Last week, we here at CLAMO saw a little of the competition we had in our ethnography presentations. I was pretty impressed with both groups' projects. The first group did an ethnography on a Tavern-like food spot at Howard University. There were definitely a couple of controversial statements made. Supposed stereotypes like "we thought they wouldn't be as studious" and the nature of the project in general really set off the racism alarms in my head. But at the same time, I was impressed that the group took a risk and really tried to observe a specific in-group.
The ethnography on the Davenport was pretty cool. I know the first time I went to the Dav I felt a little out of place. I couldn't quite pinpoint it at the time, but their ethnography shed some light on that. In a weird way, the Dav reminds me of all the hipster cafes and and stores at home. I know that should probably make me feel right at home, but I think I felt alienated because it was different than the rest of the American campus.
Anyway, the point is, both groups were really impressive and I think CLAMO needs to bring our A-game on Thursday.
(P.S. I know this post was kind of useless but that is one of the consequences of Thanksgiving.)
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It's natural to have the reaction you did in watching the Howard group. However, as I think you acknowledge, the fact that the group DID say what they said proves the fact that they are NOT racists. If they were, they probably wouldn't have taken such an "aw shucks" approach on this, or even done it at all. It was very admirable.
ReplyDelete-Dylan Parker