SOCIAL MAPPING

A rough map of the activity and the space in which it is occurring

- not drawn to scale
- not meant to be complete

Note features of the physical environment, resources, infrastructure that seem
to be significant.

Social maps contain both physical features of a locality and social information
about the community.

What do you see?
Who do you see?
What types of spatial divisions/interactions do you see?
Do you see cultural differences?
Difference in gender, age, class, status?
Does the spatial division change over time?
With regard to these elements, are certain areas of the space more significant
than others?
 SOCIAL MAPPING

What NOT to do with your map:

 SOCIAL MAPPING

What NOT to do with your map:

Messy,

Nice drawing, but no social info but more importantly
full of pre-conceived
value judgments
 TAKING NOTES

Image source: Field notebook, 1950-1953 - Wikicommons

 TAKING NOTES
Record the date, day of week, time of day, weather, and other factors you think may have some
bearing on what you are observing.

Describe the setting and the features of the space for background and context

'What's going on here?' Describe in detail the activities you are observing, event by event. Be
concrete, specific, and chronological (no generalizations).

Record your reactions and thoughts

Pay attention to individuals and collective actions.

Record the perceptions, motives, and values of the people you are watching

Go back over your notes and fill in any important but missing details

As you observe, begin to focus on something that seems interesting to you, such as a pattern that
emerges or a particular aspect of what you are observing.
 OBSERVING OUR TUTORIAL

Imagine you are an ethnographer observing our tutorial and our social
interactions during this exercise. You can either 1) be part of a group that
prepares the social map of our tutorial or 2) take notes individually of what you
are observing. Feel free to move around and discuss your ideas with your
classmates.
TAKING NOTES
SOCIAL MAPPING
If you are preparing the map you If you are taking notes you might want
might want to remember to: to remember to:
•  draw relevant features of the space •  Take note of relevant factors (date,
•  draw social information time, weather…)
•  Describe what is going on in detail
What do you see? Who do you see? •  Pay attention to individual and
What types of social division/ collective actions
interaction do you see? What •  Record your thoughts and reactions
elements of the space are relevant to •  Record the perceptions, motives,
these divisions/interactions? And and values
how could you represent them on a •  Go back and fill out what is missing
map?
 SEEING LIKE AN
ETHNOGRAPHER

DESCRIPTION

ANALYSIS

REFLEXIVITY

We need to question the frame of our gaze.

• What have I noticed
• What have I rejected
  and Why?

“The point of doing fieldwork is to learn to see not just the other, but ourselves as well.
The spatial gaze demands that we look – and then look back again at
ourselves” (Richardson 2009:187)”