Student Anthropologists Produce Video Documentaries of Local Groups

Six teams of anthropology and sociology majors produced documentaries this semester on the Forks Township Fire Department, the Republican Club in Wilson, Lafayette Dining Services employees, Hillel Society, Boys and Girls Club of Easton and the Delaware Terrace Housing Development in which it’s located, and the relationship between the College and City of Easton.

The students recently screened their ethnography videos for a small audience that included their Qualitative Methods of Research instructor, Dan Bauer, professor of anthropology, and other department faculty.

“It’s a very diverse set of works,” says William Bissell, assistant professor of anthropology. “Technically, they’re very polished and I think the teams show a real capacity to discover these niches or pockets of life in and around the college, and then to explore them in real depth from the inside. They really bring out that ethnographic richness in taking us to a place that we might not know existed and giving a sense of what it feels like to exist there. An impressive level of teamwork and coordination over the entire semester get embodied in these little gems.”

According to Bauer, the primary goal of an ethnography is to show what it is like to be a member of a community that the audience has not directly experienced.

“The ethnographer’s task is to find out what it’s like to live in that ‘village’ and communicate that to those reading or viewing a video,” he explains. “One of the ultimate tests of a good ethnography is that if you’ve read it, would you be able to go in and act like a native? That is a grand ideal that no one ever reaches, but it’s the goal.”

Two years ago, students in the course produced ethnographies on a Sikh community, a senior citizens home, “extreme sports” competitors, and rodeos.

This fall, one of the groups documented the differences and similarities between the Boys and Girls Club and Delaware Terrace. Through speaking with children, directors, and residents, the students explored what characteristics are valued in each place. For example, expectations in the Boys and Girls Club, such as doing homework and attending class, differ from and even conflict with behaviors that bring credit in the neighborhood.

“Through this we can examine what, for many, constitutes two very different social hierarchies,” states the group. “We hope to show how the values encouraged in this safe haven of the club stick with the kids as they try to make their way on the outside.”

Team members were Brendan Green ’05 (Collingswood, N.J.), a fullback on the football team; Matt Grossman ’05 (Wayne, N.J.), who serves as a community service assistant in the Kids in the Community program coordinated for the Boys and Girls Club by Lafayette’s Landis Community Outreach Center; Ruthie Gelber ’05 (Hinesburg, Vt.), a writing associate in the College Writing Program, chair of campus events for the Alpha Phi sorority, and co-chair of Lafayette Activities Forum’s Culture/Issues Committee; and Lauren Doyle ’05 (New Providence, N.J.), a varsity soccer player.

Another group, intrigued by positive developments in Easton’s downtown area, including the north end of Third Street, investigated the relationship between Lafayette College and its home city. Students spoke with Lafayette students, faculty, and administrators about their opinions of town-gown relations, and interviewed government officials such as Mayor Michael McFadden, business owners, and residents to examine their point of view about the College.

“Various aspects of the relationship were studied in order to get a broader picture of the present situation and future direction in which the relationship is headed,” states the group. “After a semester of research and observation, we have come to better understand how Lafayette and Easton are working together to create stronger economic and social bonds.”

Team members were Sean Knitter ’05 (Philadelphia, Pa.), a center on the men’s basketball team; Ben Sivright ’05, who also is majoring in government and law; Inku Subedi ’05 (Kathmandu, Nepal), who also is majoring in psychology, serves as a psychology lab assistant and secretary of Asian Cultural Association, and is a member of International Students Association; Michelle Railsback ’05 (Harvard, Mass.), an English minor who is a campus tour guide and a volunteer at Lehigh Valley Child Care Center, and presented her work involving instruction in satire to local middle school students at the 73rd Annual Meeting of the Eastern Sociological Society; and Suzanne Dommerich ’05 (Riverside, Conn.), a French minor who competes on the swimming and diving team and belongs to the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority.

A third group sought to understand the lives of Wood Dining Services employees at Lafayette. Students worked as dishwashers and took on other roles as part of their research. They discovered that the employees share “incredible camaraderie,” pride in their work, and a sense of humor, says Bauer.

