Ethnography: Hawksnest

Practice Ethnography: Hawksnest

The Narrative

Hawksnest can be best described as bustling during the late-morning and early-afternoon periods of the day. Students are hurrying to get their lunch so that they can leave as quickly as possible to get back to their dorm, apartment or next class, while others act more leisurely during their breaks. The building has many different sectors, and most students understand the purpose that each one can serve, even if they don’t register it each time they walk through the building during their break. The areas that are mostly designated for lunch seating have high traffic during periods between the :50s of one hour and the :20s of the next, serving hungry students searching for a fast lunch. The students in these seating areas usually sit for no longer than 20 minutes. This is somewhat similar to the seating area immediately outside of the post office, which gives students a series of circular tables with four chairs each, allowing them sit alone or with friends while eating or studying.

In another section, the section in which I sat during my observation, is a section that is clearly defined as a quieter zone, regulated by unwritten laws created by the students who sit there. The area is characterized by several clusters of soft couches and arm chairs, with intermingling coffee tables between arm chairs. Most of the couches are set up with coffee tables directly beside them and with armchairs facing each other in front of the couches. During my observation, I noted the distinct difference in sound levels of this area of hawksnest versus the other seating areas. During the 30 minutes that I sat, watched and listened, I noticed that this area is most strictly used as an extended break area for students between classes. I have had the misfortune before to have a break between classes on Tuesday/Thursday, and with an hour and a half between each class, finding a place to wait and study, relax or read during the break is important. There were about six students in the area during my observation most of them sitting quietly with their eyes glued to their cell phone, ipod, computer screen or pages of notes. There was a couple sitting on one of the couches directly in front of me, who were chatting but even as I was straining to hear, I could only make out the crinkle of the skittles bag that the girl was feeding to the guy. And even that was only barely louder than a whisper. Eventually the girl got out her laptop and headphones, signaling to the guy that the time for banter had come to an end, and from that point the only sounds that the couple produced where the clatter of skittles in the bag.

I unwillingly became a participant in the student culture of the hawksnest common area. I was sitting in one of the armchairs in a pair separated by a coffee table, sitting next to a fellow student who was rapidly scanning pages of notes on looseleaf paper. Through my peripheral vision, I eventually became aware that he had been stealing glances at me every now and again, and finally he looks at me and asks “Will you be here for a while?” From experience, I knew what he wanted without him having to finish his request. In fact, he did not finish, he knew there was a mutual understanding in what he was asking of me. He walked away and I assumed a vigilant watch over his belongings until his return. I sat in guard, hoping that he wouldn’t be gone for too long, because even though I still had 10 minutes before my class resumed, I wanted to be sure I wouldn’t have to abandon his belongings for my own purposes. The guy returned after only a few minutes, I wondered to myself whether he would bother to say thank you. I did not care one way or the other because it is an extremely simple task, but after a few seconds he strained to make eye contact with me and said a quick “thanks,” and I returned with a “no problem.”

A guy appeared with a long board in hand, and he continues to approach one of the loungers, who had previously had his headphones in and had eyes only for his ipod. The two continue to have a conversation, and although it never gets louder than a grunting laugh, it still seems to be the loudest period of direct communication that I had witnessed. I could tell that the two students were actively trying to limit the volume of the conversation, looking around every now and then to see if they were disturbing anyone.

A tour group of parents and high school kids appears at the base of the stairs. One girl who had been previously sitting with her eyes down on her phone and her hood pulled up over her head saw the group and immediately stood up and quickly walked off, perhaps knowing what was to come. The tour guide proceeded to shout facts about hawksnest to her group, ensuring she was heard by every ear within 50 feet, pausing only to urge her group to come in closer, presumably so that they would be able to hear better, but even though the group collectively scooted, I noticed no variance in her volume levels. The students lounging and I looked at and sized up the group, and they looked back, trying to get a feel for what the average UNCW student did with their time. After the loungers had our initial moment of interest, we had no choice but to resume our previous actions and behave like animals in a zoo for the parents and kids in the tour group; even me, the ethnographer, tried to put on a performance of how an ordinary student of UNCW behaves in his natural habitat.

The Analysis:

I left the area and the building before the tour group vacated, thinking critically about what I saw, measuring it against my prior expectations and thoughts about the different seating areas of hawksnest. The most important conclusion that I drew from my observation was the importance of volume control in that specific seating area of hawksnest. When interacting with fellow members of the population, nothing above a whisper will stand. A casual conversation with an outsider can exceed whispering, and may even feature a muffled guffaw, but nothing too crazy. And lastly, tour group leaders can shout to their heart’s desire, having the greatest interest of recruitment in mind.

I believe that the reason that students respect each other to this great degree is because they are simply acting as they would like to be treated. In this community, all of the members have to be together, and if one bothers another, the vibe of relaxation will be upset. These students stick to themselves, seeking interaction only to ask his neighbor to watch his belongings, or to look up at the kid who is vigorously scribbling in his notebook, stopping only to stare at the students around him. The students who lounge in this area just want to relax and be undisturbed, so it is totally unfortunate that the school decided to put that exact spot as a stop on their university tour.