Recipes and Dishes

 What is the role recipes in culture?

• Creating Dishes
• A recipe represents an agreed on list of ingredients, methods,  and an outcome- a dish
•  supplies an accepted use of techniques, applied to ingredients, which can be repeated again and again to reproduce a specific dish.
• recipes create "authentic" dishes
• Variable (especially in domestic contexts) - augmented by creativity, versatility, and adaptability - a cook's skill can be applied to the reworking of a recipe to their circumstances
• cooking is lifelong experiential learning- creating confidence through experience
• Recipes can change the way we eat
• Cooking is about much more than making food- it is about aesthetics, combinations of ingredients, skill, and the interplay of the senses, together with an image of what the food should look like when the dish is finished. 
• Each dish is differentiated by its culinary aesthetics
• the appearance of a dish, including how it is served, the dish acts as a form of visual communication, relying upon aesthetics and symbols to condense many cultural ideas and messages into one format.
• The interpretation of these messages depends on the beholder - a member of that culture or an outsider- mediated by the knowledge they have attained through experience and education.
• some dishes become culture bearers - coming to represent a culture through their presence at home, in private, in public on a menu. -"classic XXX"
• culinary representation of a culture- their national identity (hummus, Bahn Mi, etc.)
• Recipes are a means of cultural reproduction - even in immigrant communities, food is one of the things that retains its importance even when other aspect of ethnicity fade.
• Recipes allow cultural borders to be crossed and culture to be reproduced anywhere.
• oral more elastic, written, more rigid
• Experiential Cooking and Embodied Knowledge
• Oral recipes are passed down through the generations, usually through women
• embodied apprenticeship - technique of the body
• learned bodily actions that reflect or embed certain aspects of a culture. Cultural practices are literally embodied in physical motion and skills. 
• recipes are personal and familiar and belong to those who use them
• part of the lived experience of a cultur, recorded in memory through performance
• creative- adapting to different environments
• Recipes contain  a culture's culinary rules and the performance space to bend them- so cooks creatively do in the following ways as part of experiential techniques of living recipes. They allow cooks to respond to challenges while still ahereing to a cuisine's identity:
• Blending
• mixing ingredients in new combinations or mixing techniques and dishes together (making chili with more vegetables to make it healthier or less spicy)
• Submersion
• hiding the identity of new ingredients by adding them in a way that disappear (putting condensed tomato soup in a masala)
• Substitution
• replacing one ingredient with another, especially when not a vailable (or make your vegan tacos)
• Wrapping or stuffing
• enclosing something new or foreign within a familiar wrapping (leftover chicken tagine in a sandwich)
• Simplification
• paring down recipes or simplifying techniques to make preparation easier, less time consuming, and not in need of special equipment
• As recipes are written down, they lose the flexibility of the spoken, living "autobiographical" oral recipe, and they take on the format of the observer, rather than the cook
• fixes the ingredients and methods into a very specific formula
• offer a template for sociability of cooking and eating, using differently valued ingredients to suit guests social positions
• Individual cooks repertoires may be shaped by the ideological expectations of gender roles and the task of cooking to suit their family tastes.
• give one insights into the cooks social relationships (husband's favorite dish, always do taco tuesday for the kids...)
• Inalienable wealth- something that cannot be detached from the bearer. To take this is called "appropriation"
• Authenticity --- how do we determine it?
• the written recipe moved the ownership to the cookbook author rather than the cook or the culture
• privileged the textual recipe over the many LIVING versions of the everyday domestic cook
• appropriated the inalienable wealth of these cooks and commodified by bringing it to paper. 
• took recipe to the world of public discourse
• this alter's the dishes contextual meaning
• communicates ones willingness to cook dishes from other cultures, one's distinctive taste, and the search for the authentic

Reading Commercial Recipes: Textual Cooking

• High Cuisine: created by textual recipes for the wealthy
• but brought these recipes out of the public sphere and back into the hands of domestic cooks - gradually extended across classes
• convey the social and cultural ideals of everyday life played out through food
• home/public, free/wages, women/men, low status/haute cuisine
• cookbooks marked the boundaries of cuisines
• Haute cuisine remained in restaurants. 
• disembodied transfer of cultural knowledge. How many cooks learn how today.

