Iftekher Hossain

The name of the organization is Ruposhi Bangla hair Dresser Unisex hair salon.
Address:
The Mission is to make money.
Contact person and title: Jibon 1718 424 2531
Phone number: 1718 424 2531 Email :
1) How did you hear about this place/organization/neighborhood?
I have heard about this place from my friend who usually goes to Ruposhi Bangla Unisex hair salon to cut hair and it is also my personal barber. 2) Why did you choose it for the study?
I have choose to study this place because it deals with immigrants who are from many different cultures, such as, Pakistan, Indian, and Bengali, who works together to serve the Jackson Heights community, which is full of immigrant . The Jackson heights community is culturally diverse and has many different race, such as Hispanic, Indian, Bengali and Asian. So I thought it would very interesting to find out how does these people from different race and cultures come across each other’s and I also live there.
3) What do you want to learn from this project?
I want to learn how different cultural people interact with each other in Jackson height community, and how do they behave toward each other’s, are they racist, are they friendly, do they respect each other’s cultural norms, values, and how do the Barbers communicate, are they only good with their own kind of people or do they treat everybody the same.
4) Do these questions relate to any themes or key concepts discussed in class? If so, which ones and how?
These question relates to the theme of globalization where the owner of the store, migrated from Bangladesh to USA for a better life. There is also uneven development, between the owner and the barbers, rapid change overtime, where the barbers learn how to cut all types of haircut, flexible accumulation, and time space, where they buy their quality product from overseas, for cheaper price and gets it shipped to the store.

5) What is the neighborhood like immediately surrounding your fieldwork site? (Is it residential or commercial? Is it easy to get to your site?
The immediate surrounding of my fieldwork site is mixture of both residential and commercial. It is very easy to go around to the site because there are many public transportation. It is close to subway E, F and R train which is located at Roosevelt Avenue, Jackson heights.
6) What does your fieldwork site/organization LOOK like? (How is the space structured inside? How is it divided? Do any colors stand out? Are there decorations? What do these look like?
The barber shop is very spacious, well maintained and clean. It also has four chairs where each barber’s work in there section, one is women and three are men. There are mirrors in the front of the chairs, with a sink to wash your hair, and it also has some benches for waiting. For entertainment there is a Television, and some art work of Bengali culture in the wall which really stands out.

7) What does your fieldwork site SOUND like? (Is it noisy or quiet? If noisy, what is the source [i.e., street noises, choir music, people arguing, children playing, etc.?] Do you think the sounds change according to time of day or time of week? Think about things such as squeaky chairs, loud buzzer noises, cell phones going off…
My fieldwork is very noisy at all times, especially on the weekdays, where people are always interacting, talking, and arguing. Cars are always honking their horn because it’s double parked, there are grocery stores and huge Indian, Pakistani supermarkets, restaurants where people are always with their family especially on Fridays. Yes, the sounds change according to the time of day and time of the week, Ferin stance the morning time is very calm and in the rush hour, which is the afternoon time, it gets a little hectic and loud . You will hear loud music from certain stores, and houses. At night time, it gets a little better and quite but the streets are always busy because the supermarket does not close until 11 pm.

8) What does your fieldwork site SMELL like? (Describe any odors, such as food, cleaning products, fragrance, street smells, etc.)

My field work smells like, hair sprays and shampoo’s, and the sidewalk and streets smell like freshly made cultural food, such as Indian food because it is surrounded by Indian and Bengali restaurants. You can also smell different types of food like hot pizza, garlic bread, and sweets. You also can smell fresh baked cookies, cakes, and pastries from the bakery right across from my field work.

9) What does your fieldwork site TASTE like? (No, do not go around licking the walls and floors! Are people eating at your fieldwork site? What are they eating mostly? If you happen to try any food at your location, describe it –were the donuts stale, what was brought to the pot-luck? Etc.
In the mornings u will mostly see the Barbers with hot coffees and fresh baked donuts similar to American culture, but at the lunch time you will see barbers grab their traditional and cultural foods such as kababs with naan and gyro, spicy biryani mango lassie and no matter what they need there Indian styled chai (tea). I have tried the Chicken Tikka Masala, which has a very good flavor but it tasted very spicy and filled with a lot of flavor and the food has a lot of graham masala and cardamom, cilantro, which grasp a taste of Asia.

10) What does your fieldwork site FEEL like? (Are there difficult stairs to climb? Is the furniture comfortable? Is the temperature noticeable?) No there aren’t any difficult stairs to climb, the atmosphere feels pleasant, where there are some comfortable seats for the customers to wait for their turn and the environment is friendly so it makes you feel even more comfortable. The temperature in the summer feels nice and cool because of the air conditioner and in the winter it’s nice and warm because they leave the doors closed with heat.
11) Who is present at your fieldwork site? Who is not? (Are there mostly women or men? Are they working class? Young or old? Do they belong to a particular ethnic/racial community? Or is it a diverse community in terms of gender, class, race/ethnicity, age, etc.)
In my fieldwork, there are men and women that works there but it is mostly dominated by men. Also from my observation, I have noticed that it is a diverse community in terms of gender, because most men come to cut their hair from their personal barbers. There aren’t many women that comes to cut their hair, but rather they would come for color, blow dry, eyebrows, and keratin treatment which makes the barber shop a diverse community. In terms of class, it is not a diverse community because most of the customers are from lower class or from middle class. In terms of race it is a diverse community because there are all types of customers with different ethnicity such as Hispanic, Asian, Indian, Bangladeshi, and Pakistani that comes there. In terms of ages it is also a diverse community because there are variety of customers with different ages, some are middle age and some are young. Parents do bring their children in as well so you will sometimes see tiny toddlers.

