Readings
Winner, Langdon. “Do Artifacts Have Politics?” The Social Shaping of Technology: How the Refrigerator Got Its Hum, Daedalus 109(1) (1980): 121–136.
Haraway, Donna. “Situated Knowledges: The Science Question in Feminism and the Privilege of Partial Perspective.” Feminist Studies 14(3) (1988): 575–599.
Hale, Tamara. “People Are Not Users.” Journal of Business Anthropology 7(3) (2018).
Grotzer, Tina, and Lydia Cao. EarthXDesign for a Sustainable World: Moving from Human-Centered to Earth-Centered Design. Next Level Lab, Harvard Graduate School of Education, 2023.
Amirebrahimi, Shaheen. “The Rise of the User and the Fall of People: Ethnographic Cooptation and a New Language of Globalization.” EPIC: Ethnographic Praxis in Industry Conference (2016) 1:71–103. (optional)
Homework
Individual Zoom check-in meetings
Due: Ethnographic Task #2: Participant Observation
This assignment tasks you with immersing yourself in a social situation—an event, activity, or social space—related to your energy study through participant observation. You will (1) collect data, recorded as fieldnotes, (2) interpret the data, and (3) reflect on the experience as steps towards writing an original Energy Ethnography.
Your grade will be weighted towards your interpretation, demonstrating that you are acquiring the ethnographic skill of “reading” social situations and building knowledge from this attentive way of looking at and being in the world.
Step 1: Data Collection/Fieldnotes
- Getting Started
Make a list of 3–5 social situations where you can engage in participant observation relevant to your energy study—e.g., library, dorm, classroom, street corner in Cambridge, guest speaker talk on campus, club meeting, etc. - Choose the social situation that interests you and that you can access and participate in in an unobtrusive way. You’ll also want to consider time constraints—what is doable given the narrow scope of this assignment/project?
- You can ask questions during participant observation to help you understand what is happening and why. However, the focus should be on participant observation, not interviewing.
Things to Pay Attention To During Participant Observation / Record in Fieldnotes, adapted from James Spradley’s Participant Observation (a classic text that was developed at my undergrad alma mater). Below are key dimensions of any social situation that you will want to pay close attention to. During participant observation, you do not need to record all of these things, but they should be guideposts about where to train your focus during participation and when writing up your fieldnotes:
- Space/Scene/Setting: Use all your senses to record the space/scene/setting. If it’s helpful, make an illustration or map to depict what is happening and where.
- People: Detail the range of people present. How do they interact with each other, objects, the space? Is there any indication of hierarchy or status? Who is present? Who is absent? What were people talking about?
- Activity: Detail the various activities that are happening in this space. Who is doing them? How are they being done? Are there differences in how different people do them?
- Objects: Record the various objects that are relevant and present. How are they being used? How do the objects shape the space/setting/people/mood?
- Goal(s): Record what thing or things people are trying to accomplish. How are they trying to do this? Does anything seem to be getting in the way of the goal(s)?
- Feelings: Record the feelings and sentiments that emerge from the people. How are these feelings communicated (e.g. verbally? body language?). What objects, activities, or interactions trigger these feelings?
- Rules/Norms: Record whether there are any rules or norms that govern this social situation. Are these spoken or unspoken? Explicit or tacit? Is there a mechanism for ensuring compliance or order? What happens if a mistake is made?
Take notes while doing participant observation. A small notebook is very helpful. There are times when notetaking during participation may not be possible, such as if you’re doing something physical with your body, like riding an e-scooter with others. The most important thing is to type up your notes and elaborate on them as soon as you can after participating, using the questions above as guides. Type up and organize your fieldnotes in the way that is the most helpful to you for describing the social situation that you participated in.
At this stage, your observations should be descriptive. Avoid interpreting or passing judgements on the data collected. For example, instead of noting, “The cord is poorly designed and doesn’t function properly,” explain what aspects make you suspect that the cord is poorly designed (“The person tried three times to plug the cord in, muttering under the breath something indecipherable with each try…”).
If you make any illustrations or take photos (see below), please digitize them and include them with your typed-up fieldnote document.
Step 2: Interpreting the Data
After recording your descriptive observations as fieldnotes, create a new document for interpreting the data. The purpose of this stage is to identify patterns, draw out meanings, highlight important details, and generate questions that you want to explore further in interviews or through secondary research.
Some anthropologists begin interpretation by closely analyzing their fieldnotes and writing comments and highlighting as they go. Others (including myself) like to begin interpretation by journaling about the participant observation experience, usually immediately after writing up fieldnotes. This can help capture the “feel” of the experience before ordering details.
Questions to help guide the interpretative process:
- What is going on here?
- Why does this matter?
- In what precise ways does “energy” factor in here?
- What is being “powered” or “energized”?
- What does this reveal about energy?
- What does this reveal about cultures of energy?
- How does this connect with theories, concepts, or literatures you have read in this or other classes?
- What doesn’t make sense?
- What was unexpected?
- What do you want to learn more about in interviews or secondary research?
Your data interpretation should be at least 1000 words and uploaded as a document separate from your fieldnotes. You are welcome to include images from your fieldnotes that are central to your interpretation.
Step 3: Reflection
Participant observation does not feign objectivity. Your presence in a social situation shapes it while it also shapes you.
Please write approximately 500 words reflecting on your experience, uploaded as a document separate from your fieldnotes and interpretation. Your reflection should consider both methodological and ethical concerns, for example:
- To what extent did you “participate” versus “observe”? How do these two inform each other?
- What challenges or “aha” moments did you have?
- How might your social role, identity, communications, and actions have inflected the participant observation process and how you interpreted your data?
- What might you have misunderstood or missed?
Comments on Consent
If you are participating in something that is in a private setting or includes a small number of people (1–3 people), it is important that you let other participants know that you are participating as part of an anthropology class assignment to learn about energy/energy practices. Let them know that you will not collect any identifying information and that all data will be used for class purposes only. Ask them for consent after informing them about the project: “Is it OK that I participate and observe?”
If you are participating in something that is in a public setting or involves a large number of people, it is not necessary for you to gain consent.
If you take photos of specific individuals as part of your research, you must inform them about this assignment and ask for their consent to take their photo.
