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Ethnography - Signature Assignment

Ofo Fusitu’a

ANTH1010

May 2, 2020
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Introduction

I have decided to base my ethnography on the culture of Young Adults from Utah

County. A lot of people from other parts of the country and even the world perceives Utah and

everyone that lives here either part of cults, Mormon or participate in Polygamy. I’ve heard

assumptions from within Utah about Young Adults from Utah County and I want to be able to

see first-hand.

Due to my topic being more of an observational look on a local group here in Utah, there

aren’t any credible academic sources that I can find specifically based on Utah County young

adults. So, I decided to just look into behaviors of young adults in general. Investigating in the

Health and Well-Being of Young Adults talks about young adults ages 18 -26 should be viewed

as a separate subpopulation because their brains and behaviors are still being developing and

maturing that people that fall under that category are in a critical period of development where

anything they do whether they succeed or fail can affect the trajectories of their life. (The

National Academies, 2014)

I’ve decided to study young adults from Utah County because we are all aware of the

“outer worlds” perception on the Utah population, however within Utah there also is a perception

on the Young Adults from Utah County, and here it is. The perception is that the Utah County

Young Adults are all returned missionaries that go to school at either UVU or BYU Provo, their

goal is to mingle and find their “Eternal Companion”, get married, and have a family. They’re

snobby and self-righteous as can be to those that don’t fit in their circles or have the same belief

as them. I understand that it is just local perception and all of them aren’t that way, however I

would like to see it firsthand for myself how some of them are and just get to know some on a

personal level.
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I hadn’t had much expectations for this project because I feel like with expectations they

may influence how one will feel and I didn’t want to make any premeditated judgments because

I felt like that would skew the data collected or just my feelings and judgments for the

assignment as a whole, and that’s what I didn’t want to happen. I wanted to be able to go in with

an open mind so that the data and information collected were fair.

I don’t believe there was much of a cultural shock because I have lived here in Utah long

enough to understand the culture. I feel like despite the age group, Utah has its own significant

culture with church and faith that it resonates within all groups in Utah whether it’s good or bad.

Methods

I decided one of the best places to do my research would be on Main St in Provo. Within

3 separate visits, I have done a total of ~ 7.5 hours of field work and observations in total. I

originally went to Main St. for my “Field Map” assignment to check out the swing dance place

and to sketch it out, and while there I have noticed how flooded Main St. was with many Young

Adults and of all ages in the categories as well as backgrounds. I used an informal interview

method to ask questions and to gain more insight on the cultural group and for my weekly

assignments. Most of the time it is just stopping a random person or group of people and asking

them if they have time to answer questions for my assignments, which surprisingly most people

were more than willing to help with.

Results

Economic Systems

The Young Adults group in Utah Country that I’ve been observing are primarily college

students. I have noticed that even though they don’t have an elaborate economic system, in their

own ways they still have their ways to distribute or consume goods in order to make a profit.
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Luckily with the tools and resources we have now a days, people are able to learn how to

utilize/fix technology and earn a profit off of it. I spoke with a few guys that were around the

ages of 22-25 that live in Utah County and attend BYU and UVU. One person in particular that I

spoke to was a 24-year-old named Howard and I asked him to explain to me the economic

behaviors. He mentioned not everyone has the same opportunities so everyone literally does

whatever they can to gain profit.

When I spoke with Howard, he mentioned that he works for his mission companion’s

(LDS Missionaries) uncle’s company. He works 10 hours on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday’s

and they install gutters to new homes and buildings. That alone does help with his main expenses

and the cost of living for him. Despite his position, not everyone is fortunate to have some

opportunities that he has.

Out of his peers he is part of the luckier few that doesn’t have to work as hard to gain

profit. He mentioned that some donate plasma when they’re desperate. Which I believe falls

under reciprocity. The exchange of goods and services, of approximately equal value, between

the two parties. Those that donate plasma are exchanging their plasma which is valuable to

others in exchange for money which is valuable to them.

Another example that was explained to me by Howard was the ability to fix phone

screens. He has a peer that fixes cracked phone screens for $75. He utilizes the technology of

social media to promote his gig and in exchange his peer is able to make some money because

there are always going to be people looking to fix their cracked phone screens especially young

adults, and for a cheap price. I believe this will fall under balance reciprocity.

I guess the main difference between young adults in Utah County and my cultural group

is that they’re very scrappy. They find little jobs or just find their talents they have and gain
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profit from there, whereas my cultural group we’re all pretty set in our jobs and we don’t

necessarily have to try as hard because we have a solid job and a steady income. Similarities are

just the fact that we all work hard and put the same effort into school.

