Monday, December 12, 2005
Over a year later, and I am constantly reminded of my experiences in Argentina.
I am currently working at the U.S. Census Bureau on educational geography research. This primarily means making Census data available for school district geographies. You may be asking... it's 2005, what in the world could you be doing when there isn't another census until 2010? Well, the Census Bureau does more than the decennial census. The Census Bureau conducts many surveys, and in fact, they are in the first full implementation phase of the survey which will replace the Census Long Form. Be on the lookout for data from the American Community Survey (ACS). This survey will show how communities are changing, by giving rolling updates, rather than a static picture of the US every 10 years.
So how does that relate to what I learned in Argentina?
As I've been studying the surveys, I've often wondered... How do these surveys that are supposed to be nationally representative, construct national identity?
For instance, respondents are asked to identify a race... White, Black or African American, American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian Indian, Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Other Asian, Native Hawaiian, Guarnanian or Chamorro, Samoan, Other Pacific Islander, Some other race.
That is after being asked, whether or not they are Spanish/Hispanic/Latino. If so, the respondent can clarify a group.
Surveys are going to be limited. That's one drawback to quantitative methods. People must put themselves into specific categories. On an individual basis, this can have huge effects on how a person sees and portrays him/herself.
On a national basis, statistics are released based on these groupings. From those statistics and data, policies are made. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but it does shape our nation in a certain way.
I've also been confronted with the issue that other organizations do not have the same groupings of people (i.e. some orgs. consider Hispanic to be a race instead of an ethnicity). These influential organizations and their data create a different construction of national identity.
And then there's the fact that these race (and ethnicity in the case of Hispanic) classifications have changed over time. That very well could be a result of changing national identity, but at the same time it constructs national identity... (which comes first? the chicken or the egg?)
Additionally, my current job reflects that I'm still interested in education. Although the Census work is extremely different from the things I learned from the Pedagogia course and from Argentina research, there is still an underlying foundation of "education" and its importance.
And there are many other ways I am reminded of Argentina from intellectually broad ideas to specific memories. [Such as the flood of memories that hit me when I discover that a place in Georgetown sells Quilmes! (an Argentine beer that we tried)]
Other news about me... I'm loving the DC area and living on my own, yet I am also grateful that I have friends near me. I'm trying to save up my annual leave (and money) to backpack with a friend (or friends) around Latin or South America or to do some sort of traveling. I hope to do this next winter, so that I can escape the cold. =)
I have a cubicle. ;-)
I am currently working at the U.S. Census Bureau on educational geography research. This primarily means making Census data available for school district geographies. You may be asking... it's 2005, what in the world could you be doing when there isn't another census until 2010? Well, the Census Bureau does more than the decennial census. The Census Bureau conducts many surveys, and in fact, they are in the first full implementation phase of the survey which will replace the Census Long Form. Be on the lookout for data from the American Community Survey (ACS). This survey will show how communities are changing, by giving rolling updates, rather than a static picture of the US every 10 years.
So how does that relate to what I learned in Argentina?
As I've been studying the surveys, I've often wondered... How do these surveys that are supposed to be nationally representative, construct national identity?
For instance, respondents are asked to identify a race... White, Black or African American, American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian Indian, Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Other Asian, Native Hawaiian, Guarnanian or Chamorro, Samoan, Other Pacific Islander, Some other race.
That is after being asked, whether or not they are Spanish/Hispanic/Latino. If so, the respondent can clarify a group.
Surveys are going to be limited. That's one drawback to quantitative methods. People must put themselves into specific categories. On an individual basis, this can have huge effects on how a person sees and portrays him/herself.
On a national basis, statistics are released based on these groupings. From those statistics and data, policies are made. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but it does shape our nation in a certain way.
I've also been confronted with the issue that other organizations do not have the same groupings of people (i.e. some orgs. consider Hispanic to be a race instead of an ethnicity). These influential organizations and their data create a different construction of national identity.
And then there's the fact that these race (and ethnicity in the case of Hispanic) classifications have changed over time. That very well could be a result of changing national identity, but at the same time it constructs national identity... (which comes first? the chicken or the egg?)
Additionally, my current job reflects that I'm still interested in education. Although the Census work is extremely different from the things I learned from the Pedagogia course and from Argentina research, there is still an underlying foundation of "education" and its importance.
And there are many other ways I am reminded of Argentina from intellectually broad ideas to specific memories. [Such as the flood of memories that hit me when I discover that a place in Georgetown sells Quilmes! (an Argentine beer that we tried)]
Other news about me... I'm loving the DC area and living on my own, yet I am also grateful that I have friends near me. I'm trying to save up my annual leave (and money) to backpack with a friend (or friends) around Latin or South America or to do some sort of traveling. I hope to do this next winter, so that I can escape the cold. =)
I have a cubicle. ;-)
