversity, 2012). For Karen people, food is eaten with the fingers of the right hand. Those who live in more urban areas may eat with a fork and a spoon and sometimes chopsticks are used while eating noodles (Ewen,