Performance of Culture in Every-day Life - Essay Example

Performance of Culture in Every-day Life: an Ethnographic Study Introduction The study of identity and migration gives us an opportunity to question the manner in which space and identity relate. Migrants who may have initially considered themselves as having a prior conception that they possess a relatively problem-free attachment, of identity to a specific territory come to the realization that this case will not exist once they migrate. In redefining themselves, as well as the relationships, they have to their surroundings, most migrants, including cohorts from the second generation; seem to involve themselves in processes that challenge their conceptual culture. This paper seeks to explore how Italians in California are affianced in a process of defining their identity despite the fragmented nature of their cultural support, coupled to few institutional sites that respond to their various needs. By doing this, they display a fluidity as far as identity is concerned and they test the traditional understanding of space. I chose this ethnographic study with regards to Italian culture at the Angelo’s and Vinci’s restaurant. The restaurant is in California and boasts of a total Italian ambience. What made it interesting as a research target was my swish to see how the people, including staff members and customers, performed within their cultural settings. Among the staff members at the restaurant and customers, I sought to study how the use of space in the restaurant becomes a performative site for Italian culture in their everyday lives. This led me to ask how the staff members and customers perform the Italian culture at Angelo’s and Vinci’s. The people at Angelo’s and Vinci’s demonstrate authentic Italian cultural practices using language and food. Theory Review Migration, especially in the contemporary period, challenges the traditional comprehension of attachment of identity and place. Different observers have called for a re-examination of the uses and meanings of space as a concept during the discourse of identity (Appadurai 300). The process by which migrants create belonging among themselves shows a new conceptualization and organization of space, also referred to as re-territorialiazation of culture, as well as a redefinition of the collective identities that have undergone de- territorialization. Basch et al (28) frame the re- territorialization as a manner in which there is a reconfiguration of space by various practices, which migrants who migrate between different countries carry out. Anderson (83) deals with the discourses of resistance that are employed, by native or indigenous people, to negotiate for fixed notions of place or race. Just like subjective identity is produced form the performance, so also are localities created by the subjects who represent, perceive, and construct them, over time. Fortier (42) investigates the manner in which performance of one collective body utilizes terrains of belonging. He contends that belonging may be inclusive of physical places, although they are not limited to them. While they may utilize these physical places and these places do become belongings, they are more historical and cultural belongings that are reconstructed from cultural practices. Via the expansion of the theory by Butler on performativity, renegotiating space and identity can be seen as the way in which both space and bodies are invested to become representative of cultural identity. Therefore, belonging can be seen as a struggle that seeks to reconcile representation of groups in the way they are viewed by the rest comes close to the way that they view themselves (Basch et al 59). The struggle or negotiation concerning representation deals with simultaneous shifts in subjective identity, as well as its belonging. Concern over place could be especially potent in the context of minority and immigrant communities that have little or no development of institutions. Racial stereotyping and racism could act as a hindrance to the ability of these groups in the reconstruction of a sense of belonging in their host country. Basch et al (30) contend that, for migrants, the space between host and home country is coincident with the formation of migrant identity. However, it is not clear how the intersection regarding uprooting during them has an effect on the formation of a migrant identity. Basch et al (31) also claim that identity during the youth phase is still fluid. If we are to come to the acceptance that identities are fluid and multiple, the question that must be asked has to do with the possible immigrant and minority group responses to the challenges that face their struggle to reconstruct a sense of belonging. We must also ask whether re-conceptualizing space can help us in comprehending the inherent responses in these groups. Grossberg (170), while studying transnational political organizations, gives priority to the daily actions and practices carried out by these groups. They address the question by Fortier concerning the manner in which to approach the identity struggle for minority groups and immigrants with minimal institutional development. The concepts of traditional science must be challenged, for their attempts, to account for the recent increase in transnational identities (Grossberg 172). What is lost, when attempting to grapple with the wider social context of transnational identity is the performativity of identity that attaches identity to the individual via daily practices constrained by a wider context of society. Through the prioritization of identity performativity, the concepts of immigrants that Grossberg (173) attempt to challenge is revealed as a metaphor in the struggle for representation of identity. Review of method Ethnographic studies, as a method of research, was a good match for this study because it provided me with opportunities for in-depth studies into the ways that Italian Americans live and the various cultural aspects of their day-to-day life (Biehl 32). It also allowed me to utilize a variety of unique methods such as participant observation, field observation, and interviews. Additionally, culture, its processes and the manner in which these develop over time for a specific group, in this case Italian Americans is the focus of ethnographic studies. It permitted me to study and observe their processes in a comprehensive and direct way. Ethnographic study also allowed me to focus on the interactions and behavior of individuals within the population of Italian Americans. It is advantageous for a researcher because it allows one to; observe, witness, describe, and experience, these processes of behavior (Biehl 33). Finally, ethnographic studies give the researcher an opportunity to give thorough and rich commentary on human culture, society, and behavior. This goes some way in the appreciating the human experience and the human condition. In the collection of data, participant observation and interviews were used. In order to build up reference data, I had to interview three people including the owner Dianne, a staff member, Eric, and a customer by the name of Frank. In participant observation, I spent four hours collecting information from the restaurant. These four hours also included the interview process. I came up with a three-page transcript from the participant observation. The interview yielded four pages of transcripts while the participant observation yielded three pages of field notes. For the ethnographic study, I incorporated direct and first hand field observation of Italians in an Italian restaurant, in California. I later made a detailed written narrative about my