Justice
Studies 301
Dr.
Menjívar
Your
assignment is to pick some location or situation in which strangers are put in
physical proximity to one another for a period of time. The location will preferably a location with
which you are already familiar, so this exercise will allow you to see it in a
different light Examples include a bus stop, doctor’s office, a table at the
library, a waiting room, etc. However,
please do not do this exercise at your place of work, as working and
observing for this assignment at the same time will be very difficult.
Observe
at your location for at least one hour. Examine the ways in which
strangers interact with one another. Notice the ways in which they communicate:
through words, facial expressions, body postures, and the like. Examine what is
communicated, in what situations, with what effect, and by what kinds of
people. Notice the characteristics (gender, age, etc.) of the people that you observe
as well as the context in which the interactions take place. Examine also the
importance of social space and physical space. Pay attention to a) the
varieties in all these things, and b) any regular patterns that seem to exist. Write
down all your observations. These constitute your field notes.
You
will turn in about 2-3 pages (the field notes can be hand written, but the rest
has to be typed, double-spaced, one inch margins, font 12) as your
assignment. Your assignment consist of 1) the field notes that you took while
you observed; 2) a summary of what you
observed; 3) your “conclusions” or any analytical observations; and 4) how your
own characteristics might affect what you observe and if it is possible to take
a neutral position in conducting this kind of research.