Topic Analysis

I'm currently working on my topic analysis (aren't we all?) and I'm just pretty much trying to break things down as far as questions go. I have the who, what, when, where, how and why, now I just need to put it all together in some sort of coherent paragraph form. I'll have copies tomorrow for all to read.

Thus far, I am becoming more interested in the use of oral language and it's ability to either join people into groups or act as a pulling force. Maybe it would be a good idea to incorporated literature on how spaces are created by language?

Topic Analysis - what & why

Hey everybody - here's the topic analysis that I have landed on thus far, I'll bring in some copies for tomorrow as well:

For my ethnography, my goal is to learn more about women’s flat track roller derby and how this sport contributes toward the discussion of contemporary American feminism. Through actively researching and participating in the Texas Rollergirl’s Recreational league, I intend to explore how roller derby relates to issues of female sexuality, athleticism, and empowerment. Through this study, I intend to learn more about what this sport means to my fellow skaters and how it has influenced their everyday lives and identities. Through comparing and contrasting these findings with mainstream perceptions and portrayals, I hope to raise further awareness about this sport and generate discussion concerning the role of roller derby in the current-day American feminist movement.

So I have narrowed my new topic down. I am now looking at how the crime in Juarez affects the residents. I will be interviewing current residents of Juarez as well as people that have recently moved from Juarez. I got this idea when I found out the mayor of Juarez does not live in there because of the crime but instead lives in El Paso, Texas. I have finished my IRB form and project proposal for it, I just need to narrow down the questions I will be asking so as not to make the people I am interviewing feel uncomfortable.

Es la vida....

I am clinging to a clinical topic despite facing some problems and reservations.

First, I am realizing that the questions in my research that I can ask are far less exciting than I originally hoped. This is mostly due to difficulties in obtaining good quality "data". While I wanted to delve into the healthcare system's failings and strengths via its effects on the lives and health of those who work under its auspices, I am realizing that I may not be able to make enough appropriate observations for this to constitute an individual ethnography. While I hoped to probe the minds of healthcare professionals about how they view their health, I wonder if that will fit in with the other information I will eventually compile into my paper. Thoughts of analyzing language may be problematic because I may not be exposed to the full range of language used in the clinic nor can I tape record conversations (for obvious reasons). I have also had issues being on site. When I tried to volunteer last week, the woman I usually work for was not there. I had to leave after only 5 minutes. Though I was able to make some cursory observations, I was generally pretty disappointed. Ultimately, I have come to the conclusion that I would rather write a sturdy ethnography about a teeny-tiny topic with teeny-tiny implications than try to write an ethnography of epic proportions and utterly fail.

According to this philosophy, I have narrowed my topic to looking at identity construction and community establishment in community clinic employees. This will allow me to dally into the realms of language (e.g. diction, language, accent, etc), office hierarchies, gender, and even race. Also, I will be able to make observations pretty consistently. Furthermore, I have written two mini-ethnographies on identity/persona construction, so I feel this is familiar territory. I have not run this by anyone yet, though, so your thoughts would be much appreciated.

If all else fails, I can always revert to a Southwestern-based project. I even have a hare-brained idea. Project Haiti is trying to raise awareness about the health and socioeconomic situation but we have come to realize that we do not know how to determine when people have become "aware", when they have been induced to care. Other organizations have this problem as well, I figure. How do college students get swayed? Does campus activism actually reach people? How? When? Why? Is there a relationship between outgoing tabling and the success of a campaign? Of course, this topic would open a whole other can of worms. I think I will stick to my clinic topic but this was just on my mind.

Peace.

Project Udate

Last Monday in class while I was discussing my project within the members of my group, as well as thinking outside of class I realized that my project was going to be a bit harder than expected. The logistics would be burden and would probably work against me considering our semester-long project. I originally planned to work with sex ed and the kind of implications that enable accessibility either in high schools, community clinics and our own campus clinic. This is a sensitive topic and finding people to interview would have been a bit hard. Also, if I would have chosen to work with high school students, I would have had to go through school bureaucracy to attain permission and further taking a longer period of time for me to begin observations. My schedule is also pretty constricted and finding time during the day to observe would be a challenge. Therefore, I have decided to change my topic and focus on a more feasible project.

When I was originally thinking of a topic I also thought about working on a project that dealt with language and communication. I have decided to look into the dynamics of a native Spanish speaker and non-native Spanish speaker taking a Spanish class at Southwestern. I also would like to take observations in a less academic setting such as the Spanish table during lunch in the commons.

I am currently taking two Spanish classes this semester and although I am a native speaker, I decided to take classes because I wanted to be completely fluent in both written and oral Spanish. I have had conversations with non-native students who are either Spanish majors or minors and one topic that has continuously come up is participation in class. I want to see how perceptions of either group affect personal participation in class discussions.

Questions I would like address:
-the perceptions of the level playing field of the non-native speaker toward the native speaker and vice-versa
-why such perceptions exist
-learning experiences
-participation in class

More questions will definitely arise as my observations move along. As for the interview portion, I will most likely interview a native Spanish speaker, non-native Spanish speaker and possibly a Spanish professor.

If you've read this and have any comments or any ideas that you would like to contribute, please let me know!