Anthroponovice

What I have learnt over the Summer

2007-09-23T17:16:00.000-05:00

My professors told me that the only way to learn Ethnography is to try it out. I guess that's what I have done over this summer. I still don't know exactly how to define what ethnography is, but at least I have for the first time designed my own research project and carried that out. Research is not as scary as it seemed to be anymore, but at the same time I realized there are a lot more small details and ethical issues that I have previously overlooked. I still have a long way to go in my project. It is time to analyse the data and to do the write up. I don't know how well I have done in my fieldwork, but at least, I enjoyed the experience. Now I am confident enough to say that I really want to continue my study in anthropology.
In a classroom setting, I used to think a lot about the theoretical aspects of anthropology: Is it useful? Is it a real science? what is the point of doing anthropology? I went into my ethnographic experience with these questions in mind, and came out with the same questions. The difference is, they no longer matter as much as before. Over the summer, I did something that gave me a great sense of satisfaction, and hopefully at the same time something that is contributive to the community. That, in itself, makes anthropology an academic discipline that worths pursuing.

About my 3 weeks in Hong Kong...

2007-09-04T18:15:00.000-05:00

Unfortunately things have not got any better. I enjoy seeing my family and my friends again, but in terms of fieldwork I am not too satisfied with my progress. I still don't have much success in eliciting participants. Even if I get people to talk to me, they are all short conversations, and people are so alienated about having the interview taped. I did manage to get quite a lot of interesting observations in the cafes, but I keep worrying about whether my fieldnotes would be sufficient to yield cultural insights. I hope to move beyond the superficial, but now I doubt if I have sufficient data to convincingly theoretize my findings.
Perhaps my fieldwork in Chicago was too smooth to be realistic. I was lucky enough to be in a welcoming community where I found little difficulty getting to know people. I am grateful to have undergone this second part of my fieldwork - at least it shows me that things do not always work the way I want them to. Flexibility remains one of the keys to ethnographic study.
So instead of interviewing people, I put extra attention into observing people's interactions and writing detailed fieldnotes. I also spent time browsing through newspaper, magazines and books to get a sense of how Chinese cafes are represented in popular literature. As an alternative to interviewing cafe customers, I contacted writer, university professor and politician to talk about their work as related to Chinese cafes. This is not exactly the kind of data that I was planning on getting, but I hope that this could enable me to gain some insight into the issue.
Another lesson from the experience: I am never going to do fieldwork in Hong Kong again.

The Native Anthropologist

2007-08-22T19:00:00.000-05:00

I miss Chicago the most when I do my reserach in Hong Kong. My thesis is intended to be a comparison of cafe culture in Hong Kong and Chicago Chinatown. So my 3 weeks of "vacation" in Hong Kong are not exactly break time. I need to replicate my reserach methods in 2 cafes in Hong Kong. I think after the training this summer, I am more confident (and hopefully more skillful too) in conducting fieldwork. Surprisingly, this is not at all easier than Chicago, and I don't think my data yield information as interesting as those I got in the first part of my summer.
I am a bit discouraged - it is not as fun as my adventure in Chicago, at least not in the beginning. After 5 weeks of mingling with the crowd in Chicago, I feel totally comfortable in the cafes there. People know what I am doing, and they are happy to talk to me since they start to take me as an innocuous being after all this time. I am starting it all over again here in Hong Kong. I got turned down by a number of cafe owners, saying that my fieldwork could be in the way of their business. Even after I gain access to my field sites, things are not running as smooth as I hope. Hong Kong is a fast-paced city to start with. People here don't have the time nor the patience to talk to a random student in cafes. Although the supervisors of the cafes approve of my study, they don't seem to be particularly incline to the idea of having me eating my noodles for 2 hours everyday - particularly not over weekends. In Chicago I dealt with 2 streets, about 30 restaurants and a Chinese population of less than 10,000. Here I am in a 7-million-people-city with thousands of restuarants around. People seldom go back to the same restaurant everyday, which means that there is no way that I can befriend the customers in the cafes.
Here in Hong Kong I no longer stand out - I am no longer the only girl in an all-male cafe. I am no longer one of the few 20-year-olds who speak both Chinese and English. I am no longer the customers' conection to the long-forsaken motherland. Why should people be interested in talking to me? I finally understand what my professors always tell me about it is not easy being a native anthropologist. In Chicago it is ok to ask people who a cafe means. Here I don't even have the courage to ask "dumb" questions because people would simply think that I am just joking around. I always have to be cautious about not adulterating my "common sense" as a Hong Kongese in my data. It is a wierd feeling - I am in a place where I have spent 18 years of my life. And yet it feels so alienated. I should know how things work here, but in fact I cannot make any progress in getting the information I need. I find it impossible to distant myself during observations and interviews. I am not only an anthropologist here. I am also a native. I am studying myself - is that ever possible?

