Positioning Myself

The things I will notice in my fieldsite will be different from everyone else in the world, but that is what will make my research interesting. Although I only have a small history with Venda, I know it will impact my findings. The somewhat outsider position I have with Venda made me curious about it enough to choose to study it as my fieldsite. Rhode Island Italians is what really drew me in. At Venda I always felt that there was an invisible line between the people who belong there and the people who are outsiders. This line separates the Rhode Island Italians and basically everyone else. I am part of the everyone else because I live in Massachusetts and I am 100% Portuguese. In some ways people from Rhode Island and Massachusetts are similar, but in other ways they are completely different. Accents, manors, and driving records are some things to compare and contrast. Italian and Portuguese people are also sometimes considered alike. My nationality and the state I am from will definitely effect my research considering the sub-culture I am studying. Another position that will effect my research is how I am an eighteen year old girl. Most of the people that go to Venda, either for the market and/or restaurant, are middle aged and elderly. I do not have a lot that I can relate with them other than comparing them to older people that I know. When I go to Venda and see elderly people I tend to think of what my grandparents look like when they go to their favorite Portuguese market. Going to Venda I will have this perspective and it will in turn result in certain things that I will pick up on in my observations. I will most likely record customer conversations, but they will not be the same types of conversations my friends and I will have. This is what I am expecting, but there is no guarantees about what will happen as my research continues. The typical stereotypes of the Rhode Island Italian may be changed or proven further, but either way I hope to “blow it up.” Positioning myself with Venda is complex and I know it will bring intriguing data to my research.