Mini-Ethnographic Study

The third floor of the Massey Business Center is a quiet place. Students go there to study, work on group projects, or just relax for a little while. But the quiet, study atmosphere is a thin veneer that masks the multitude of action occurring every minute. For those who are willing to pay attention to subtler details, it's as busy as the cafeteria.

To someone passing through the room, it appears that everyone is simply engaged in their work. But upon closer inspection there are a multitude of activities going on. I observed people studying, but also eating snacks, talking to their friends, texting, and even falling asleep for a bit. But even beyond these activities were the odd temporary relations between people in the room. There was an obvious but unspoken agreement by anyone entering the room that he would be quiet, and when anyone spoke, it was only quietly to people near them. Also, whenever someone entered the room, there was a slight increase in tension - where would this new person sit? During my observations, no one ever invaded anyone's space when choosing a new seat; if there were a group of chairs that had even one person in it, no one would sit with them. The smaller tables filled up much quicker than the larger tables.

Once established in their "area," though, the action did not stop. Though most people seemed committed to doing their work, every now and then you could see a smile or a twitch or a shift in posture that indicated otherwise. Perhaps that person on the computer who just smiled was watching a Youtube video. Maybe that person who just slumped down in their chair is frustrated with a passage they are reading. These and many other things gave little hints to the variety of unseen, unheard activity.

Rafia Zakaria: Stories of Women in Karachi and Islamic Culture

Last Friday I had the chance to see Rafia Zakaria speak about how she grew up in a Muslim family, and the challenges she faced throughout her life. She grew up in a fairly strict Muslim household, and when she was young she lived through a crisis in her family. Her aunt's husband had been unable to have children with her aunt, and supposedly for this reason was taking another wife. This devastated Rafia's aunt, who spent the rest of her life becoming more jealous of the other wife. When Rafia was 17, she was married by arrangement to a man living in the United States. Part of the contract was that she would be educated, and she ended up at Belmont University. Later, after she had graduated and had a child, she found herself at an abused women's shelter, trying to escape her abusive husband. She learned from another person staying there that things would not change if she returned home, and so began the lengthy and difficult process of divorce under American law. Her divorce had far reaching consequences in her family as well, but she did her best to try and repair the damage that had been done between the women in her family. Her's was an interesting story that opened my eyes up to a completely different idea of marriage, one with its benefits and negatives.

Practice Field Notes: Pictures and Reactions

Prompt: What surprised you? What intrigued you? What disturbed you?

I was immediately surprised by how much there was to observe. I picked a fairly "boring" area, with not a lot of conversation or activity. However, as I sat there and observed, I realized there was much more to see than at first glance. Nervous habits, smiles, body positioning, choice of seat, and many other things were ripe with meaning that needed to be unlocked.

In my notes, I focus a lot on the relationships between the people. From where they choose to sit to who the talk to, I noticed many subtitles of interaction between people. I also spent a great deal of time describing where people were located in the room. Perhaps I did this to help jog my memory.

Since there was not much action in the first place, there weren't many things for me to be disturbed by. However, in the future, I will try to be aware of what disturbs me, and try to keep it from getting in the way of my factual field notes, as opposed to my reflections on them.

Long Term Project: Why Vegetarianism?

Recently, I stopped being a strict vegetarian. I gave it up because I was going to study abroad in Berlin in July, and I wanted to fully experience German cultures, which includes their largely meat-heavy cuisine. I also felt as if I was no longer convinced by some of the arguments for vegetarianism. This made me rethink why I had become a vegetarian in the first place, and the nature of the arguments that had convinced me to make the change. I came to the conclusion that arguments for vegetarianism are largely based on how one feels about the arguments, not whether they are "right" or "wrong."

So keeping this class in mind, I thought that I might investigate the Vegetarianism subculture and explore why other people are vegetarians. I think it will be a good project because I was/am a Vegetarian, and it will keep my interest. I'm also interested to explore other peoples' reasons for abstaining from meat, and how they might differ from my own reasons. I also believe that there will be sufficient people to interview and talk with, where other topics I was considering were more limited in who I could talk to.