CAPS #3

CAPS BLOG #3

Jamison Viera

 

For this CAPS assignment I decided to go to Selleck Cafeteria right here on UNL’s campus to observe cultural and non-verbal communication. To be honest, some things astounded me while others, not so much. First I noticed that race played a large role in the setting, even more so than gender. This was a major shock to me as I did not really notice it before coming to Selleck to observe such behaviors. Another thing that I noticed, that did not really surprise me, was that generally people abided by a certain “code” or manners of the cafeteria. I never thought that sitting in the cafeteria for 4 hours could be interesting but I was pleased with the things that I learned from observation.

                While most people do not think twice about going and eating with friends or by themselves for that matter, it occurred to me that a lot of subconscious decisions were being made around me. Those waiting for food assembled into an orderly line behind the plates patiently waiting their turn. While some took their time, most were conscious of the students behind them waiting and quickly got their food and got out of the way. This was also true at the drink section as a very well-ordered line formed after getting their cups. I viewed this as just an general understanding of American manners and customs. While sitting alone, most students chose to pick a small table that they could sit by themselves at, trying to avoid any interaction. The larger tables were solely vacated by groups of friends. This leads me to my next observation. Race played a huge role in cafeteria politics. As I observed and recorded notes I noticed this trend of Asians sitting with just other Asians. This was also true with African Americans as well as white people. While there were some exceptions to this rule, I would say about 85% of people in the cafeteria during this 4 hour span that sat with others, sat exclusively with other members of their ethnicity. I would say that this says a lot about the world we live in today. Although I don’t believe people are being racist towards each other, there is definitely a bit of a comfort zone that one feels while being around people of similar ethnicity. Gender was not nearly as much of a deciding factor. I did not notice any real correlation to boys/girls seating. These non-verbal forms of communication were pretty profound.

                I think a lot of people overlook things like this, including myself, until you stop and really observe. I found this observation to be extremely interesting and informative. It really made me think of nonverbal communication in a different sense. Most people think of non-verbal communication as facial gestures or tone of voice, but for me it went much deeper than that. Although most nonverbal communication is done subconsciously, the race factor is a much deeper issue. I do not think I could have observed a better environment to really understand nonverbal communication.