When it came to sitting down with friends for lunch or dinner, just as it did in the world at large, COVID-19 set a new set of rules in dining halls and restaurants at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.<\/p>\n
Limited number of diners per table. Face masks pulled down to eat then slid back up between bites. Social distancing when possible.<\/p>\n
Eating together is important to forming social bonds and instilling a sense of camaraderie, so what happens when it disappears?<\/p>\n
Tyler White wondered. Was there a sense of loss because sharing meals was harder if not impossible? Did they feel isolated or disconnected?<\/p>\n
White spent fall and spring semesters studying the subject through Zoom interviews, conversations, surveys and a personal journal of his own. The results were presented at the end of spring semester as part of the two connected courses \u201cEthnographic Methods\u201d and \u201cAnthropology Research Seminar.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes there was a feeling of loss,\u201d White said. \u201cA lot of the people I interviewed mentioned that they thought that eating together was important, or that they missed doing that.\u201d<\/p>\n
But not as much as you\u2019d think, he said. They simply made adjustments.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe main thing I found is that students still carry on social lives and eat socially, but they become much more careful and selective with who they eat with, how they decide to do it and where they decide to do it,\u201d said White, a junior in anthropology.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith the people I interviewed who did still eat socially, they usually kept it to small gatherings with close friends or family members.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ethnographic studies, the primary research strategy used by cultural anthropologists, involve a deep dive into a culture and its people. That means often living with them for extended periods of time, forming relationships, experiencing and participating in their daily lives, discovering their beliefs and practices.<\/p>\n
\u201cAn underpinning idea here is that, to understand peoples\u2019 worldview and cultural beliefs in a rigorous way, you have to immerse yourself in their world,\u201d said Emma McDonell, visiting assistant professor in anthropology and instructor for both ethnographic studies courses.<\/p>\n
\u201cMany times, a cultural practice of belief that seems strange and \u2018exotic\u2019 from afar begins to make sense once you\u2019ve actually lived in the world where this logic makes sense,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
COVID chunked all the usual techniques out the window, so the seven students in McDonell\u2019s two courses had to figure out new ways to conduct research.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can’t really walk up to strangers in the way that you used to be able to and propose, \u2018Hey, can I conduct an interview with you? Would you mind if I, you know, hung out with you as you go about X or Y cultural practice?\u2019\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n
\u201cChoosing their topics was one of the key challenges of the pandemic because they were more limited to their existing social networks, at least as a starting point.\u201d<\/p>\n
Most of the students kept their research at UTC, examining the various cultures on campus such as students in religious groups, those who had shifted from in-class to nothing but online classes, the experiences of freshmen and the social aspects of eating that White studied. Their overarching focus was on how students in general adapted to changes brought on by COVID-19.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn some sense, this was a huge challenge,\u201d McDonell said. \u201cOn the other hand, it also was a really interesting and important opportunity because, effectively, everything that the students studied\u2014how the pandemic had changed people’s social lives and cultural practices and even beliefs\u2014was going to be brand-new research.\u201d<\/p>\n
White, who lives in Johnson-Obear Apartments, said about half the students he interviewed still ate on campus and also left campus to eat. In both cases, most wore face masks and practiced social distancing when possible, he said.<\/p>\n
But there also was a distinct trend for students to retreat into the safety of their own social group, making sure they knew the people before hanging out with them, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have one person say that occasionally they\u2019d have movie nights. Get a few friends together, bring a few snacks and drinks. They were comfortable with letting five or six friends in such close proximity. They knew to take this pandemic as seriously as they did,\u201d said White, who also works at Dippers Chicken in West Campus housing.<\/p>\n
\u201cI saw people still meeting up while I was eating in the U.C. or while I was at work. Group sizes were generally smaller, but there were still a few big groups.\u201d<\/p>\n
In general, people also would carefully choose where and when they got together with others, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cVery few went to restaurants. Most of the time it was theirs or another person\u2019s house, eating with people they felt they knew,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Perhaps the most common feeling, though, was the acute need for the social interaction, said White, who feels the same way, as do his friends.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe talked some about stuff we would do once it was safe to meet in-person again, like bringing food to a meeting or going out again.\u201d<\/p>\n
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When it came to sitting down with friends for lunch or dinner, just as it did in the world at large, COVID-19 set a new set of rules in dining halls and restaurants at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Limited number of diners per table. Face masks pulled down to eat then slid back… <\/p>\n