So little useful anthropology is being done in/on contemporary American culture(s), This Blog celebrates anything that serves the cause.
Last week the New York Times wrote up a guy who calls himself Normal Bob. NB (aka Bob Hain) has made himself a student of the Union Square area. His blog is a treasure trove of ethnographic observation. Bob has made a typology for the Square, including "skaters," "scenesters," "models," and "junkies." He also has documented individuals: Ramblin’ Bill, The DJ and Quarter Guy.
Bob’s view is unblinkered and unsentimental. In this passage, he documents the passage of a runaway teenager from Goth to Punk to heroin addict.
One of the funny things that I’ve experienced since moving here to New York that I’d never seen before is witnessing first hand the frequent and predictable junk-related falls of the human being over the course of just a couple years. This girl is one of those cases.Just a few years ago she was another teenager hangin’ around the cube, goth, bashful and (found out later) a runaway. Then the winter comes and goes, and in the spring I see her doin’ more of the punk thing, hangin’ out with squatters, a little less feminine, a little more soulless. The transformation is so predictable.Then another year passes and there she is, a useless junkie squatter nodding out in a Starbucks with her Grande Mocha Frappuccino and her forehead on the tabletop. Now I’ve almost gotten to the point where I can see the kid and predict their nodding routine almost to the month. It’s sad but true.
References
Hain, Bob. 2010. The Union Square Chronicles. here.
Kilgannon, Corey. 2010. “Normal Bob Chronicles a Park’s Oddballs.” The New York Times. Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/26/nyregion/26union.html?_r=1 [Accessed December 3, 2010].
Acknowledgements and thanks
The photo in the upper right corner is from Normal Bob’s website. I have used it without permission. If Mr. Hain has any objection to my use of it here, I would be pleased to take it down.
Last part of the passage seems a bit simplistic – is maybe Bob perspective biased to assign too much importance to the cases which confirm his hypothesis? Maybe he won’t notice a girl that goes back from addiction to normal life and will not hang anymore with junkies in Union Square area.
Do not confuse what Normal Bob does with anthropology, sociology,
ethnography or any kind of academic research that requires a methodical
approach, creation of hypothesis and testing of hypothesis, or rigorous
analysis. There may be potential to do interesting studies at Union
Square but Bob Hain is not doing that nor should he be the one doing
that. He makes extended observations and he often records his subjects
using video recordings or photos. In his commentary, he makes some valid
observations but he speculates far too much and makes no attempt to
detach himself, and his analysis, from his own feelings and cultural bias.
Bob does this because it interests him and his videos bring traffic
to his website and Youtube channel which provides him with an income.
I really like some of his videos and I don’t object to what he is doing
in general, but don’t confuse this with science. I think he would be
amused that someone takes him seriously.
Sinister, The qualitative tradition doesn’t much care about science or detachment. (See my The Long Interview for more on this.) And as long as no one else is studying Union Square, I say hooray for Normal Bob. Thanks, Grant
Grant,
Point taken about qualitative research. I will point out two
examples of his work. The first is his “Lessons of a Junkie” video which
is certainly good journalism if not qualifying as a long interview from
your point of view. Here is the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jwM3dJYPC8&feature=player_embedded
I would like to see him do more of this but I think he has too much
disdain for most of the people there in Union Square to do such interviews.
In the next example, Bob chooses not to shed any light on his subjects,
participants in the free hugs movement. Instead, he creates and passes
out a flier which falsely claims that an upper east side infestation of
bed bugs is due to the free hugs occurring in Union Square. Bob knew this
was false and went so far as to invent a phony expert working for a phony
organization and then quoted him in the flier. This was a prank and he
videotaped the moment when he handed a leader of the free hugs group
this flier. The guy was understandably angry and Bob tries to provoke
him further in the video. There is quite a contrast between these two
videos. Watch both of them and then tell me what you think.
link to the flier:
http://www.normalbobsmith.com/amazingstrangers/freehugs/freehugsbedbugs_flyer.pdf
link to the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzaa036J-_w&feature=player_embedded
BTW, I don’t go by sinister, that’s just part of my email address and has
more to with being left handed than being evil.
Conifer, thanks, I didn’t realize the complexities here. Thanks for the data! Best, Grant