what do i think?

Just a late night log, to clear my thoughts about anthropology. I must admit, the study of people have always fascinated me. In my mind, I've somehow found patterns to categorize people into, or spot out patterns in behaviour, speech, dressing, etc in different environments.

Small, minor things, yet they catch my eye. It may be really tedious to carry out, but with many people in a group it's quite doable to properly record down information and observation. That being said for the assignment given.

It will be interesting to see how there are social patterns everywhere, even if you resist stereotyping. Like it or not, in a "pack", individuals sometimes tend to mold to each other, they adapt to the most domineering character of the "herd".In very obvious situations like this, it won't be difficult to point out the leader. Hierarchies such as this is common practice in almost every corner of the world, be it a huge,political governing or a high school clique.

It's a pattern and culture that people understand. Especially when it comes to personalities, as it plays a big role in how the positions roll out.

It's also odd and amusing when certain patterns end up in higher averages than most.

Task 2

So the task this week was to study a particular group is society.

For this i picked Alamanda, and the working class.

Time frame : 10.30 am - 4.30 pm

Date : 28th October 2011, Friday

This was the main concourse around 10.45 am

There was an exhibition for Focus Point, so their employees/sales assistants were idling around, waiting for interested customers. They seemed pretty restless and listless. To their defense, it was a quiet morning. They were uniformed in company T-shirts and black pants.

This was in All Star, an apparel shop. About 11:45 am

It was a more casual, laid back atmosphere where the employees wore casual ( preppy-emo style) attire. Their nametags were the only identification that separated them from us students. They were not formal at all, and it felt very comfortable to be in there, because they weren't being patronizing. They chatted among themselves while waiting for customers to decide.

Concourse again at lunch time.

Uniformed groups stood out pretty much in the crowd as it was friday so most employees were half-casual.

So happened this uniformed trio was caught marching uniformed as well. ;) I'm guessing they were on duty for sites and such, or it's a company policy.

The foodcourt at lunch time.

Despite it being just a food court it was frequented by very well dressed men and women, some of which lunched alone in a place full of people. Either he didn't have a regular lunch crowd (maybe just for that day) or he was in a rush, hence eating alone. He was well dressed, tie and all and the women beside him was well dressed as well. They gave no indication to knowing each other, thus, I believe they were truly on their own.

This was around 4 pm in Noodle Station, a restaurant.

I guess, it being a Friday and all, employers were more casual  and laid back as well. This was a bunch of them having a  late lunch and possible an early weekend. I was kind of surprised over this, but maybe there are those who enjoy noodles for tea?

Le Assignment 1

CROSS DISCIPLINARY

cross-dis·ci·pli·nar·y

   [kraws-dis-uh-pluh-ner-ee,kros-] 

adjective

involving two or more academic disciplines; interdisciplinary:cross-disciplinary studies in Biblical archaeology. [1]

INTER DISCIPLINARY

in·ter·dis·ci·pli·nar·y

  [in-ter-dis-uh-pluh-ner-ee] 

adjective

1.

combining or involving two or more academic disciplines orfields of study: The economics and history departments are offering an interdisciplinary seminar on Asia.

2.

combining or involving two or more professions, technologies,departments, or the like, as in business or industry [1]

Interdisciplinary refers to new knowledge extensions that exist between or beyond existing academic disciplines or professions. The new knowledge may be claimed by members of none, one, both, or an emerging new academic discipline or profession.

An interdisciplinary community or project is made up of people from multiple disciplines and professions who are engaged in creating and applying new knowledge as they work together as equal stakeholders in addressing a common challenge. [4]

TRANS-DISCIPLINARY

adjective

pertaining to or involving more than onediscipline; interdisciplinary [1]

Transdisciplinary refers to knowledge that exists in every individual, thus eliminating the need for discipline boundaries.

A transdisciplinary community or project is made up of transdisciplinary professionals, which is an ideal that can only be approached and not actually achieved in practice. To exist in today's society, a transdisciplinary professional would possess certification or degrees in all disciplines as well as experience in all professions. In essence, a truly transdisciplinary person contains all the distributed knowledge of the people in the community or project as their individual common knowledge. Furthermore, they exist within a community of people that share that knowledge. A transdisciplinary community is one in which common knowledge of individuals and the distributed knowledge of the collective are identical.[3]

QUALITATIVE RESEARCH

Qualitative research seeks out the ‘why’, not the ‘how’ of its topic through the analysis of unstructured information – things like interview transcripts, open ended survey responses, emails, notes, feedback forms, photos and videos. It doesn’t just rely on statistics or numbers, which are the domain of quantitative researchers.

Qualitative research is used to gain insight into people's attitudes, behaviours, value systems, concerns, motivations, aspirations, culture or lifestyles. It’s used to inform business decisions, policy formation, communication and research. Focus groups, in-depth interviews, content analysis, ethnography, evaluation and semiotics are among the many formal approaches that are used, but qualitative research also involves the analysis of any unstructured material, including customer feedback forms, reports or media clips. [2]

ETHNOGRAPHIC RESEARCH

Anthropologists, ethnographers, and other social scientists may engage in something called ethnography. Ethnography, simply stated, is the study of people in their own environment through the use of methods such as participant observation and face-to-face interviewing. As anthropologist H. Sidky suggests, ethnography documents cultural similarities and differences through empirical fieldwork and can help with scientific generalizations about human behavior and the operation of social and cultural systems (2004:9). Because anthropology as a discipline is holistic (meaning it looks at the past, present and future of a community across time and space), ethnography as a first hand, detailed account of a given community or society attempts to get a comprehensive understanding of the circumstances of the people being studied. Ethnographers, then, look at and record a people’s way of life as seen by both the people and the anthropologist; they take an emic (folk or inside) andetic (analytic or outside) approach to describing communities and cultures.


Ethnography is the branch of anthropology that involves trying to understand how people live their lives. Unlike traditional market researchers, who ask specific, highly practical questions, anthropological researchers visit consumers in their homes or offices to observe and listen in a nondirected way. Our goal is to see people’s behavior on their terms, not ours. [5]

Reference :

[1] http://dictionary.reference.com

[2] http://www.qsrinternational.com/what-is-qualitative-research.aspx

[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disciplinary#Transdisciplinary

[4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disciplinary#Interdisciplinary

references retrieved on 17th October 2011


[5] http://hbr.org/2009/03/ethnographic-research-a-key-to-strategy/ar/1
references retrieved on 20th October 2011

What is this?

This is the required blog for Media Anthropology (MLA2113).
So basic details :
Neo Ann Na
1061104085.
Will be updated with post related to assignments.