Chapter 3 of Fieldworking offered a wide array of information. It looked at integrating oneself with the culture they are studying. It also looked at using cultural artifacts. Fieldworking is a personal situation. One must consider how they feel about what they are view, and consideration of how they view events is also important. Before, I thought that when fieldworking one must be unseen and gather facts. The book offers examples of how people immersed themselves into the field in order to gain a new perspective, than if they were strictly outsiders. Analyzing how I react to the events I observe is a useful strategy to consider when I being fieldworking. When I was looking through editions of The East Texan for WA2, I noticed the different advertisements printed throughout the years. There were alway advertisements for movies, but even those have changed throughout the years, from silent films, to “talkies”, to the high definition movies we have now. I also noticed advertisments that pertained to the time period. I saw an ad for a discount on permanent waves in the 20s. The clothing store ads provided pictures of the fashions that were “in” at the time. These advertisments could be considered the cultural artifacts that I can study when I begin fieldworking at the Special Collections office.
Expanded Fieldnotes:
Today, I ate lunch in the cafeteria by myself before band rehearsal. As I was sitting there, slightly bummed that I was sitting at a table by myself in the massive cafeteria, I realized that that was the perfect opportunity to observe the people around me and take fieldnotes. The noise level of the cafeteria is the same omnipresent hum in the background that fills my ears. The noise level is disturbed by sudden and random uproars of laughter coming from different groups of people around me. I wonder what purpose the cafeteria serves besides to feed hungry students and faculty alike. After all, one can chose to eat lunch in their room at their respective dorm, apartment, house, etc. As I looked around, I saw people enjoying themselves in between classes. Maybe the cafeteria offers more than food. It serves as a gathering place for students and teachers to gather over a meal, and relax, socialize, vent, or actions of that sort, in between classes. I noticed people chose their seats at tables where they know the other people sitting at the table. Sometimes I can classify the people sitting at a table. For instance, I saw a table full of band people, and a table full of choir people. But, considering I spend a lot of time in the music building, I only picked those tables out because I’ve seen those people enough to classify them as band or choir students. I’m sure the same would go if I was an art student or business student. I also noticed other people were sitting at tables by themselves. I wondered why they sat by themselves. Were they in the same predicament as I was, or did they simply enjoy the alone time? Needless to say, the cafeteria provides tons of opportunities for observing and questioning.