Friends that I left behind

2007-08-22T17:30:00.000-05:00

I am back in Hong Kong. After 8 weeks of Chicago, I somehow find it hard to get used to home again. There are more to adjust than the time difference. My time in Chicago has been so amazing. I enjoy the city, I enjoy my volunteer work, I enjoy my fieldwork. I am still amazed by how such strong bonds of friendship could be made with people who are so different from me in less than 2 months' time. They are the ones who so genorously share what they know with me. They are the ones who welcome me to their lives, which I am more than grateful about. They are the ones who help me through my very first ethnographic project, and give me the confidence that it is something that I, too, can accomplish. I still think about the cafes and the people. Perhaps I don't miss them as much as I thought I do. What truly throws me off is the apprehension that I don't know whether I am going to see these people again. That was my first time being in Chicago, and who knows when I will go there again. Somehow I feel indebt to their hospitality - having finished my research and simply went away. I don't want our friendship to terminate with the end of my research.

A brief report of debriefing

2007-08-14T01:04:00.000-05:00

Finally. August 10, we got together for one last time in this little place in Evanston for the final debriefing and presentation section. I was nervous. I am never good at presentations. It is such a difficult job to distill 2 months of findings into 5 pages of executive summary and 20 minutes of presentation. 2 months past by so swiftly. And yet, it was not until this moment that I realize how much we have achieved, and how much work is yet to be done.
They were here, those who gave me so much support over the summer, those who care about the project as much as I do. I am entrusted with their cultural knowledge. I hope that I did not disappoint them.
I will write more later. But now, it is break time. It is time to enjoy home.

Fieldnotes and Diary

2007-07-29T10:56:00.000-05:00

I know write-ups are important. I know field notes should be written as soon as observations or interviews are done. Into the 6th week of my reserach, I can't help feeling wary about field notes. Information overloaded I guess. I start to hate jotting down every single details everyday, and spend an hour or two typing up my observations. I feel as if I am a big bottle that keeps emptying myself every night only to be filled with new content. Worse still, I feel the bottle is about to burst. Never in my life have I hated writing diary so much. I used to enjoy recording my new learning experience everyday. But now I find that recollection could be tedious too - when it has turned into an assignment to be accomplished everyday.
I have been keeping up pretty well with field notes and diaries for 2 weeks. But this week, I finally feel that I need a break from it. There are times that I just want to be part of the experience, instead of standing aside jotting notes for the recollection of the experience a few hours later.

Undercover

2007-07-23T21:09:00.000-05:00

"When someone is doing something else but glances casually at you from time to time, he is a cop."
A quote from Infernal Affairs, one of my favourite movies. This quote popped up in my mind yesterady when I was sitting in the Cafe. Hey, is that what I have been doing? Mingling with the breakfast crowd while busy noting down my observations?
I don't know how people feel about me looking at them and writing things down all the time when I am in the Cafe. I start to feel comfortable with it. Every morning when I set myself down in the Cafe, the first thing I do is to take out my pen and notebook. Some people get curious, but I never get shouted at for writing notes in the Cafe.
I remember I was skeptical in the beginning. I was worried about how people would see me if I jot notes during conversations. Now I come to accept it as my assignment here. I am still observing. I am still staying slightly away from what the others are doing. But at least, there is no pretension. Only cops go undercover. For me, I am perfectly happy presenting myself the way I am.