Cookbooks: Codifying National Cuisines

• written recipes can be used to unite people with the cuisine of their culture and instill a sense of connection between people and a particular place (nationalism)
• allows citizens to imagine they share a common culture
• slow food movement in Italy
• suggests continuity with the past, reconciling the uncertainties of the present and the future. 
• its through food rather than political rhetoric that most people experience a culture.
• become a powerful symbol of identity
• connect to specific events in a nations history
• connect people to values, beliefs and achievements of an idealized past.
• Eating the National Cuisine became a benign way to embrace diversity, to get to know "the other", without actually meeting.
• Summary
• The pages that are splattered and stained are reminders of past meals
• Provoke memories of people and relations
• act as primers for accumulating social and cultural capitol
• are capable of blurring the lines between social differences to bring a sense of belonging and unity
• they are cross cultural traditions that can be reproduced in people's homes by learning how to cook another culture's cuisine -and the implications of this
• British cuisine: Cookbooks to Curry (example)
• cultural, historical, political, and economic changes can be recorded in cookbooks over time. 
• cookbooks reveal the social order of society
• Industrial Revolution: cookbooks became important-vacuum in transmission was first accommodated by the purchase of street foods and by using industrial cuisine. Cookbooks offered an alternative and became instruments of imparting cooking skills and eventually the government incorporate cooking into public school education.
• foreign dishes were domesticated and reworked to match British tastes
• tone down dishes to meet British culinary aesthetics
• placed women's roles firmly in the household and the domestic sphere
• British upper classes favored French Haute cuisine and Italian cuisine
•  the rise of celebrity chefs: Jamie Oliver and Heston Blumenthal
• modern British cooking emerged as an amalgam of French and British cooking techniques
• New British culinary aesthetic - colorful, spicy, healthy - and ethically sourced and organic
• new dishes are given new local meanings and values and often their foreign origins are forgotten and they take on an adopted culinary identity.

Integrating the Literature

 

 Part of what we do as academics is to situate our work within the larger scholarly conversation.

just as THICK DESCRIPTION provides weight for your analytic arguments, citations provide weight for your "belonging" in the larger academic field. They are an argument for why your paper matters.

• what are the scholarly conversations around your topic (inequality, prisons, sex work, etc.-there may be more than one). 
• your literature review is key to this process
• you may have to do supplementary research of the literature as your themes develop
• YOU NEED TO READ!!!! (I know that most of you do not read enough)
• Scholars need to love reading and have the desire to see what others are saying about things that they are interested in.
• connecting your work to other scholars you demonstrate the legitimacy of your place in the conversation about your subject
• in a larger ethnography this may take the help of a research librarian (though I never have)
• Organizing literature is no different than analyzing qualitative data. 
• rather than integrating the literature into a cohesive narrative, some scholars start with a laundry list of previous studies (grrrr)
• they may summarize each argument in a separate paragraph.
• does not demonstrate your grasp of the larger arguments
• a good literature review synthesizes previous work and draws analytic conclusions from them
• I treat literature reviews like data and organize them into THEMES. then I integrate them as references into my writing when I am discussing that theme (as support or as clarification of a hypothesis i am making)
• I use the work of others to support my claims rather than describe their research (unless that is necessary)
• Metaphors for WRITING:
• ONE: The publishing world is a neighborhood with a set number of houses. Every published author reside in one of those houses. Once those houses are occupied, that's it! there is no more room!
• TWO: Publishing is an apartment complex, and when one complex is built, they build another. WORRY ABOUT HOW YOUR WRITE. There are always places to get your work published today if it is good (and even if it isn't).

What Do I call this thing?

I LOVED how some of our metaphors became titles last class! Yes, I love writing catchy titles and headings and subheadings! They are a device that moves the action along in your writing. 

• Make it catchy (sexy title)
• Should tell the reader as succinctly as possible what the work is about in an interesting way
• Give thought to key words that might be entered into search engines for the research of others
• If you can't bear to part with a catchy creative title that does not search well, consider a subtitles which is more descriptive

Structure:

Describe your topic

research methodology/fieldsite

Introduce your characters

Introduce yourself

-----

Plot points which introduce your themes, enliven your characters, identify crises

----

Resolve crises as you draw theoretical conclusions

----

wrap up action

pose questions for further research

Panic Attack

You have finally written up your work. It is creative, well-developed...you follow a story arc, introduce intriguing characters living in a colorful world. they encounter and overcome obstacles. You do this all with thick description and panache! You have inserted YOURSELF into the scholarly conversation and found just the right title (s). Then you start with the self-doubt...the imposter syndrome. 

