INTRODUCTION
In ethnography, what are basically looked into are the people. This involves taking into account the relationship of the people, they must be people with the same roots. It involves researching about the different dynamics of culture. The area Seattle is dominated by different social cultural groups; this is from the fact that it is one of the posh places in Italy where people would prefer relaxing and enjoying themselves. The people around here speak majorly the Italian language and are majorly Catholics. However, there are some denominations around here; this can be seen from the churches and other elements of religions that do not necessarily mean Catholicism. So this area is a metropolitan area with different people. (Agar, 29)
Through research, I have come to learn how the feeling of dominance come over men in the perspective of opening doors for their ladies and sometimes even when they pay for their meals. Through observation that I made concerning people in the Capitol Hill area restaurants, I came to the m relationship between men and women in the society.
This research tries to establish the relationship between the theoretical point of view and the practical one. This is in that through research we are proving the supremacy that men tend to hand in their ladies through such acts.
The Field Site
In this research, I will look at the cultural behavior of the people around capital hill in the Italy through this research we will be able to understand the cultural behavior ,habits cultural habits and the the4m customs of the people around this area. In this research therefore we will see how different sexes relate and how they as far as their behavior can be observed in these restaurants. This deals with the dinning culture of a people in Italia. This research is carried in three Italian restaurants around capital hill. They include Pagliacci, Olympia pizza and Palermo Pizza and Pasta.In the study of people’s way of dining brings to our attention the different types of foods that people eat, the kind of relationships that they can show while they are out whether as family members or as strangers from the same group. This area is very interesting especially when you are keen at and able to interpret the non verbal cues that people do expose. These non-verbal cues are very important for they bring to our attention characters that we may be ignoring. It therefore calls for one to be in an open place where he or she can keen watch on the people without much interference, (Ian, 32).
Research questions
The following research was based on certain conceptualized research questions. These questions were as guides to the whole process.
1. How do people relate in these restaurants?
2. Who between the two leads the other in the restaurants?
3. How smartly dressed are these people?
4. Who settles the bill?
5. What (if any) nonverbal can make suggestions of their relationship?
METHODS
The research employed observation. This is because it was covering a relatively population. This was the most convenient way to collect information concerning this topic.
The study was carried out in three restaurants in Italy around the area Capitol Hill. In the first restaurant i.e. at Palermo Pizza and pasta capital, there were 17 tables and a total of 53 customers. In the third restaurant, Pagliacci, there are a total of 46 tables with a total number of 134 customers. Each of these restaurants had three sections namely: the bar section, the right wing and the left wing, all of which were in use.
In Palermo, there was only one person at the bar section, 10 people at the right wing while on the left wing there were only 6 people. In Olympia pizza, there were 16 people in the bar section, 12 people in the right wing and 9 people in the left wing. In Plagiacci, there were only 46 people in the right wing only; other chambers were empty who were used for the research. In Palermo, there were a total of nine men and 12 women while in the Olympia; there were 32 men and 21 women. In the Paglaccia 55 women and 79 men were used for the research.
Data was collected by use of guided observation, from one person to the other. This was accompanied with note taking and also simple questioning relevant sources only when clarifications were to be needed. The questions could go to the cashiers and other the restaurant attendants. These questions could be asked secretively not to arouse the attention of the customers. However, the major part of research was based on observation and note taking of the people’s behaviors.
There was also the picking of some non verbal cues that were to help me draw to conclusions. This depended on what I considered as an indicator of intimacy e.g. holding of hands, kisses, hugs among others.
Description
This research involved people who are adults. In this perspective, I mean people who can be identified not as kids, i.e. they can be distinct from children. There was no common method that was used to determine used to have them to be part of the research, but all those who were available were included in this research. Those who appeared as couples were preferred; this was because they could help meet the objectives of the study without much struggle of comparison of data.
This research was carried purposely to determine how gender comes about in the various interactions. It was also carried to determine how people would create the concept of ‘othernesses in them. Through this research could also deduce some reasons how power could be exercised at different levels through the nonverbal acts that could sometimes prove to be pleasing to the eye.
In this research, I took care of the way people the kinds of foods they eat, their clothing. In the people clothing I was checking according to my own standards how nicely these people were dressed. I also considered the way people related. I considered aspects like who would be the fist to enter the restaurant. In most cases it was found that men would take the lead as their ladies follow them closely. Also the payment of bills was put into consideration. It was found that men would really pay for the expenses as compared to the ladies.
For this research to be successful, good timing is needed. Not all times one would be allowed into the restaurants to carry out such research. The reason behind this is the shortage of space and the likelihood of some customers being too keen to notice whatever is taking place. So with these, it is advisable to visit such places during winter when there is no much tourism in these sides of Italy.
In this research, I basically used English as my language of conversation and will include translations of my understandings from the concept I carried the research.
This research is important because it tries to give a broad understanding of the culture of a people from very minor perspectives. It is also important for it tries to prove the mentality of most societies than men are the heads of their homes.