experiences and findings. Analysis/Arguments The use of language used in the restaurant is a strategic way is how the people perform Italian culture and identity. During my participant observation, I noticed how people reading the names of meals and ingredients on the menus with some difficulty in their pronunciation, but they still loved the way it sounded and tried to say them in an Italian accent to their friends, family and waiters. In this way, they performed in the Italian culture by verbally using the language from the words on the menu. As I looked inside the decorated menu of grape vines, with large food selections, I noticed all the names of the pastas and the choices had Italian names, and each meal had a description of what was in the meal that sounded authentic by using the real Italian terms to describe the ingredients. I asked the waiter what some of the Italian names meant in describing the meals, and she told me in very fine detail, mentioning that everything was made from scratch and large portions. She made me try to pronounce the Italian words as well and I found myself performing in the Italian culture by learning and using the language. The use of language at the restaurant is shown through synecdoche, which is a strategic way used to showcase and perform Italian ethnicity. Ultimately, while the goal of most restaurants is to get people in and out of there as quickly as possible, in “Angelo's & Vinci's”, the use of language is used, as a strategy to prolong the customers visit. They use Italian language to make customers stay longer in order to process and figure out what terms in Italian mean. Therefore, there has to be some incentive and motivation for them to do that. The motivation becomes a boosting factor towards the authentic feel of the restaurant, so it becomes a viable strategy. The music playing in the place was Italian with the lyrics all in Italian. There were mixes of opera and the usual music that one would experience when watching an Italian movie like Good Fellas. I found additional evidence of the use of Italian language while waiting for my meal. I noticed a couple at a nearby table having a conversation with the people at the table next to them. It surprised me to see this because I had never witnessed this in another restaurant before. It seemed that people felt so comfortable with others even if they did not know them. This is because they could converse in a common language to each other and share a connection with each other, almost as if they were all family. After my meal was done and I had paid my tab, I took a walk around and noticed how Italian is also used on the men and women's bathroom door signs, replacing the American language with their own. The names “signorine” was used for the ladies with an icon of a girl in a dress, and “signore” was for gentlemen with an icon of a male figure. Another argument I used to show performance of Italian culture at the restaurant is “Angelo's & Vinci's” use of Italian food as a way to perform Italian cultural identity. Since food is part of an everyday cultural performance, it gathers a crowd and a group of people where they can use the act of eating Italian food with each other. Other tables had food served in large portions, (since the Italian culture has always served it that way), and the customers ordered the bigger portion meals, mainly made of thick pasta, in order to share everything family style amongst the whole group. Just, as language was prevalent in the signs and menus at Angelo’s and Vinci’s as an indicator of identity, food was also used to perform a similar role, as well. I ordered a pasta dish that seemed rich in flavor, so I decided to try it. My waiter then brought me a small loaf of fresh homemade bread with olive oil and vinegar to dip. This is a popular tradition in Italian culture I looked around and noticed everyone was taking part in breaking pieces from loafs of bread and dipping it into the oil and vinegar as well, and I became addicted to the taste of it. As I start to eat my warm, hearty Italian meal, I was very pleased with the flavors within it, which afforded me a taste of what the Italian culture was like. While I have had Italian food before, the rich flavors and different ingredients in the meal gave it an authentic feel since it was made from scratch. When the waitress checked up on me to see how I liked the meal, I said it was very delicious, and something I've never experienced. She then explained that every meal is fresh are recipes that were handed down from the real Italian ancestors of the owner of the restaurant. I was very shocked and knew that it was a great way for everyone to emerge in the Italian culture by eating these recipes. By using food and language as a performance of Italian culture, Angelo’s and Vinci’s was created, by the owners, to represent, perceive, and construct this feel over time in conjunction with its customers and staff members. As Fortier contended, belonging may be inclusive of physical places, although they are not limited to them (Fortier 42). While Angelo’s and Vinci’s may utilize their physical space to perform Italian culture and this restaurant as explained, does become a belonging, there are more historical and cultural belongings that are reconstructed from cultural practices in the restaurant, such as food and language, for instance. As Basch et al (30) also contends, for migrants, the space between host and home country is coincident with the formation of migrant identity. Most of the Italians who visit Angelo’s and Vinci’s are recent migrants and second generational cohorts, who want to get the feeling of being back in Italy among other Italians. This is seen through their interactions with total strangers in the restaurant set to an ambience that is reflective of Italian culture in the food and language. Conclusion This project contributes to the communication and performance theory by looking at how an Italian restaurant in California, Angelo’s and Vinci’s, utilizes space as an aspect of performing culture. Through participant observation and interviews with the owner, staff, and a customer, I managed to come up with various ways in which the restaurant uses these two aspects of Italian culture to create a belonging for Italian people living in California. These people come to the restaurant in order to perform their culture, which is supported by the space being decked out in all Italian. Given that this restaurant is in California and that the state does not have an Italian background, the space becomes a place of belonging for people of Italian descent. The Italians engage in a process of defining their identity despite the fact that they are scattered all over a state with no significant Italian heritage. Through this, they show a fluidity concerning their identity as Americans that uses space to re-construct their identity as Italians. Works Cited Anderson, John. Constructions of Race, Place and Nation. Minnesota: University of Press, 2008. Print. Appadurai, Arjun. "“Disjuncture and Difference in the Global Cultural Economy." Theory, Culture and Society (2008): 295-310. Print. Basch, Nathan. Schiller, Glick. & Szanton, Carrol. Nations Unbound: Transnational Projects, Postcolonial Predicaments, and Deterritorialized Nation-States. London: Gordon and Breach, 2006. Print. Biehl, Joa?o. Subjectivity : ethnographic investigations. Berkeley : Univ. of California Press, 2009. Print. Fortier, Anne-Marie. "Re-Membering Places and the Performance of belonging." Theory, Culture and Society (2009): 41-64. Print. Grossberg, Lawrence. "The Space of Culture, The Power of Space." The Post Colonial Question (2009): 169-188. Print. . Read More