Mid-term review

2007-07-19T16:43:00.000-05:00

So it has already been a month.

Last month, on June 18, I arrived at this foreign place. I remember that sense of loneliness. I sat in my room alone, staring blankly at the walls. I felt that I was thrown into another world all of a sudden, away from friends, away from my comfort zone. I knew nothing about this city. I had no idea what is installed for me in the following 2 months.

Today this city is not the same anymore. I have made new friends, I have learnt new skills, I have developed a new routine in my life. In the beginning of my fieldwork, I remember I used to complain about the long commuting time from Evanston all the way down to the Chinatown. But now I find myself growing to like Chinatown. I like it not because it feels like home. I like it because I have started to see it as my second home. I enjoy working with the organization that I am assigned, as well as the Cafe in which I am doing research. Here I find friendship and support and care and acceptance. Here I witness how people are making the best of everyday.

Blessed. I know I am.

Mission terminated

2007-07-16T20:47:00.000-05:00

After doing 4 interviews, I am officially giving up my Food Adaptation Project. Perhaps I did not pick the right question to start with, perhaps I did not talk to the appropriate people, I just feel that the project is getting me nowhere. I tried asking people about their food habits, but I am not getting a lot of insightful information out of it. I just can't go beyond short, simple responses. I am losing track of why I started the topic of food adaptation in the first place.
I am a bit disappointed - with myself, perhaps. Everything seems fine. I enjoy my volunteer work a lot, everyone is being so friendly and helpful. It just doesn't work, after I have spent a month desiging the topic and eliciting information, after I have spent hours in front of the computer typing up my transcripts. But on the other hand, it is a big relieve too. From now on I can properly focus on my research in the Chinese Cafe. I am done with the days when I need to write two sets of fieldsnotes everynight. Now I can spend more time exploring this wonderful city.

Interviews - journalistic style vs ethnographic style

2007-07-11T22:16:00.000-05:00

I entered college as a journalism major. I switched to Anthropology in my sophomore year because I realize that journalism is not for me after a summer internship with a newspaper. Somehow I feel that what I am doing now is quite similar to what a journalist does - go interview someone and report the information.

I feel that my previous training in journalism is still haunting me. During that summer with the newspaper, I was told to get information fast, accurate and to the point. Be as specific in your questions as possible, so that the interviewee understand you easily and give the kind of response you want. The journalist is the one who controls the interview.

I realize, this is exactly why my first ethnographic interview did not go too well. I was too eager to control. I was too eager to get my informant to talk about things that I have in mind. I forgot that my informant should be the one who guides me through the topic, not the other way round. They are the cultural teachers who know the best about the topic, and I am the one who learn. Listen to people's voice, let them represent themselves in their own ways - this should be the whole point of ethnography.

My least favourite thing in Ethnography

2007-07-10T17:45:00.000-05:00

I hate transcription: It is embarrassing to hear my own voice in the recording, and it is even more embarrassing to realize how many "um"s, "er"s, and "ah"s in my speech, and be the one who note them down in the transcript. But this is basically how I spent my weekend. It is such a time consuming process. My Chinese typing is awfully slow, and it takes me more than 10 hours to transcribe 1 hour worth of conversation.

I hate it, but I can't deny that it is useful. I hate being reminded that I am not as expressive as I thought I am (with all those um er ahs...), but the transcription does help me to learn my data. I am picking up a lot of information that I missed during the interview. I could not have identified so many themes in the conversation without putting them all down on paper. It is scary to realize how much information we miss when we talk to people...

I am just wondering, would there be an easier way out?