I believe as a college student, you just have to be very scrappy and utilize all your

resources and talents in order to gain money profits through an informal economy in a sense. I

believe through these practices it allows the young adults to grow a certain knowledge that

instills the “hustle/grind” mentality into them.

Patterns of Subsistence

The group of Young Adults in Utah County I have been observing are primarily college

students and so their budget as well as time is limited. Though some are cautious of what they

eat, I have not come across or heard of any of the Young adults food foraging or in other words I

don’t know any that support themselves by hunting, fishing and or gathering wild plant foods. I

have been able to observe and interview a few regarding their daily routines, their food habits as

well as how they obtain income and get their necessities.

Most of the young adults I came across are full time students, and so majority of them

work either part time or don’t work at all. Due to their low wages their income is limited and so

most of the food they consume are cheap, quick and convenient. Some shop in bulk at Costco,

but it’s not common for a lot of them to have memberships. Most of them shop at either a WinCo

or Walmart to get their food and necessities. Most of the necessities or food they acquire also

come from their family. A lot of the young adults I have come across also have families that live

throughout Utah, so they do tend to go home and collect food and necessities from there as well.
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For the young adults that I have come across that work, work in mostly relaxed

environments or something that allows them to have a flexible schedule i.e. ice cream shops,

local businesses, stores, banks, etc. Then again it does depend on how far they are from obtaining

their degrees. The students that are in their Freshman and Sophomore year of college seem to

have the relaxing jobs, whereas those that are closer to obtain their degrees are in internships or

in a field towards their degree.

I do see some similarities with the young adults in Utah County and with my group that I

surround myself with. One of the similarities I see is the fact that both groups work and go to

school. At the end of the day we still have bills and responsibility, so no matter where we work,

we tend to manage school and a job. Now because my group mostly attends SLCC, we only go

to school part time and then work full time. The culture area between the young adults in Utah

county and my native group are similar.

Overall, whether you’re a college student in Utah County, Salt Lake County, or just

America in general most of us face the same issues when it comes to food as well as being able

to provide for ourselves and just live life in general.

Groupings and Stratification

I noticed that there is in a way a hierarchy, however it is not fully based off of money or

power, I believe it is based off of status in church and whether or not you are keeping true to the

“teachings of the church”. If you are as what they perceived as “sinning” or doing sinful acts,

then in a way your status does lower.

Majority of the young adults in Utah County that I have done research on are LDS and so

most of my research comes from the morals of those that are of the LDS faith. As far as
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hierarchy, I have noticed that money can be a factor as far as status goes, I feel like that is the

universal factor to being on the higher end of the hierarchy, however in this case I feel like those

that are on the higher end of the hierarchy have some type of status in church. If for example one

has served a mission for the LDS faith they are looked at in a higher respect than those that

haven’t.

I do feel like religion is a big benefactor in hierarchy, as well as ethnicity and sexuality. I

feel like if you don’t fit into the social bubble of LDS, straight and somewhat light skin then you

don’t fit in their social structure. I feel like there is social mobility in the ethnographic group

however it is based off of religion. Such as if one is living their best righteous life, they are

deemed more desirable and in power, however once you fall off that “straight and narrow” path

I’ve been told from my research that people start to distance themselves from you and try not to

associate themselves because they don’t want to be perceived as sinners as well or they don’t

want people to associate them as bad people.

I don’t see any similarities with the social hierarchy in the ethnographic group and in my

native group. In my native group nothing is based off of gender, religion, or even money. The

power comes from knowledge and work ethic. If you’re a handworker and you’re trying your

best to go to school and get educated and learn more, we find that as power and that does put you

in a higher point in the hierarchy.

My ethnographic group pulls most status and power based off religion, which isn’t too

different from other groups, but it does amaze me that even in this younger group status and

power is through religion which is somewhat similar to the older generations of people that come

from Utah county and just Utah in general. The LDS faith is dominant here in Utah and it truly

shows in a lot of groups.

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Gender

The gender roles in my ethnography group that I will be discussing in this chapter are

very familiar in this day and age especially amongst the younger groups. Due to the group being

Young Adults, from my research gender does not play a role in work ethic or even school.

Gender roles do in a way take place in settings such as church, hanging out with friends and in

the everyday public.