FINDINGS AND INTERPRETATIONS
Data was analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively. Descriptive analysis was used to analyze and present qualitative data and information. It was integrated with statistical analysis to give the observation a holistic approach. The ration of men to women who walks first into the here restaurants was calculated and presented in the pie-charts below:
Fig. 1
The number of women taking lead to there men while entering such places is relatively higher than that of men. This could mean that the people involved could be derived from our data where the number of women who entered Palermo was 15 while that of men were 6. In Olympia pizza, there were 28 men whom walked in first and only 25 women could do it first. In the Pagliacci there were 37 men and 97 women who entered in first. This implies that in these relationships, women would like to be identified with their men and for this reason they would like to be the firs, in that they will act as introductory means to their spouses. Many women would therefore feel comfortable when they lead there men, an indication of relationship. This could be the reason why many would walk together and create themselves orders into such restaurants. They would be thus separating themselves from the rest, whom they are not related.
Fig.2
From this data it evident that the ratio of men who are willing to order first for their men is higher than that compared to that of women. In total, there were only 17 women who could make an order for their men and 77 men could do that for their women. In Palermo, there 12 men and 5 while in Olympia pizza, there were 31 men and 6 women who made orders for their counterparts. Could this show how the men love their women? Could it show how caring they are?
Through ordering of food, would this imply that men are aware of their responsibility?
Fig. 3
This chart shows the ratio of men and women who are ready to pay for their counterparts first. This means that the percentage of those men who are willing to pay for their women are higher is compared to that of women who are ready to do it for their women. In Palermo, there were 15 men and only 2 women paying for their counterparts. In Olympia pizza, there were 25 men and 12 women while in Pagliacci; there were 22and 24 men and women. This is a clear indication of who would like to other to feel his or her love.
Fig 4
From this chart it is evident that the number of women who are smartly dressed is higher than that of men who are smartly dressed. This is an indication that the people of this region are generally like smart dressing. From this conclusion it is thus very clear that the dressing form part of this people who live in this area and they would like to see themselves dressed in a very decent way. From Palermo, there were 5 men who were smartly dressed as compared to that of that at the Olympia pizza where there were 8 men and 17 women. At the Pagliacci pizza, there were 50 men and 79 women who were smartly dressed.
Fig 5
The number of women who are poorly dressed is inversely proportional to that of men. This means that in this culture, people are generally aware of the importance of dressing smartly and would not give poor dressing a chance. As compared to the number of individuals whom we found to be smartly dressed, the total numbers of people whom the observation was carried, the numbers of those who are poorly dressed are generally low. This is an implication of the type of dressing that this society would like to have. In the Palermo pizza, the number of individuals who were poorly dressed was only 8 and half of them were men. In the Olympia pizza, the total number of people who were poorly dressed was 28 with 24 men and 4 men.
From the way these people dressed, it was clear indication of their caring. A couple could be easily identified from the way they were dressed. They were likely to be dressed smartly. In this view, I mean it very unlikely that in a couple one would allow the other to dress in a manner that is not pleasing. Through dressing thus it was clear to differentiate people who are related and those who are not.
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The study took a short duration of time. A longitudinal survey should be carried out to give a more detailed report. Moreover, I did not look into the effects of many known factors on of culture that identifies our culture like the types of food we take, the languages, the traditional types of dressing and all that. Researches have only implicated ethnographies from these perspectives.
According to Foucault, women were generally seen as sexual subjects whose role is basically to fulfill the sexual urges of their house heads, the men. Also, the women are to basically to obey the source of the power in the house, the man, which has been so since the traditional times. However, those feminists and say that women just like men are equal and can not be subjected to non existing powers in the house. In this research however it come s to our attention that men can prove to be leading their wives in most cases. This is what the role power, so basically the role of women is to obey.
Just like the rest of the Italian community the people in Seattle are well educated and this could be easily gotten from their constant references to titles like professor, doctor so and so, and teacher so and so among other titles. Sociologically, they are better of for they do socialize at academic levels, class strata’s and also in social places like in these pizzas where you can not judge a person on class.
The population around Seattle is advantaged culturally in that the old conventions like those which denied women to equality are being done away at a very high rate. Thus the exposure of this area is a big boost to its cultural perspectives.
In this research, there are assumptions that were made to help meet the aim of the research. This included assumption on the relationships. There could be no proof that two or more people are related but based on assumptions I could establish a relationship. People who seemed to be very close were either friends or couples. There was no means of establishing whether there were relationships between such people. Assumptions helped a lot.
With an aim of achieving results in this research, it calls for the people to be very observant. Keenness is the key in the achievement of these results. This implies that without being keen a lot will pass without your notice. You might as well find yourself not making the right observation especially due to the social nature of human beings which make them to be interactive t different levels.
Human interaction has been looked into but the consideration of such simple issues has not been catered for. It was thus difficult to come up with the literature review of such a research. This is a very sensitive area that when focused on well can avail a lot of information concerning the behavior of people and can therefore be indications of some cultural relations in people. I therefore recommend that more research is to be done on this area to help enrich the knowledge that we have.
Works cited:
Agar, M. Introduction to Ethnography. New York: Academic Press, 1996.
Charles J. Mess Night Traditions. London: Author House, 2007.
Douglas, M. and Baron I. Anthropology of Consumption. London: Rout ledge, 1996.
Edward C. R. Customs and traditions Michigan: Greenberg, 1980.
Erickson, K. Doing Ethnography. Sage: Beverly Hills. 1997
Ian L. Mess Dinners. New York: Author House, 1996.
Kottak, C. Introduction to General Anthropology, New York: McGraw Hill, 2005.
