Blog #13

I plan on structuring my mini-ethnography by categories and within each category I plan on organizing my information chronologically by time period. In doing that, it will help others to track my process from beginning to end. I plan to begin my mini-ethnography with an overview of who I am and give a little information on my subculture. I don’t plan on starting off with a specific informant because I plan on grouping all my informants together with the observations and reflections that I made throughout the whole process. I think it is important to include my interest in the subculture, as well as, my place in the subculture. This will help my readers’ develop a better understanding as to why they should be interested in the subculture and get a better understanding of how I became apart of the subculture. I am going to proceed through the paper chronologically based on when certain things happened. My research will be used to guide my paper along. I will not include my actual sources chronologically, but I will take the reader chronologically through my research process and how I found more information as time went on. I plan on incorporating and creating sections based on themes because in the end it will all add up to one major theme. I plan on concluding my mini-ethnography by summarizing the whole process and clear up any misconceptions that were made of the subculture. I think the structure that I have chosen will be the best for what I want to do because it will help my readers see the subculture from an outsider’s point of view to an insider’s perspective from beginning to end.

Blog #12

Initially, the hardest thing for me was finding academic research. It seemed like the more I researched the farther away I got from my original search. But then after going to the library, I found lots of success in finding articles on my subculture. The easiest part so far would have to be interviewing and observing my subculture. My subculture is right downstairs from my room, so I have an easy access to get there. Also, being an insider has been a huge factor because it makes it easier for me to interview the employees because I know them on a personal level. If I could start over, I would have picked a different topic because I am at the point now where I don’t know which direction I want to head. I feel like I have lost sense of why my readers should even care about my subculture, which makes it even harder to develop a research question. Other than changing topics, I wish at this point in time I would have observed more of my subculture from an outsider’s point of view. Most of this is due to lack of planning ahead of time, which I wish I would have done more of. Having to write blogs has definitely helped me track my research process along the way because it has kept me organize. It also allows me to look back and see the progress I have made so far and possible directions I can take, which in the end will help me with my mini-ethnography. The blogs will only make it easier to piece everything together and stay organized in the end because it has kept track of my progress since the beginning.

Blog #11

Eight weeks ago, I was looking at my subculture from an outsider’s point of view. I had many stereotypes and preconceptions towards Lafollette dining, but once I actually started working at the Buffet, I became to see the Buffet from a different perspective. I found that the more I worked the more I became part of the subculture. Up till now, I have been able to develop personal relationships with most of the employees and I have developed a good idea of how things work. Not only from working there, but also from the interviews I have conducted with some of the employees, surveys that I have sent out, and many of observations.

The main theme that I have noticed based on my research is that many of the food service workers who work at a particular college started working in the food industry because of its convenience, benefits, hours, etc. After, surveying forty of Lafollette’s employees, I have found the same results. No one responded that they were doing the job because they were considering working as a food service employee for their future career. Even after one of my interviews, the main reason for working at Ball State was because of its benefits and free tuition. This was the most common theme I have found, but it is certainly not one I plan on using for my mini-ethnography.