During my research I have noticed that gender roles don’t necessarily take place in work

settings and even in school. Young adults either are in school, working, or doing both working

and going to school. Gender does not play a factor in what you can do whether you work or go to

school. Everyone is pretty equal in these settings. People I have interviewed have not seen any

gender discrimination in the workplace nor at school. However, I can say based off of gender,

job options are slightly different. Most women and men I’ve spoken to have an office setting job,

and then there are a few males that I have worked with that work in construction and

landscaping. Now I mentioned in church and with friends there are gender roles. In church

women are to be more nurturing and supportive to the men and men hold higher positions in the

church, so there is a gender hierarchy. With hanging out with friends I’ve noticed that the women

subject their selves to be more “catering” to the guys in their group, and the guys do more of the

grunt work.

I have noticed that the Utah county young adults/ men and women do act somewhat

similar to each other. They’re both free to express themselves in the clothing that they wear, as

well as the choice of jewelry that they dress their outfits up with. I have noticed that the

hairstyles are a bit similar. There are a few males that have grown their hair out long and they

either keep it down or put it in a pony or a man bun. I have noticed “mom jeans” and “dad jeans”
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are a thing. Yes, there is a distinct difference between the clothing such as women’s clothes are

more form fitting, even in the baggy stage, to accentuate the curves, where the men’s clothing is

flatter and straight down.

As far as communication, I feel like there is a difference in communication. The groups

I’ve researched women have a certain way they discuss with each other where it’s more about

femininity and feelings, and once they’re around their male cohorts, the communication changes

to more of a “universal” communication. Same with the men, they have a certain way/language

that they communicate with others however when they’re with the females everything from

conversation is neutral and safe, so not necessarily explicit.

I feel like in most parts Utah County Young adults are similar to my native group as far

as communication, work, school and even just in a friend setting with gender roles. The

differences from my natural group has more gender roles in a sense. The women in my natural

group are to be more nurturing, however the men in my group does not allow us to lift as much

as a finger. Most of my male cohorts do everything for us, such as cooking, cleaning or even

buying our food. So, whether it’s chivalry or gender roles I’ve noticed that difference in the

groups. The last difference I have noticed is that the Young adults in Utah county celebrate or

initiate women/men into young adulthood by them serving a mission. Whereas the initiation that

we do to celebrate adulthood (21) in my natural group is to drink alcohol and go to the bar.

Over all, I feel like the gender roles here in my ethnography group as well as in America

is less distinct compared to other countries across the globe where women are only allowed to do

certain things such as being stay at home mothers/wives, cooking, and cleaning and the men are

to work and earn wages for the family. I am grateful to be in a country that is moving

progressively towards gender equality and mostly for women.

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Language and Communication

I have observed quite a few groups of young adults in many different settings throughout

Utah County and I honestly have so many evidences to what I thought before was just false

judgements and that it doesn’t apply to everyone. The young adults there are their own and so

some people’s experience shouldn’t define all Utah Country young adults in total.

I have noticed that their faith influences the jargon used by the young adults. They use

cushion words and sometimes their modest grammar does not translate or make sense to me like

how it translates to others in their group. A lot of their dialect makes sense however they have

their certain Lingos that they utilize that I don’t understand and that is just mainly because I am

not part of their group. I have noticed when speaking with a few of them, throughout

conversations some of them will code switch just to be courteous to me or they’ll break down the

languages used so that I could understand.

From my observations the paralanguage, kinesics, and proxemics used by the young

adults have been nothing but positive. For Kinesics, I feel like everyone I have come across have

shown nothing, but positive body language and they’ve always had a look of happiness on their

faces and just in the movements. Through their paralanguage you honestly can feel the openness

they have and feel how inviting they are and inclusive they are to everyone they engage with.

During my fieldwork I have noticed the phonetics used by the young adults (ages 18-30)

in Provo. There is a sense of modesty that they use in their language or proper grammar that they

use due to the LDS culture being so strong in Utah County. A lot of profanity is substituted with

“cushion words” i.e. words like Damn are substituted with “Darn it” or Hell is substituted with

“Heck”. This is very different than my “native” cultural group. A lot of conversations we have
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are heavily indulged with profanity. Now I do code switch depending on my audience, however

if I am with my friends’ conversations are very informal, some other groups would say

Inappropriate, and it is heavily doused with profanity. It doesn’t make us bad people, it’s just the

norm in our social group.

I look forward to continuing my observations throughout Utah County young adults.

Overall, I feel like their young adults are similar to young adults elsewhere, they’re just more

appropriate in a sense of language that use, and it may be due to the influence from religion.

Kinship and Descent

While going into this assignment I did have reservations regarding asking people about

their kinship, mainly because I like to keep my life and information regarding my kinship very

personal to myself. I struggled with my wording for my questions, because I tried to ask my

questions in such a respectful and non-offensive way, especially when it came to ask about their

relations with members in their kinship. I understand everyone has different relationships with

certain people in their family and so I tried to be aware of my tone of voice, facial expressions

and questions that I asked.

