Vaibhavi Patel Rebecca Agosta English 1101-68 November 18th, 2013

A Day in the Life of Adaa Ethnography is the study of how people behave and interact in their daily, community setting. The focus of an ethnography is a particular site, culture, or subculture. Its purpose is to observe this group of people as a whole, rather than individually. These cultures and subcultures are known as discourse communities. A discourse community is a group of people who share common goals or purposes and use communication to achieve them. There are six characteristics that compose a discourse community: an agreed set of common public goals, different ways of communicating amongst members, using communication to give and get feedback, using communication to further their goals, distinct vocabulary (lexis), and the hierarchy of experts and novices. As long as a group of people contains these qualities, they are considered a discourse community. Observation. The ethnographer is an outsider who engages her or himself in the community in order to try to comprehend behaviors, customs, and habits from the inside. The discourse community that I observed was the Bollywood Dance Team, Adaa, here at UNCC. In this discourse community, I consider myself both an insider and an outsider. I know all of the members on the team, the types of dances, and because my culture relates to the Bollywood theme of the group, I feel like an insider. Due to the fact that I am not a member of the team, I would also consider myself an outsider because I

do not attend all the practices, nor am I included in the performances or dances. Before the observation, all I knew was that the Bollywood dance team consisted of members of all races and of both genders. Puja Patel, a member of Adaa, said, it is always surprising when people ask why the team is not consisted of only Indians. What those people dont know is that not only do we perform and dance to Bollywood songs, but also to American, hip-hop songs as well. After observing, I learned about the community in much detail. For example, the team consists of twelve girls and three boys, practices are usually on Mondays and Wednesdays from 5:00-8:00, the members usually wear comfortable clothes like shorts and t-shirts, the team has a ten minute break around 7:30, and all the members are usually focused and determined. I asked Puja to describe a typical practice day. We usually began with five minute stretches. Then we go through the dances weve already learned and perfect those for an hour. Lastly, we learn new choreography and try to put all the pieces together until the end. Practices are usually very tiring, but efficient, she said. After being informed about the group in detail, it is evident that this dance team is a discourse community because it contains the six characteristics required to be one. Goals. The first criterion that describes a discourse community is that the group should have an agreed common set of public goals. This is true for the Bollywood team because the goal of the team is to make it to regional and national competitions and place in them. To reach this key goal, the community has to start off with smaller important goals. Although we all have our hearts set on reaching national competitions, I think the smaller goals of working together and getting along are far more important because without those, getting to the bigger picture is impossible, said Puja. The team has to

overcome any obstacles that get in the way such as arguments or disagreements. The team also has to be committed to come to practice on time whenever practices are held. If they cannot reach practice at that time, they must notify the team captain and set up an alternate private session to catch up on the routine. In order to achieve the main goal, the group must also take into consideration other members opinions and ideas. If they work together as a team during practice then the will reach their common goal of reaching the competition of their choice and succeeding. Communication. The second and third criterion go hand in hand because they reflect different ways of communicating amongst members and getting feedback from these methods of communication. The Bollywood team uses many different mechanisms of intercommunication including mass text messaging, the official team Facebook page and interpersonal communication. The team uses the Facebook page to distribute and obtain information about practices or performances. The team captain will list the date and times of each practice at the beginning of each week. The captain also uploads videos of the dance routine so other members of the team can practice at their own pace and in case any member needs to catch up. Since everyone has a smart phone nowadays, text messages are a common way of communicating through the team. Text messaging is more of a casual form of communication, while messaging through Facebook is more professional. Interpersonal communication is a very important method of intercommunication during practice because it is more organized and convenient at that time. It is used during practice to call out any members that need help with a step or if there needs to be any changes to the routine, then members can communicate between one another to make the necessary changes. When I asked Puja which method of

communication was most helpful for her she said, the Facebook page is how I get most of the information about practices because I have an old flip phone so getting mass texts on it is very annoying. Also, with my busy schedule, I dont see the team members outside of practice so face-to-face communication isnt help much either. I like the Facebook page because if I miss practice then I can just watch the videos uploaded to catch up on the moves. Artifact. I use text messaging as an artifact because it shows how members of the team can communicate both casually and professionally. Text messaging is significant in the community because the captain uses it to send out information about when and where practices are. The members of the dance team use this form of communication to see if they can make it to practice or not. It is also substantial because communication between members is the key factor of achieving the common goals in a discourse community. The uses of text messaging described above are a few values that this artifact reflects for on this subculture. They can quickly contact all members of the team at once and this is very convenient for the community. Although these are professional conversations, there are also casual conversations that can be appropriate. From asking a member how they are doing today to asking a member for academic help. Conversations like these can help make the team a better community as a whole. This is the most important method of communication because this is the go to method of interacting. It is at the palm of your hands and very convenient for everyone to reach to. Genre. For the fourth criterion, a discourse community uses one or more genres to complete their goals. Using flyers and posters is one way of accomplishing this. Before each performance, the team hands out these flyers to local residents to come support the

team. Flyers are a very convenient way to let everyone on campus know about upcoming performances. I like using flyers because it contains all the information about an event and I dont have to repeat myself thousands of times, said Puja. The team also uses promo videos to further their goals. They use these videos to recruit the best dancers on campus and try to be number one after competing in each competition. Lexis. There are a few words and phrases that stick out as lexis in this community. Puja gave a few examples of these used in the Bollywood dance team. For example, from the top is referred to as starting the routine from the beginning or from where you left off. Another lexis is take five, which simply means taking a five-minute break. The last example is formations, which implies you start the routing from the formations you were assigned to. These are considered lexis because not everyone in the outside world can comprehend these phrases, but for people in this discourse community, these terms are commonly used in everyday life. Hierarchy. It is easy to distinguish the experts from the novices in this discourse community. The captain is classified as an expert because he/she is chosen by the members of the community to be the leader. He/she has to be an excellent and organized dancer. Novices are easy to point out due to the fact that they are off balanced with the timings of the steps and are stiffer than other dancers. These are the people that ask the experts for help to better the discourse community as a whole. I asked Puja what it took to go from being a novice to an expert. It isnt easy going from a novice to an expert because as one person improves, the others do too. I think it takes a lot of practice and dedication. For one to be an expert, they must be ready to put a lot of time into practicing the dances and perfecting each move, she answered.

The Bollywood dance team, Adaa, is a great example of a discourse community because it contains all the characteristics needed to be one. When looking at the inside from the out, its hard to notice all the little specifics. After observing them in detail, I felt as if I was an insider as well. Also, interviewing Puja Patel, a member of Adaa, was also helpful in receiving information about the team. If a group consists of communication, literacy, genres, lexis, etc., then it is well on its way to being considered a discourse community, just like Adaa.

Sources

Patel, Puja. Personal Interview. November 3rd, 2013.