Fieldworking Notes

I was put in an interesting situation for this assignment. I didn't attend class on Friday because myself and several other friends who make up a part of our Bible Study were heading out of town for a weekend retreat at Center Hill Lake, an hour and a half east out of the city. Having not checked my email until Saturday, and the area being incredibly isolated, I was forced to observe the only environment I could discern: our own. So on Saturday night, as all 22 of us were gathered in the living room of the small cabin where we stayed, I held back and observed my friends. We generally are a very social group so I was more than able to sit at a table to the side unnoticed and listen/look (I pretended like I was reading). Here are some things I took out of it, based on the Fieldworking rubric:

- What surprised me: very little actually. I'm sure this is because I know these guys and girls. But one thing that did catch my attention was how much the group wanted to participate with each other. Rarely were there any "side discussions" - for the most part everybody talked with each other. I thought that at this point, one day and one night into the trip, people would be tired and worn out from big groups, but most everyone was engaged with each other in conversation.

- What intrigued me: lots here. I was fascinated with the constant bringing up of old stories and memories from the group's previous cabin trip (which took place last fall). I noticed in my observation several references to inside jokes and funny moments from the fall trip. It interested me because not everyone on this trip attended the last trip, so several people were removed from that discussion. Another thing that intrigued me the repetition of jokes and sayings which occurred on this trip. One guy, Ryan, said something embarrassing and funny the previous night, and it was repeated several times throughout the next night. One last thing - the role of food/drink in socializing. It was interesting to me that the people who tended to be the most social and prominent in the discussion were those who had, say, a bag of chips or a can of soda. This was almost always true in my observation.

- What disturbed me: the dynamic of a big group almost inevitably leads to exclusion. And even if I was an outsider, I would have no trouble pointing out the less dominant and social people in the group. This disturbed me. Especially when the apparent outcasts tried to add to the conversation, but were followed by very short or entirely different responses. The dynamic became overwhelming at times. I was disturbed at the obvious competition for loudness or control of the discussion. If one person had something to add that he/she thought was REALLY important, usually they talked even louder over the other people to get it across.

So those are just a few things. This is actually good practice for me, because the culture that I will be observing for project is one of which I am already a part. It's good practice for me to remove myself and take note subjectively.

Here is a rough picture from my phone of the notes I took: