Friday, March 28, 2008

Field Site

1. What is going on in the field site?
At first I walked into my field site which is a place where hookah smoking is quite popular. This Middle Eastern restaurant named Divan, contained a lot of people, preferably family and friends all eating and dancing, listening to music and having a good smoke from what is known as a Hookah.

2. How do the members of the subculture interact with each other?
Their is Arab music playing and we have groups of people, usually family members and friends that get together and eat dinner at low to the ground tables and chairs. Afterwards they enjoy beverages such as wine and pull out the hookahs and begin smoking on them. Mostly the customers usually gather around the table and socialize, taking amongst themselves, enjoying the presents of their surroundings and dance with each other. Majority of customers that come to smoke hookah are Caucasians but occasionally you will see Middle Eastern and Indian people join in on the cultural festivities.

3. Make a list of terminology used at the field site with which you might be unfamiliar.
Star buzz
Argila
Nargila
Persian Galyoon
Sheesha
Harem

4. What details, behaviors, and surroundings did you have questions about?
I was wondering why there was so much paintings and artwork on the walls and I found out that the paintings were of the Middle Eastern Culture. Many different exotic styles were displayed all throughout the restaurant. I noticed that the water pipes had a long pipe coming out of the base of it and I wondered is that where the smoke will be coming out. When I was listening to the music that was playing in the background, I could not help but ask what kind of music was being played? I found out that it was Arab music and usually Divan mixes up with Persian and Spanish music.

5. Find at least one person at your field site you can speak to and ask them a question about something you observed that you didn't understand.
Actually I found a very helpful person that gave me great information about hookahs and the culture of it. Max Lofty is the manager of Divan. I asked him many questions regarding to my research paper and one question stood out from the rest. I asked him what the customers smoke from the hookahs, water pipes. He responded with the components that make up the flavorful smoke you either inhale or blow out. First off, the tobacco is mixed with molasses and fruit. The minimum amount of tobacco is .01% so they are not as harmful as cigarettes. On the top of the tobacco their will be a piece of charcoal. The water in the water pipe filters the smoke coming from the tobacco and charcoal into the opening with a thick smoke.

1 comment:

D. Irving said...

think more about how this is defined as a culture, what is important to them?