Quarter Research/Writing Project
ANTH 213D
Spring 2009
You should
be thinking now about what you plan to do for your quarter research
project. As I noted on the syllabus,
“The first order of business is to choose a research setting: a
restaurant, church, shopping mall, a party, a supermarket, organization,
sporting event, whatever (this is a partial list—the possibilities are
many).” And the mission of the assignment is to observe and analyze how
people use language, paralanguage, gesture,
and the surrounding environment to go about social relations in that
setting. The syllabus again: “The
idea here is to use the methodologies and the craft of the anthropologist to
explore the cultural richness that even a very close-to-home field site has to
offer.” Consider the following as, step by step, you do the research,
compose a transcript(s) representing streams of language you wish to analyze,
and construct the paper itself.
First, the paper should describe your
field site—the setting in which you are carrying out the research. What is the nature of the environment? Why do people go there? What do they typically do there? What are the objects that belong to that environment? What social interactions commonly occur there,
even belong specifically to that site? In short, what are the routines that
characterize that setting? All of these
things, of course, bear on the language practices that people use in that place.
So what is the linguistic competency people must have to operate
effectively there, and what are the linguistic routines that seem to go with
the setting?
Second, once you have observed and
described the general characteristics of the site, it is time to concentrate on
speech practices themselves. You need, more specifically, to focus on the
speech practices of one community of
speakers. We are looking, in short,
at very specific conversations.
For
example, if you are working in a church, you should focus on one context in that setting: the words of the pastor to the congregation, or the conversation around the coffee
machine during social hour, or the
interaction between Sunday school teacher and children, etc. If you are working in the mall or another
retail location, study the conversation between sales people and customers, or between men or women in one store, or among preteens who meet there, or between kiosk salespeople and
customers, or among employees,
etc. If you are working in a sports or
fitness environment, center on speech practices between coach and players, or among players, or between players and fans, or
among fans.
Note that I
have emphasized the word “or” and
have not written the word “and.”
Third, when it comes to how to frame your analysis, we will apply the
Ethnography of Speaking model (sometimes referred to as the ethnography of
communication). Remember: S-P-E-A-K-I-N-G. This
third part will have two sub-parts:
a) You will
produce a ~ one-page transcript of a piece(s) of conversation you have recorded
(ideally) or copied down as faithfully
as you can. Note not only the words
per se that people use, but also pauses, interruptions, vocal tone, emotion,
etc. The point of this part of the
assignment is to get you to represent a
piece of language practice in a systematic way that will enable you to provide
a systematic analysis of it. Your presentation of ethnographic data is critical.
You want to bring a section of speech
alive for the reader. If advisable,
you will likely wish to visit your field site more than once to gather data.
b) You will
then “plug” this piece of transcribed conversation into the ethnography of
communication framework, accounting for such elements as:
You may
note that not all of the schematic appears here. For example, I have left “situation” out so
that you can avoid repeating what you already pointed out in the first part of
the paper. Also, you do not need to move
lockstep down the letters of (S)PEAKING. That is, you do not need to begin your
account with a section called “participants” and then go right down the list
until you conclude with “genre.” Through the process of analysis, though, you
will want to touch on every aspect of the model appropriate to your case. Don’t worry if you find yourself with little
to say about a certain part of the model—“channel,” for example. I would rather you leave part of the model
out than pad the paper with gratuitous information. But remember this: let your transcript drive your
analysis/interpretation. Work closely
from it. Finally, where
appropriate, I would urge you to bring into the paper other sociolinguistic
concepts that you have learned. For
example, we have recently looked at “style” as Tannen
defines it among Jewish speakers in
Part 3 is
where you prove you can do solid linguistic anthropology. Represent people’s words and accompanying
actions carefully. Be systematic. Dig
deep.
A note on basic research
methods: Remember that you are assuming the
role of the anthropologist. Take notes! This is especially important if you cannot
record.
A note on research ethics:
Depending on your research situation, you may feel uncomfortable about
“eavesdropping” of “spying.” You do not
need to seek peoples’ permission before you jot some notes down. But always remember that anonymity is
important: don’t use peoples’ names
unless you have explained your project to them and secured the ok. In your notes, you might simply identify
research subjects by personal characteristics (like approximate age, sex,
ethnicity, etc.).
Approximately 7 pages, double-spaced
Due Dates: May
6, Fieldwork Paper Precis
May 20, Transcript
May 27, Paper