12) What was your impression of the people in general at your location? (Are they lively or sedate? Busy? Angry? Joyful

My impression of the people in general at my fieldwork was very lively, meaning they are very joyful toward their customers, and they left all their stress at home, like a professional worker would do.
13) How do people at your fieldwork site interact with each other? Do you notice any conflict/tension between people? Describe the relationships of power you observe.
At my fieldwork site, the barbers interacted with their customers politely, and showed kindness. I really didn’t notice any conflict between the barbers and the customers. The relationship of power was that the barbers were very humble and understanding. If someone was unhappy with their process, they would happily fix their problems and worked always with a smile, and it did not matter what race or ethnicity they were. Also what I have noticed that, the barbers never let a customer leave the store unsatisfied, which is a power for their business, which creates loyalty and will bring their customers back.
14) What was your impression of your key informant or a particular person with whom you interacted? Describe your interaction with as much detail as possible
The impression of the particular person, whom I had interaction with was very pleasant and it was the owner of the Store, his name is Jibon. He also works their and he is my barber, I always go to him, and get a haircut. He never lets me down and we always have something to talk about. He will always greet me and ask me how my day is going, how I am feeling, and what type of haircut do I like, or is the same as usual. Jibon was very nice and takes his time to cut my hair.
15) How did you feel when you were at the fieldwork site? (Where you in any way emotionally or socially uncomfortable in this environment? Were you nervous? Why?)
I was very comfortable with the environment. I was also able to interact with people without having so much problem because I grew up around there and I know a lot of people and wasn’t nervous at all.

16) Do you feel you stood out or blended in with the people in this environment? (In what ways are you an insider in this community and in what ways are you an outsider?)
I didn’t feel like the outsider because I grew up in that community, and I was able to blend in with them easily because in that particular area where my fieldwork is dominated by my cultural people. So I was very easy to come around and I felt like an insider and they were also very friendly.
17) How did you feel when you completed your field work? (Was this a rewarding experience or a frustrating one? Did you feel connected to the people you met with?)
When I completed my fieldwork, I was very proud of myself because it was a different experience for me to go around and evaluate people of different culture and ethnicity and it was rewarding. I felt very connected to the people I have met because they have taught me thing about their culture, through interviews.

What did you learn from your fieldwork experience? What did you find out that you didn’t know before?
I have learned many thing from this fieldwork, such as their cultural norms, values and beliefs. I also learned about their eating habits, how they eat, how they interact with their customers, what type of customers goes there. Through observation and interview, I have found out that Indian people can’t eat any food associated with beef, because the owner religion is Hinduism, and in their religion you can’t eat beef. I also observed that the barbers show courtesy toward all their customers, doesn’t matter what race they are from or what they belief. What I didn’t know that the most of the Barbers eat with their hand rather than eating with spoon or fork. I also found out that the Barber doesn’t get a weekly salary, instead they have to pay $ 60 for their own chair every day and rent. Once the payment of the chair is paid for, the rest of the money they make throughout the day is theirs.
What are some main themes that emerged in the course of your research?
Some main themes that emerged in the course of my research was immigrant’s interaction with each other, their values, norms, beliefs and struggle of an owner in a society. Also how the owner runs a business in a multi culturally diverse society, and role of globalization.

Are there any concepts you learned in class that you can use to analyze your fieldwork experience? Try to identify at least two.
There are many concepts that I have learned in class that I used to analyze my fieldwork experience, such as rapport, where I had to go to a Bengali Annual Picnic with Jibon and his family in long Island, where I participated in their 100 meter race, raffle ticket to win prize, hot potatoes, ate their cultural food, played soccer with kids and elderly from their culture to gain his trust, before I even got to interview him about his business. Another concept that I used was field notes, where I wrote down everything he told me about in his business, in my notes after I interviewed him. I also used gender stratification to identify inequality among male and female barbers. Through observation I have figured out that female barber makes a lot more than the male barber in the workplace. The women barber tends to attract more customers because she was outgoing, talkative, and worked there for a long time. Therefore; she made a lot more money than the other barbers which creates an inequality.

Where did you see power at work? Was there a critical source of conflict, such as those between people, belief systems, and cultures?
I saw that the customers have all the power, because without the customers the business would not run and no money would generate. The owner has more power than the barbers because even though the barbers rent their chairs, the owner has certain set of rules that they have to follow. I also see physical power where one barber has the key to the store, and he is responsible for opening the store on time because Jibon trust him, which is also a power and privilege he has. Age of the barber also has a power as well, where the younger worker must be present at work earlier than elderly worker. Only the owner has the authority to withdraw money from the registers or drawers, because the Barbers must report a total income at the end of the shift and must count the daily report. There weren’t really a critical source of conflict between the workers about their pay or how much they should get paid but only one conflict occurs at the end of the week, where they must pay the owner rent for their chairs. The conflict occurs when they are short on paying rent, and Jibon doesn’t penalize them, instead he will just take portion of what the barbers make from the current week, to cover the previous week. There aren’t any conflict with belief, culture, or values, because they very respectful each other’s.