My respondent was great and was very open to my questions asked. We discussed his

kinship and started the conversation off with his immediate family. So, I spoke to my respondent

and he mentioned that he is 1/3 kids between his parents. His older brother is married to his sister

in law Jane, and they currently don’t have any kids. He also mentioned he has an older sister

named Laney, and she is currently single. His parents are divorced, and the divorce has left his

family on odds. His older brother is still hopeful in his dad turning his life around and hopefully

one day returning to their family, whereas his older sister Laney has hardened her heart towards
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him. There is definitely a divide in the family, and my respondent is just trying his best to be

equal between all parties involved.

He mentioned that he has aunts on his dad’s side and uncles on both sides of the family,

however the only one he is relatively close with is his namesake, which is his father’s younger

brother. All his life his father and mother drank regularly and partied a lot and they didn’t

necessarily believe in going to church, and so when he was younger his namesake would actually

pick him and his siblings up every Sunday for church. This gave him something to believe in and

he felt like being able to believe in a higher power than human life gave his life some stability.

He’s only close to his cousins that come from his namesake because he grew up with them. His

other first cousins he doesn’t necessarily have a relationship with.

I spoke to him about his grandparents from both sides of his family and he mentioned that

his paternal grandmother whom he called Nena (Neh-Na) was the person that practically raised

him and his siblings while his parents were in their party phase. He never met his paternal

grandfather because his paternal grandfather had abandoned his grandmother and her kids. His

maternal grandmother they referred to her as Tutu (Too Too) which is the Hawaiian way of

saying grandma. She lived in Hawai’i and so they didn’t visit as often however he shared so

many fond moments with me about the times he spent his summers in Hauula, Oahu with her.

His grandmothers were a big part of raising him to be the man he currently is, and he mentioned

he often thanks the lessons they have taught him in this life, and look forward to reuniting with

them in the next life.

Despite all the family members that he had, he isn’t particularly close with his cousins

and uncles/aunts. He grew up with his Father’s cousins and their kids. So, he has a strong
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relationship/bond with his 4th cousins that he actually sees on the regular compared to his 1st

cousins.

Honestly, I don’t want to compare and contrast the difference between the cultural group

and my native group because at the end of the day it comes down to everyone’s relationship with

their families are different and there isn’t one right way that it should be. Like through all the

dysfunctional/functional things that happen in the family unit everyone’s is special.

Conclusion

Overall this has been a very eye-opening experience for me. I have gotten to experience

things I would have never done out here in the valley on my own or even with my very own

native group, things such as the country swing dancing. I not only taught me how to let loose in

public, but to also just be present in our environment. Everyone there was so invested in their

environment and just having a good time that they didn’t mind not knowing each other, everyone

danced with everyone and it didn’t feel like everyone was divided by the groups they came with.

Having a connection that has ties to the ethnographic group did make things easier for me

because I was given pointers, suggestions and even recommendations on where to do my

observations. Even though the connection was helpful to me, if I could do it all over again I

would do it without the pointers/tips on where to go because in a way that does limit me to

people only in that area, where as if I were to just go in on a clean slate, I probably would have

explored more places to see for myself.

This project has been a reminder that due to everyone’s different backgrounds;

ethnocentrism is very common amongst us all. We as people should just keep in mind not to

judge people or even groups of people without actually experiencing their company. Also, to not

listen to what people say, everyone has different perspectives on people and just on the world
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and we should never allow those perspectives to formulate our final judgment on people. If

anything, I have found more similarities within the young adults I have observed and my native

group to where I feel like I am able to resonate and connect with them on a better scale. There

are so many things I have learned, however the one that stands out the most is to just be open. Be

open to new things, new people, and new environments. A clouded mind will keep one away

from the experience and learning the culture and that in itself is where negative perspectives are

formulated.
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References

Nodell, Bobbi. “UW Medicine center focuses on risky behaviors, young adults”, October 3, 2018

https://newsroom.uw.edu/postscript/uw-medicine-center-focuses-risky-behaviors-young-

adults

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Institute of Medicine. “Investigating in

m. the Health and Well-Being of Young Adults”, October 30, 2014

http://www8.nationalacademies.org/onpinews/newsitem.aspx?RecordID=18869

Christopher Munsey. “Emerging Adults: The In-Between Age”, June 2006

mmmmmmmmmmm https://www.apa.org/monitor/jun06/emerging
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Images

Field Site Map

Kinship Diagram