Language Barrier

2007-07-10T17:36:00.000-05:00

So I thought doing interviews in Chinatown would be OK. There are a lot of Cantonese speakers around, but I am lucky enough to bump into one speaking another dialect in my very first interview. She is a client in the organization I work in. We have been talking in Cantonese for 2 weeks. When we sit down for a formal taped interview, however, I start to realize her speech pattern is not exactly what I am looking for: she tends to start off a sentance in Cantonese, and lapse into her dialect if she wants to elaborate something. I keep guessing what she says. It is terrible. I feel even more desperate when I listen to the recording. Transcription is tedious enough for me, the last thing I want is to do code deciphering on top of transcription...
Lesson for today: interviews are different from conversations. Pick informants wisely.

My first day of adventure in a Chinese Cafe

2007-07-07T11:41:00.001-05:00

Feeling that my Northwestern project is getting on track already, I start seeking information for my honors thesis as well. I intend to explore the relationship between Chinese Cafes (Cha Chaan Teng) and the creation of Hong Kongese identity in my thesis. I have already started reading anthropology literature on food an identity in June. I plan to do participant observations and interviews in altogether 3 Cafes, including 2 in Hong Kong and 1 in the Chicago Chinatown, over the summer.

Identifying an informant is not a difficult process. As I ask around for recommendations for typical Cafes, it turns out that one colleague frequents a particular Cha Chaan Teng everyday. He said that cafe should be a pretty good place for observing cultural interactions, because it is well-known around the area, and their loyal clientele features people from diverse social and ethnic background. Sounds good to me. I immediately set up a breakfast date with him.

First Impression
K said he would be in the Cafe at around 8 to 9 o'clock everyday. Attempting to secure a good start for my project, I pick the earlier end. I successfully find the place at about 8:20am. I am in high spirit - it sounds so exciting! I push open the heavy glass door, which leads me to the bakery, and the dining area which is situated further back to the Cafe. I peep into the dining area, hoping to spot K among the clients. No, he is not there. Everybody in the dining area turns to stare at me. Man man man man man: that is what I see. I feel my face turning red. Without giving it a second thought, I retreat and hurry out through the glass door again into the street.

Wandering...
What have I just done? I have literally fled from my field site!!! I am so nervous, and I do not know what to do. Well, maybe I should wait till K is here... but what time would he be here? I woke up 2 hours early to come here. What am I supposed to do next? I stroll along the street aimlessly. The clock strikes 8:40am. No. I can't be like that. I am going back. This time I am getting in no matter what.

Reentry
It takes me 3 times the courage to walk back. I get so nervous as I approach the glass door again. I push the glass door open, keep my head low and walk into the dining area. Men stare at me again. I try not to make eye contact with anyone. ok... I need a seat now. All the peripheral seats are already taken. I end up setting myself down at a big table that is big enough to sit 8 people, right in the middle of the room. A bad start... And I realize another grave mistake that I made: I should not have wore a bright red shirt on the first day of my field work. I have just done whatever I could have to draw attention to myself. Wonderful - here I am: sitting by myself among 20 or so men, all of whom are probably of my father's, or even my grandfather's age. Oh my God I am so self-conscious.

Going with the flow...
OK. Calm down. I am in a restaurant. And I am supposed to order. There is no menu on the table or on the wall. A waitress approachs and hands me a list of dim sum, with both Chinese and English on it. I look around: first of all, I am the only one holding this menu-like paper, second of all, most people are not having dim sum at all. They have bakery goods in front of them. I hand the sheet back to her, order a drink and something out of the bakery too.

I have the feeling that people are still looking at me. K told me that this place has a lot of loyal customers, and he is right. I am probably the only one who bumped into this cafe by myself. I look at the glass door again and again, pleading wish that K would come soon.