“We are seeking to display the work lives of people we interact with every day, but pay little attention to” the group states. “As Americans, we disregard those who serve us on a daily basis all too frequently. By understanding those who provide for our necessities, perhaps we can gain a greater understanding of ourselves.”

Team members were Wynne Campbell ’05 (Upper Arlington, Ohio), a member of the field hockey team who joined Railsback in presenting their work involving instruction in satire to local middle school students at the 73rd Annual Meeting of the Eastern Sociological Society; Robin Sanderson ’05 (Pasadena, Calif.), a varsity soccer player who also is majoring in English; Amy Levinson ’05 (Orinda, Calif.), a varsity soccer player and member of the Tri-Delt sorority, who also is majoring in religious studies; and Pat Murillo ’05 (Bronxville, N.Y.), a member of the Zeta Psi fraternity.

A fourth group studied the cultural aspects of the Forks Township Fire Department, a volunteer group.

“Part of what has made this study exciting is the opportunity to view the need of the fire company to adapt to the ever-growing community it serves,” states the group. “We have found the Forks Township Fire Company to be well respected and very tight as a social organization with many members living in neighboring townships, but making the commute to Forks to remain a part of the group.”

The documentary covers the reasons that the firefighters volunteer, including altruistic ideals such as giving back to the community and helping others in need, as well as solidarity among members.

“One of the nice things is that the fire department meets every week, so students could sit in on meetings like clockwork,” says Bauer, noting that the ethnography subjects expressed an attitude that their volunteer firefighting has more moral value than that of paid firefighters. One of the regular stories played out in the group is that of a new recruit working up to become a full-fledged firefighter, he says, taking classes and displaying new skills before established firefighters in a dynamic similar to a theater group’s.

Team members were Marko Glavic ’04 (Pickering, Ontario, Canada), the record-setting quarterback; Wendy Abrantes ’04 (Bethlehem, Pa.), who presented her research on the obstacles faced by single, divorced mothers at the 73rd Annual Meeting of the Eastern Sociological Society, and enjoys reading and writing about social theory and small-group interactions; Kellen Baker ’05 (Winchester, Mass.), a varsity baseball player and fraternity member; and Nina Kane ’05 (Upper Black Eddy, Pa.), who plans to become a social worker.

A fifth group analyzed the social, organizational, and religious components of Hillel Society, an organization for Jewish students at Lafayette, as well as stereotypes and perceptions of Judaism within the group in conjunction with religious life on campus in general.

“Contrary to the expectations of our research team, we have found Hillel to be a religious organization in which social and community-building activities take precedence over religious [ones],” states the group. “It is an outward-looking community, seeking to promote diversity on campus and understanding and solidarity with other minority groups as well as the main student body.”

Team members were Emily James’05 (Vienna, Va.), a varsity field hockey player and member of Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority who is minoring in healthcare and society and earning a teaching certificate through a cooperative program with Lafayette; Samara Newman ’05 (Monroe, Conn.), also an English major and member of Hillel Society and the Pi Bea Phi sorority; Katie Cinnamond ’05 (West Chester, N.Y.), who will study abroad in Sydney, Australia, this spring; Brianne Welte ’04 (Owasso, Miss.), a captain on the women’s basketball team; and Olivia Tusinski ’04 (Leyden, Mass.), who earned honorable mention in the Jean Corrie Poetry Competition, participated in the student production of The Vagina Monologues, and hopes to join the Peace Corps after graduation, becoming involved with environmental education and conducting her own ethnographic fieldwork.

A sixth group documented the Republican Club in Wilson Borough, which requires that its board of directors be Republicans, but otherwise “has suffered through political evaporation” to become a local bar. “Although the political focus has left the Republican Club, what has [remained] is a place with a loyal staff and clientele who have gathered there for years,” states the group, which researched the history of the organization, the disappearance of its political focus, the bar culture, and the function and hierarchy of the present day establishment.

Group members are Jeff Childs ’04 (Easton, Pa.); Rich Lee ’05 (Great Neck, N.Y.); Joseph Cohen ’04 (Glencoe, Ill.), also a psychology major and a member of Delta Upsilon fraternity, who presented research on the development of moral values in youth sports at the 73rd Annual Meeting of the Eastern Sociological Society; and Meghan Kreutzer ’04 (Sea Girt, N.Y.).