Family History

I am sure many of you have heard of the town of Fortville. Well Fortville plays a big part in the Scott family. It turns out that my Grandpa Scott's Grandmother (so my Great Great Grandma Fort) founded the town of Fortville. It doesn't always come up when our family gets together but that is because we don't really know all that much about it. So if it does come up the conversation is short.
Some more fun facts about my family is that my Great Great Great Grandmother is full blooded Delaware Indian, my Great Great Uncle Reese founded the Reese Trailer Hitch that is still used today, and my Great Great Great Uncle is Harry S. Truman!
I have a lot of history in my family, but I was never told any personal stories of how they lived.

Week 10

I'm not quite sure what the structure of my mini-ethnography is right now, but honestly I'm not quite sure what is meant by the word "structure". I have, however, thought about how I should organize my mini-ethnography. I plan on starting by telling my reader how I am involved in my subculture and how my informants are involved. After I talk about my informants and myself I will probably start on the rituals and behaviors of my subculture so they can get a feel of what Christianity is all about. One major thing I want to talk about in my mini-ethnography is stereotypes. I think the stereotypical thoughts of my subculture is what most people think of when they hear the word Christianity. I plan on concluding my mini-ethnography with the main points of my paper and what I want people to take away from it. Like I said before I'm not sure what structure means so I haven't decided on it and why I think it's the best, but as soon as I find out what it means I think it will be good.

Subculture Glossary

Baptism- a ceremonial immersion in water symbolizing purification
Communion- eating and drinking of bread and wine symbolizing the body of Christ and the blood He shed
Ten Commandments- guidelines for a Christians life
MCON- Middletown Church of the Nazarene
Gospel- first four books of the Bible

American tongues

question 1: One thing I would have done differently is ask different questions and maybe find out more about where the accent came from.
They also interviewed a lot of older people. I think it would have been better to get a variety of ages to see if the accents carried on throughout the generations.
I think it would have also been a good idea to interview different types of people in the same area or who have a more diversity in their language.
The different words such as “pau hana” –work is finished or “jumbalaya” –spicy rice stew or “antigogglin” –crooked or “snickelfritz” –rowdy child or “schlep” –to carry is one thing I would do the same because it is fun to see the way other people use of certain words.

question 2: There were several flaws with this study. The elderly was over-represented and the men were also over-represented. The young people were under-represented and so were the women. When the younger crowd was exposed it showed them as very immature and fake. Antoher thing I would change visually is put subtitles on some parts of the video because I had a hard time understanding some of the informants. Another group of people who were under-represented were the African American people. There wasn't very much racial diversity.

question 3:There were a lot of prejudice opinions in the clip that we watched which proves that language is a very important aspect in American language. The way people speak might make individuals think that they aren't very intelligent.

"Revisiting Your Stories"

1. In the Church I am usually in the gym which is where the children have their services. Usually I am on the stage singing or performing a silly skit with my friends that are also involved in the Children's Ministry. There are many informants in this area of the Church; most of whom are little kids between the ages of six and twelve. There are only a few adults who are in the Children's Ministry. One of the informants who I have set up an interview time with is the Children's Pastor, Jill. We are very close, considering she has taught me every Sunday morning since I was five or six and now I work with her.
2. Usually when we talk it is about the children, but there are times when we go out for coffee and just talk casually. I'm not too sure how I influence Jill, but she influences me in a big way. She is my role model and has been a great influence in my life. The relationship between Jill and I is great. She has always been a great teacher and an amazing friend.
3. When I hear Jill speak I hear words of great wisdom and knowledge. I think there are a few gaps, but they aren't very big. Like I said before she is a very knowledgeable woman so she has a lot to say, which is what I love about her. There is always an emphasis on the children that are in the service because that is the most that we have in common.

Week 9

The hardest thing for me so far is trying to set up the interviews. It is really hard to meet with people whose schedules conflict with my own. The easiest thing for me thus far was getting the sources because there is a lot of information on my subculture. If I could start over I honestly don't think I would do anything different; but if I have to think of something then I would say, spending more time on the previous papers. The blog helps me think about my subculture a lot more than I would if we were just given the writing assignment. It also helps me to think through what I have done and what I will be doing on my paper in the future. I think blogging is a great idea for students to partake in if they are in the process of writing any type of ethnography. It really helps with keeping me on track with what I am writing about. Blogging has already helped me tremendously with this project and I know it will continue to help me throughout the rest of it. It will continue to help me organize my ideas and help me keep track of all my information that I have already acquired.

Developing a Research Question

I think since Christianity is such a wide spread religion most people, whether they are an insider or an outsider, would like to know more about what is involved in the Christian lifestyle.
The insiders who will read about this subject will probably want to know more about the lifestyles of other Christians and how they might perceive their own faith. The outsiders who will read about Christianity probably want to know about the rituals and behaviors of Christians. They might even want to know how to become a Christian or how the Christian religion came about.
The people that know the facts about Christianity are most likely to be insiders because so many stereotypes are put out into the media that the outsiders might not really know what’s going on in the Christian subculture.
I want my readers to learn the importance of Christianity in my life and my fellow believers. I think it is a good idea for outsiders to know about the religion and why we practice it.
I think it will be hard to persuade the outsiders who read about Christianity because they might already belong to another religion. It might also be hard to persuade the outsiders because of all of the stereotypical thinking of the American lifestyle.
Other than the fact that this is being used for a grade in my English class I think readers could use my writing for their own research on this subject.

Week 8

The main theme I see as I am doing my research is stereotypical thinking. Stereotypes play a huge role in Christianity and religion in general. As for my field site, I believe that you will find some stereotypical thinkers, but for the most part my field site focuses more on the themes of love, kindness, compassion, and forgiveness.
I feel like my place in the subculture is similar to what it was in the beginning. I am still having trouble trying to view things as an outsider because once I am in the setting I forget about my research and go about my normal ways. Although, I feel like I am in the same place I was, I also feel that things have changed about my perception of non-Christians. I realized I was doing what I am trying to get rid of. I found that I had many stereotypes against individuals who didn't go to church or wasn't part of some religion. I think that in my paper I am also going to try to rid of all the stereotypes about non-Christians also. I also feel that doing this research I have become a lot more involved as a Christian, which in return has strengthened my faith.