I like to write my blogs as I’m reading so if it ever seems like I’ m missing stuff that’s why.
Anyways with that being said, starting with Munchinson chapter five, already having been present in my field of study on two occasions I already see myself adjusting what I take notes on and how I take notes. My first time, I wrote down everything, but I found myself not being responsive to my subject. Munchinson says its important to write down as much as posible so I’m still trying to find that balance of writing down notes and staying present and engaging with my subjects. I would just voice record our conversations but I really feel like that ruins the spaces purpose of being a place where they can be open and honest and vulnerable. The second time I took notes, I only really wrote down what I thought would be relevant for my paper but after reading the beginning of this chapter I’m seeing that doing this could limit my research. Finding the right balance of participation and pulling back to take notes will be difficult but I know I’ll figure it out. Especially because I have awful memory, when we began to learn about field notes in general the process of taking them stressed me out because I wanted to be present and engage but I also want to get really detailed, comprehensive notes. Like I said though, I’ll figure it out. I know for one thing instead of typing on my keyboard of my laptop I’m gonna use my phone because I can type a lot faster on that keyboard and I feel like its more natural among people my age to see someone on their phone during a conversation.
In regards to “just hanging out” I think that’s another thing I’m struggling with. The main field of study for my ethnography is a club that so far attendance has been extremely low and the only people that have come have been my good friends. Because of this, I think I’m gonna set up some posters with QR codes for surveys and maybe offer a gift card to people who participate. I want my data to not just be from a couple of my friends or a group of freshman, I would really like to get the perspectives of older black queer people at Vandy as well. I’m gonna look into doing some general surveys and maybe more in depth interviews where I’d have people list off places they consider safe as a black queer person at Vandy and do more in depth questions including the BCC and other stuff related to my study.
My role in this study as a participant observer is hard because it is a community I’m a part of; I don’t really feel like an outsider of any sorts. I guess in this sense I need to get better at being an observer in the sense of letting go some of the assumptions and understandings I have of the community that an outsider wouldn’t be aware of. Like I previously mentioned, sometimes the only person in the club is me and the leader so it’s hard to not participate. Especially because I already know a lot of these people I need to take more time to make note of things I would find interesting if I didn’t already know them. I think if I spend more time in the BCC outside of the designated queer black hangout, I will be able to observe more and also get access to those different perspectives I’m lacking as of now.
Moving on to the other methodology reading, I think its interesting that these authors are okay with people taking relatively long periods of time to participate before writing down notes as the other author clearly discourages that. So far in my research, I’ve been focused on getting my complete field notes done while in the field and didn’t stop to consider jotting down shorter phrases and elaborating after the fact. I think this will help me balance the time I spend recording and engaging. To write faster I’m gonna start turning off autocorrect when I take field notes so I can start using my own abbreviations for common wordsS
I enjoyed readings Taneja’s works as it made me appreciate those who study and create the arts as I often forget how much art contributes to politics, especially literary works. As I was reading his papers, I was confused as to why he included romanized versions of Urdu, until the one instance where he explains the ways in which he defines one of the words that shows up twice in one of the couplets. I often forget the importance of language especially because so much of language is contextual and cannot be directly translated.
I can’t remember which reading specifically also talked about redefining ties to certain areas or countries but I appreciated the introduction to watans Taneja gave. Especially because of the harmful nature of nationalism, as well as the unique relationship to the land we are born in we all have, I think its important for us to redefine our relationship in terms of citizenship and belonging. Rights to land and claims over land are so incredibly divise and have been sources of conflict since the beginning of civilization. I thought of the Israel Palestine conflict when hearing this definition. This reading also just made me angry because it is another instance of how people are still losing their lives as a result of colonization, meanwhile the colonizers are doing just fine. I feel like a lot of Americans and people living in western countries who like to think that people of color stopped being affected by colonization when they gained independence.