Conjunction junction, what's your function?
I found myself checking the blog daily following my first ethnographic field experience, hoping that someone would post something on their experience at the museum so I could talk about mine too. On Sunday it dawned on me that I could write that post myself, but that I should probably wait until everyone had done the assignment (so as not to color perceptions).
When I began to write up my field notes, I started to pay attention to my conjunctions. Conjunctions are interesting: and, or, nor, for, but... the list goes on. For example, I started writing this sentence:
The sentence requires an understanding that when someone crosses their arms, it usually means that they are closed off. It is a sign of defensiveness, which comes across in the "but" a little bit. Watch what happens, however, when I try different conjunctions:
The use of different conjunctions seems to change the meaning of the first clause in the sentence. I kept having these little crises when I was writing up my field notes. How will my diction color my reader's perception of my field notes and correspondingly my ethnography? Furthermore, if I were translating a foreign situation into words that a reader could understand (unlike for our class, where we have all done the same fieldwork and live in this city in the US together and have a shared understanding of the meaning of crossing our arms), how would I be able to get all of those little nuances correct?
This was just my experience in writing up my field notes. I could have written this post about my method of selecting what to write down in my jots, or my decision to go right rather than left in the museum. I feel like I need a support group here to affirm me: "My name is Sonja and I have written a subjective field note."
Did anyone else feel the same way?
P.S. Part of the reason I decided to write this is that I'm assuming we won't have time to swap stories in class... if we do have time to share things like this in class, it's a moot point, I suppose.
P.P.S. Cred to Schoolhouse Rock for the title.
When I began to write up my field notes, I started to pay attention to my conjunctions. Conjunctions are interesting: and, or, nor, for, but... the list goes on. For example, I started writing this sentence:
- Their arms were crossed, but they were talking animatedly.
The sentence requires an understanding that when someone crosses their arms, it usually means that they are closed off. It is a sign of defensiveness, which comes across in the "but" a little bit. Watch what happens, however, when I try different conjunctions:
- Their arms were crossed, and they were talking animatedly.
- Their arms were crossed, for they were talking animatedly.
The use of different conjunctions seems to change the meaning of the first clause in the sentence. I kept having these little crises when I was writing up my field notes. How will my diction color my reader's perception of my field notes and correspondingly my ethnography? Furthermore, if I were translating a foreign situation into words that a reader could understand (unlike for our class, where we have all done the same fieldwork and live in this city in the US together and have a shared understanding of the meaning of crossing our arms), how would I be able to get all of those little nuances correct?
This was just my experience in writing up my field notes. I could have written this post about my method of selecting what to write down in my jots, or my decision to go right rather than left in the museum. I feel like I need a support group here to affirm me: "My name is Sonja and I have written a subjective field note."
Did anyone else feel the same way?
P.S. Part of the reason I decided to write this is that I'm assuming we won't have time to swap stories in class... if we do have time to share things like this in class, it's a moot point, I suppose.
P.P.S. Cred to Schoolhouse Rock for the title.
posted by SonjaKelly at 8:41 AM
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