Particpant Observation?
It is 9:30am. I finished my bread long ago, my tea is almost over. K is still not here. Over the past hour I have made notes of the atmosphere and quite a lot of interesting interactions in the Cafe. But the participant part of my observation has not come yet. I have not talked to anyone besides the waitress. I feel awkward staying so quiet in a place where there is constant conversation going on. I need to talk.

By now two more men joined my table, because the place is pretty full. They were just reading their own newspaper in the beginning, but at some point one of them initiates a conversation by making a comment about a news. The two men start to talk. I try to smile and nod from time to time, indicating that I am listening. They look at me from time to time, not sure if I am to join the conversation. Speak something. speak. I just can't. I am nervous. I don't want to appear insolent interrupting a conversation uninvited.

Breaking the Ice
Maybe I am just thinking too much. Maybe it is ok to say something - as everybody else does. I still have not said a word 15 minutes into the conversation. People are literally talking around me: 2 man opposite to me and 1 other who sits behind me on a neighbouring table are all talking. I can't even tell whether the man is looking at me, or at the man sitting behind me. I sit in the middle, confused, not knowing what to do. Maybe I should move to the next table... How did I get myself into this situation?

Finally, my opportunity comes when another man move to our table. He jokes with a waitress, and sees me smiling timidly about the joke. "Do you speak Chinese?" He asks cautiously. I nod, and start introducing myself. Now the whole table and a few tables around us are listening and asking me questions. They thought that I was one of those American-born kids who don't speak Chinese... We end up talking together, about the news, about my high school, about Hong Kong, about life as an immigrant... I feel great! I feel comfortable! "It is a nice cafe for breakfast. " the man who starts the conversation with me says. Before he leaves, he pays for my breakfast too.

I did it. Not gracefully. But I did it.

Aftermath...
K appears at 10:45am, 2 hours after I am stucked in the Cafe by myself. He was held up by a long-distance call. He is slightly surprised that I am already talking to the people that he intended to introduce me to. "I am glad that you are here." he says in English, somewhat apologetically. I smile. I think, I am glad to be here too. It would have been great if K was here earlier, but I am seeing a lot, too, starting my first day by myself.

Identity Crisis?

2007-07-03T23:03:00.000-05:00

From the very first day of Ethnographic Field School, we are warned about the danger of confusing our roles as reserachers, volunteers and friends. We are told that we should go into the field site stating upfront that we are anthropology students. Our ethic codes are to avoid as much ambiguity as possible: Never interview without informed consent, never observe without obtaining permission. If you quote someone in the reserach, make sure that the participant knows about your intentions of using their viewpoints in your project.

Well, it is not always that easy. I have spent the whole week running around the center introducing myself and getting to know the elderly. It is hard enough to explain the concept of anthropology, let alone telling them that I am helping out but my research takes priority to my volunteering work. At some points I go as blatant as stating that "I may use what you told me in my project". I try to explain my purpose when people ask me about my frequent note-jotting. But still, the point does not seem to be getting through very well. Our "getting-to-know-each-other" often ends with their comments that I have a kind heart to spend my summer volunteering with Elderly services. I guess that's part of it, but I hope that they are getting the other half of the picture as well.

Somehow I am wondering if I am making an unnecessary fuss here. The organization has approved of my reserach, the elderly seems to be happier taking me as a friend than a researcher. They are happy about meeting someone who is so eager to listen to them, and probably don't care that much about how I am going to use the information. I am still skeptical about the whole process, but as a student I guess I just need to learn the proper way. I hope that I have the determination of not letting myself go the easier way.

After a week of talking about my research, today when I was ready to give that little blurb about anthropology to another new face again, a lady who overheard the conversation interrupted: "she is still studying. She is doing her homework here." I feel a slight sense of joy bubbling inside me. Perhaps, after all, the message does get through.

Mission defined

2007-07-01T03:00:00.000-05:00

"Food adaptations among foreign-born Chinese American"

That's it - after spending a week in my field site, I have decided that this is going to be my reserach topic for the coming 6 weeks.

