To begin the project, make sure to read the assignments from Week Two. The readings will help you get a sense of some of the questions involved in your work. The key is to look at the space you visit with as few preconceptions as possible. Pretend you are a visitor from Mars and just observe behavior, language, dress, body movement, spatial organization, etc. Who inhabits this space? How is the space designed, shaped/decorated? How do people speak there? How do people dress? Move? Interact with each other and the space itself?
You will go to a fieldwork location of your choice, though be sure to check out a location that has some 'substance' to it. Themed restaurants and retail stores, as well as specialty exhibitions are especially fruitful. I've compiled a handy dandy map of possible fieldwork locations in Chicago to get you started (feel free to choose one of the sites on the map, if you wish).
OBSERVE CAREFULLY and TAKE NOTES. After the observation session (your actual 'fieldwork'), begin to sort out, think through and ANALYZE what you have seen. Your analysis should result in a short formal essay that reports your observations and interpretations of the space in question. In addition, you should make effective use of readings from class in order to develop your analysis. When I talk about making 'effective' use of class readings, I mean using other people’s ideas/concepts/arguments to support your position, not the other way around. In other words, your paper is not simply a place to restate what an author already says in his or her article (or book chapter, etc). Instead, you need to integrate an author's ideas and specific points into your own argument.....and you need to do so by paraphrasing and/or making use of direct quotations (both of which need to be accurately cited).
The following are some examples of questions to get you started. While the questions are specific to certain locations, they will generally give you an idea of the types of things you should be paying attention to on your visit, and ultimately analyzing in your paper. (You may want to prepare by visiting the websites first.)
Nature Company / Rainforest Cafe Field Work:
- How is nature thematized here? How is it imagined?
- What sounds / smell / colors/ designs are prevalent?
- What kind of discourse (language, words, terms) is used to shape this space?
- How is nature conceived? How is nature presented?
- How do people interact with the space?
- What, exactly, is being sold? An experience? An idea? Specific products?
- How are things being sold?
- How is culture being conceptualized?
- What assumptions about nature and culture are being presented?
- How does the space look? How is it designed?
- What is the relation of the space to the objects within the space?
- How are objects/artworks positioned?
- How is the space entered? exited? protected?
- Who enters the space? How do they move? dress? speak? interact?
- How do people relate to the objects?
- How is power enacted in this space?
- How are values enacted in this space?
- How does this space create a social narrative (i.e. tell a story)?
- 3 pages
- All papers must be typed double spaced, with margins of one inch on each side of the page and in a font no larger than 12.
- Handwritten papers will not be accepted.
- I don't care what format you use to cite your sources; just stick with one and use it consistently (either Chicago Humanities style footnotes or MLA parenthetical citations). Make sure to include specific page numbers in your citations.
- Your paper should be well-written, free from spelling errors and major grammatical errors, coherently organized, and rigorously proofread.
- Other tips: Please take advantage of the Writing Center's fine assistance, if you need to do so. Also, your professor is very willing to respond to questions, drafts, etc.
- PLEASE UPLOAD YOUR FINISHED PAPER ONTO MOODLE (WORD DOCUMENT IS PREFERRED).
