Malia Bow

001736435
ANTH 1101, Hersh
Assignment 1
Mini-Ethnography
With JD Love-Epp and Kristina Powell
On Saturday, September 13, 2014, at 1:30PM, my partners and I observed people
at the Prudential Center in Boston. We sat specifically across from the Barnes and Nobles
bookstore. We stayed for about twenty to thirty minutes.
The Prudential Center is mall. Since we went on Saturday, the day most people
have work and/or school off, it was very crowded. It was also a little cold outside, around
60 degrees Fahrenheit, possibly influencing more people to spend time in the heated mall.
The mall houses a multitude of brand name stores, some quite high in retail, such as Free
People, where the average article of clothing is around $200. Therefore, the majority of
people in the mall are people of a higher socioeconomic class.
Barnes and Nobles itself is a bookstore, again tailoring to a typically more
educated, most likely literate, audience. In todays global society, there is a direct
correlation between socioeconomics and education levels; the more educated a person is,
the more likely he or she is in a higher-class. In America, the majority of the middle and
upper class are Caucasians. The racial demographics of the customers at Barnes and
Nobles was fairly distinct. The largest demographic was Caucasians, followed by Asians,
Latinos/Hispanics and lastly African Americans.
There were four different age groups that frequented Barnes and Nobles: families
with children, college students/people in their 20s, middle aged women, and older men.
Typically the college students would be by themselves. The older men would either be
alone, or with their wives or families. The middle aged women were usually always in a
group.
Most of the customers wore casual comfort clothes, such as jeans and Tshirts/sweatshirts or Eddie Bauer style clothing (vests and khaki pants). There were three
instances of different appearances. One woman, in her late 20s to early 30s, seemingly
of Latin descent, was dressed in a tight black dress with three-quarter sleeves and open
toed, black high heels. Our hypothesis is that she worked in a retail store within the mall.
One gentleman, middle aged, possibly of mixed African American heritage, looked
disheveled. His face was leathered and the pockets of his white sweatshirt were dirty. He
was stooped over and walked at a sluggish pace; Kristina and I identified him as a
homeless person. Finally, there was another woman, around her 40s, wearing sunglasses,
a tight pink blouse tucked into a tight, knee length, white skirt. She walked briskly, with
three other women following her, one to either side and one behind. She and her friends
spoke Spanish to each other. While she was wearing an outfit that stood out, her friends
were not. My group and I identified her a leader of her clique.
One incredibly interesting note that JD pointed out was that although there were
many people of different ethnicities, there were few integrated racial groups. The only
instance we saw was a African American father with a South East Asian mother, most
likely Filipina, with their child. Otherwise, everyone was at the mall either alone, or with
a group of people of the same ethnicity.