Fieldwork actually goes better than I thought. I work in the Adult Day Service of the organization, where I help with leading activities and serving meals to some 40 elderly in the center. I have never worked with elderly before, and I was not sure if I had the patience for the job. It turns out to be a fun assignment. My job involves paying individual attention to the elderly, so it leaves me with a lot of time to talk to them and to share their stories (which is exactly what I want to do). They LOVE to talk! From the Cultural Revolution to Life in America, from talking about their grandchildren to gossiping about each others. The whole place is joyful and enlightening. The elderly are so energetic that I feel I am working with 30-year-olds. I am the youngest among the staff members, and so the elderly always take me as a child. They offer me all kinds of treats: candies, fruits, crackers... I feel so welcomed in this big family. And at the same time, I can't help thinking about my own grandparents. I miss them, and wish that I could be home right away.

First day in Chinatown, and beyond

2007-06-28T17:51:00.000-05:00

That was my fifth day in Illinois. Having finished three days of intensive orientation, we were finally out to our field sites. I was a bit nervous about finding my own way to Chinatown. It takes a while, my friends said, but it is easy enough: Take the purple El train and change to the red line. Having tugged an El map into my pocket, I embarked my journey to Chinatown. Everything was so new and exciting: my first time on an El train, my first time out of Evanston since I arrived, my first time surveying a field site that I have never set foot in.

It did not take long for my nervousness to subside. Right at the moment when I stepped out of the El station on that very first day, I had an instant sense of relief: it felt like being home. I am a native from Hong Kong, and have not been home since Christmas time. It felt great to see Chinese characters around again. I immediately brought myself a bubble-tea. It was so exciting that I could make my order in Cantonese! I was fascinated - finally I found a place with which I could identify myself in a foreign city.

I feel silly recalling all the amazement now. In less than a week's time all these have settled into a daily routine. Everyday I take the same train getting in and out of Chinatown, passes by the same road that leads me through lines of Chinese restaurants and grocery stores, and start the same activities with the elderly who use the Adult Day Service provided by the organization that I work with. And yet, despite my occasional impatience with my 2hr+ commuting time and the forever-slow-moving-train that stops every 2 minutes, I feel I am learning something new everyday. Everything seems to be the same and yet there are always cultural interactions going on. I guess that's why anthropology never ceases to fascinate - culture is always at work and there are never short of things that worth jotting down in my notebook.

Welcome

2007-06-24T22:01:00.000-05:00

Welcome to my new blog :) My name is Chun-Yi, a senior anthropology major in Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Virginia. This summer (2007), I am attending Northwestern University's 31st Annual Ethnographic Field School, a joint program of Northwestern's Department of Anthropology and the Chicago Field Museum. The Ethnographic Field School is an 8-week-program that provides intensive ethnographic training in reserach methods and ethics. Many thanks to Washington and Lee's Anthropology Department, which partially fund my enrollment in the program (and of course my father too, who pays for the rest.)

My mission here, first and foremost, is to learn how to be an anthropologist. During these 8 weeks, I will design, implement and present a field reserach (from scratch to finish!) under the supervision of Northwestern faculty. I am right now volunteering in a community-based organization in the Chicago Chinatown. This would be the place where I am going to establish my local connections and to develop my research questions.

I also hope to gather information for my senior honors thesis over the course of my stay in Chicago. My thesis would be about food and identity. I plan to visit Chinese Tea restaurants / Cafes (Cha Chaan Teng 茶餐廳) in both Chicago chinatown and Hong Kong to find out how these popular dining establishments reflect and shape Hong Kongese identity. As I am interested in food-related topics, both my research projects are somehow related to Chinese eating habits.

So here I am, in Illinois, learning to understand culture, learning to work with people, learning to do ethnography. I am into the second week of the program already, and I am enjoying the fun and the challenges so far. As a student, I am here to learn, but I hope that I also have something to share. Thank you for coming to share my journey of cultural learning and experience.