Participant Observation

Janvier Matila

Soc 176

On Tuesday March 4th I participated in a March for a cause activity that was held on the school campus. Various different classes and groups were doing different causes, such as Women’s rights, Animal abuse, Lower school tuition, Ending world hunger, and Fight against Sweatshops. This was going to be my first time participating in an activity like this. The space was very large and open because we all gathered in the free speech area. There were a lot of people lined in front of tables that were set up on the side. Each table represented a different cause and they had all kinds of information and handouts for each cause, as very knowledgeable individuals that could answer any question that had.

There were flyers being given out about the different causes, there were signs that were made displaying the support of each cause.

The actors were all dressed very casual, most of them were college students so they had their backpacks on. There were some individuals that wore the same shirts, representing the club or organization they were from.  I only saw two professors participating in the march, Dr. Jendian was walking in the back of the line and Dr. Kubal was in the front.  There was only one elderly woman that I saw, and she was a member of the Ragging Granny’s group.

Once the march started, people were very excited; there were lots of talking and cheering. There were smiles on a lot of people’s faces. A lot of people tended to stick with their own group of friends or people that they were familiar with.  

People started grabbing their signs and holding them high in the air as we marched off, some stuck their signs in their backpacks.  Some held one sign and some held two, and for some they didn’t hold a sign at all, due to the lack of supply but it was all still worked out just fine.  A lot of individuals actually stopped to look at the procession go by and some even stood and read the signs that the people were holding. You could tell they were trying to read the signs because their eyes would sometimes squint just to be able to read the small writing on some of the signs or try to focus on reading the moving signs. The atmosphere was very different when we were on campus, people were every supportive of us or just didn’t mind. But once we got on the sidewalk next to the main road on Shaw, it was a totally different feeling.  A lot of people stopped and stared, people in their car’s turned their heads and watched, some people even yelled out from inside their cars for us to go back to class which I then heard an individual from our group respond back, “this is our class”.  Some people honked their horns and the people in the march would cheer back. It was a very exciting feeling seeing people get so involved.

The march started at 2:30pm so there wasn’t a lot of people on campus walking around at this time, or most were either still in their classes.  The traffic on the main road was slowly starting to build up because people are presumable getting off work and going to pick up their children from school which ends at 3pm. Once we arrived back at our starting point which was in front of the free speech area, everyone put their signs in a pile together and everyone kind of had this feeling of accomplishment and they were all happy. People signed their names on a clip board that was passed around then we went our separate ways. It was such a great experience and I would totally do it again.
The goal of this activity was to bring awareness to individuals about the different causes and to kind of practice how to come together and peacefully assemble for something.