#fieldwork assignment

Mia Hickman

SOCI 110.001

Dr. Angela Howell

November 18, 2017

My name is Nadine, and I was interviewed by one of the high school classmates, Mia about my experience as an immigrant in the United States. This is my story.

I am originally from Togo. It is West African country located between Ghana and Benin. I left my country in pursuit of the American Dream. My mother and father wanted to give my sister and I the best opportunities possible. Education, healthcare, quality of life. They new that in America these things could be so much more than what they would be in Togo. We were pretty fortunate in coming here. We did not have to wait long to get our visas and whatnot. Although, I do remember my mother wanted to bring more of us over. The was a young man we considered a brother to the family. He practically was family. My mother wanted to bring him over, but because he did not share our last name, the United States government did not recognize him as such.

So, we left. I was only four years old when we immigrated to the United States. My sister was only two years old then. When we came over, we lived with my grandmother. She had already been living the States for awhile, so it was her that helped us adjust to our new life. She let us stay with her until parents had enough money to buy a place of their own. I never specifically remember “assimilating” into American culture. I was brought over so young, and did not really grow up in my Togolese culture. I grew up surrounded by American culture. I often struggled with remembering traditions and customs from back home. The two cultures would often times clash. At times, I remember my mother reminding that I, “Was not one of these Black American kids. You’re African, remember our culture and traditions”.

In Togo, it is typical of the women to cater to the men. The women cook, clean, and care for the children. Only a few women break this norm and have both a family and a career. This is the norm. In America, this occurs tenfold. There is more leniency for women who decide to have career and not get married and have children. My parents brought us to this country so we could grow up and have successful, amazing futures. They wanted us to find a good careers and jobs, that pay well of course, so we can be successful and independent. My mom’s family always stressed the importance of education, so I knew that my mother would the same to us. However, her parents also equally stressed how important it was for her to marry someone wealthy and start a family. She in a way, did the same thing to me as well. My life is so different from my parents life, both their families weren’t rich and they had a lot of siblings. Their fathers had more than one wife and they struggled growing up and they didn’t have as much opportunities that my sister and I have. Growing up we had access to a good education we played sports we didn’t always get everything we wanted but we got everything we needed

Fieldwork Assignment #1: Globalization and my Converse All Stars

First off, what are they? 

Converse All Stars are a type of sneakers created by the company Converse, which was founded in 1908.

What are they made out of?

Converse All Stars, colloquially referred to as chucks, are made out of rubber and heat-resistant fabric that is able to withstand the vulcanization process that the shoes undergo.

Who and where are they made?

Factory workers make Converse.Many of Nike's factories are located in East Asian countries such as China, Thailand, and Vietnam. Nike also has countries in Southen Asia as well. In 2003 Converse was bought by Nike Inc. Workers in these countries work for amounts that in the United States are considered extremely lower.

What local impact does this product have? 

Factory workers in these countries more than often work long, tiring hours for little to nothing in wages.  In 2015, women at Nike factories in Cambodia were reportedly fainting, as a result of the factories' working conditions in the factory.

How is it disposed? What are the real enviromental cost of producing this item?

Converse, despite being made from rubber which is not considered "environmentally friendly", it manufactured in a way that pollutes less.

Personally, clothes and shoes that I can no longer where are simply donated to the local shelter or thrift shop.  In fact, Nike has a program in which they recycle old or used shoes 

Despite its use of non-renewable materials such as rubber, these efforts have a minuscule effect on the lives of workers who work in horrible condition for little amounts of pay. Not the mention the numerous account of economic and emotional abuse that these workers face every day. According to Thai women and also Nike factory worker, the entire factory was barred from their because their daily quota was not met. It was not until two months later than these she and the other women from the factory gathered what little resources they had left and decided to protest. 

My ability to buy and wear Converse shoes made in countries from halfway across the world is the direct result of Globalization. From however as seen and told by the people living in Eastern and Southern Asian countries, not everyone reaps the benefits equally. But there is more to these women that who they are inside a Nike factory. They are wives, sisters, aunts, nieces, artists, singers, dances, and more. Thank globalization I can find out more about these women and truly hear their stories.

(Sorry for the blurriness)

Video games, action figures, nerf guns, and buildable toys (Lego, Bionicle, etc.) are most advertised for boys. Dolls, makeup (kid makeup), diaries, and clothes are the most advertised for girls. The colors in the boy commercials are blue, grey, black, and forest green. The colors in the girl commercials are pink, red, and white. Both commercials have the kids playing with their respective toys. Both appear excited to play with the toys. Both genders behave, from my observations, in the same way when presented with their respective toys.

For the commercials that had adults, they did not really "participate" in the commercial. Many were only seen in the background. if they appeared at all. Of about seven toy commercials, only one parent appeared, and they appeared in the background only. For all toy commercials, they mostly took place in the living room of the assumed house. Some took place in the respective child's bedroom as well. In the boy commercials, the narrator was always male. The voiceover actor's tone was much more serious; it was not whimsical. In the girl commercials, the narrator was always a women. The voiceover artist also typically spoke in a very high-pitched voice. It was also very enthusiastic and whimsical.

Organization of the list:

The Item: Want or Need, Desire to Consume

Shirts: need, Societal standards regarding nudity

Pants: need, Societal standards regarding nudity

Jackets: need, The temperature

Shorts: need, The temperature

Dresses: need, The Church's etiquette rules 

Skirt: want, Rules regarding professionalism

Shoes: need/want, The need to have one's feet protected/The want of being stylish 

Makeup: want, Societal standards of beauty

Binders: need, School

Pens: need, School

Pencils: need, School

Notebooks: need, School

Calculator: need, School

Personal Computer: want, Easy accessibility for me

Mini fridge: want, The desire to have food instantaneously

Microwave: want, The desire to have warm food instantaneously

Bed set: need, 

Toiletries: need, Societal and Health Standards regarding hygiene

Hair products: need, Family, African American culture, and 

Car: want, American culture

Bags: want, Fashion Culture

Belts: need, Want for clothes to fit

Desk: want, Many American bedrooms, and office spaces have desks in them.

Nightstand: want, Many American bedrooms have desks nightstands.

Dresser: want, The want for an efficient use of space.

Dish washer: want, Technological advances and the want to save time

Washer and Dryer: want, Technological advances

My answers were most definitely based on ethnic identity, especially when concerning hair products. To my, they are a necessity because without hair products I would not be able to make my hair look more culturally acceptable in a setting of professionalism.

What is the item and what is it made of?

- Hot Tools Professional flatirons are made out of titanium material.

What is the history of the item?

- “Hair straighteners” is what they used to call them and have become popular in the early 1960s and have been in use ever since. In 1872, Marcel Grateau  used heated rods to straighten her hair. In 1906, Simon E. Monroe patented a hair straightener that was like a metal comb. In 1909, Issac K. Shero patented a hair straightener made of two irons that are heated and put together around the hair. A few years later, Sharrell made heated metal tools. The hot metal straightener went easily through the hair, making less damage and dryness than the way things were done before. Later, ceramic and titanium straighteners were made, meaning people could adjust the heat settings and straightener size.

Where was your item made or manufactured?

- The flatiron was manufactured in Texas.

What impact does the item have on your life?

- If I didn't have a flat iron it would be hard for me to straighten my hair on a day to day basis.

Who are the people directly involved with making or manufacturing this item? What is life like for them?

I completed this fieldwork assignment in my Math class. I have this class at 8 am. Typically the people in this class are not very talkative unless they have questions, most likely since is it very early in the morning for some. On this day, in particular, there were fewer people in class than usual, about 1/4th of the class was absent.

In the class, I counted 11 women and 4 men. Overall, women tended to speak more than men did. Women spoke about a total of 8 times, whereas men in the class spoke about 3 times. Everyone regardless of gender, spoke for about 6-8 secs whenever speaking. 15-30 words spoken each time someone talked depending. Women had more words than their male counterparts when they spoke; about 10 to 15 more words than the men when speaking. Students only spoke to ask questions to the professor about a math problem. Of these people who asked these questions, 5 were women and 2 were men. The questions were about which formula to use or when to carry over a decimal amongst other math related questions.

An observation I noticed is that when the women in the class speak, their voices tended to be louder than that of the male students. Of course, this could just be a reflection of the number of women in the class versus the number of men in the class. Body language differed amongst the women and men in the class. From what I observed when asking questions the men appeared to be less enthusiastic in their tone, but also in their posture as well. The women in the class all seemed more attentive to the professor as demonstrated in their upright posture and as mentioned before, louder.

The professor always asks if there are any questions after he is finished writing on the board. While doing this the professor always makes semi-intense (in my opinion) eye contact with the students of the class. He also moves across to the opposite end of the classroom when asking this question. 

The professor's gender, in my opinion, does not seem to be influenced by his own gender. His interactions with the members of the class are more influenced by the class' demographics and seating arrangements of the students. The majority of the students in the class are women, and the majority of these women sit either in the first row or in center of the classroom.