• Maybe not with a college assignment, but if you go on to write (which I hope you do), this is common, but not useful
• Anne Lamott:
• "You may experience a dreary form of existential dread, considering the absolute meaninglessness of life, and the fact that no one has ever really loved you; you may find yourself with a free-floating shame, and a hopelessness about your work, and the realization that you will have to throw out everything you've done so far and start from scratch. But, you will not be able to do so."
• Ethnography takes a long time-YEAR (5-10)
• Fear of failure is a normal response but not useful

Publishing and Framing

I know we are not here yet, but some of you will write pieces now, or in the future that are worthy of publishing and you should SUBMIT these without fear of rejection. YOU WILL BE REJECTED

• I write with a publisher in mind, whether it is a book, article or short commentary
• I write differently for different audiences
• Pedagogical approximation- the adjustment of material and presentation to match a certain audience
• Critical Acceptance: i make sure that I frame my arguments in a way that my target audience can CONSIDER them, and have enough information to draw CONCLUSIONS on their own. Whatever that audience.
• make sure you follow the guidelines of the publishers
• make sure you review some sample work
• make sure you can argue the merits of your written piece. CLEARLY and FORCEFULLY
• Routledge.
• Check out who the editor is

WHAT IS THE SIGNIFICANCE OF YOUR ETHNOGRAPHY?

WHAT ARE THE TAKE-AWAYS THAT YOU WOULD LIKE YOUR READER TO GET?

WHY IS YOUR WORK SIGNIFICANT?

WHO ARE THE READERS?

____

Email---Be persistent and know what value your piece has.

Hi Laurie,

 

This is an important topic, but I’m not sure whether it’s something the average yoga teacher would find accessible. It might be a closer fit for academics who study Buddhism, yoga, and related fields, and though that market exists it’s probably not huge. If you’d like to submit a proposal per the attached guidelines I’d be very happy to take a look and potentially get a couple of reviews—please do submit a proposal rather than the entire manuscript, though. If you’d like to submit a draft of the manuscript or sample chapters alongside the proposal that’s fine.

 

 

All best,

Anna

 

Anna Moore

Publisher | Routledge

Ms. Moore, 

 

            Your comments are much appreciated, and we are grateful for the opportunity to clarify and resubmit this proposal. Edward and I are quite aware that this book presents challenging material; however, we also believe, and so do those that have read existing chapters (both inside yoga: David White, Renata Gregorio within academic yoga: Graham Schweig, Anya Foxen, Joseph Alter and yoga practitioners in other fields -acting: Martin McDougall), that this material is both timely and much needed, as it fills a void in the serious consideration of yoga as a viable enterprise. Mark Singleton’s book, Yoga Body (Oxford) began a critical discussion of the reality of modern yoga and its history. His work, along with the many publications that have since come out of Oxford (James Mallinson, Jason Birch, Anya Foxen, Andrea Jain) have all contextualized yoga historically and/or critiqued it in its modern form. These works, though academic, are (and have been) featured at yoga conferences and are central to both the publications and “live” presentations of the behemoths of the yoga industry, Yoga Journal, Yoga International, and Yoga Alliance as a cornerstone to their continuing education materials. Yoga teachers are both interested in and engaging with these materials.  

This book broadly acknowledges the academic research and provides a way forward for teachers and practitioners absent historicity. Where Jain (Selling Yoga -Oxford) presents an accurate image of yoga as a product of global markets, continually adapting to various contexts through the forces of capitalism; this book provides a way forward. It is critical, but not cynical, and outlines a model for critical inquiry for both teachers and students. It thoughtfully considers difficult issues for teachers which are currently reshaping the industry – “somatic dominance”, inclusivity, authenticity, and the modern evolution of the discipline. It is the first to define and recast the most modern and popular practice, vinyasa, in contrast to hatha yoga and presents an aesthetic philosophy for teaching and practice. It provides very practical information: how to create an effective presentation, build and maintain a clientele, understand the roles of teacher and student and maintain boundaries, plan and teach meaningful classes. What makes this book unique, is that it deals with these pedagogical and practical issues as they are informed by a broad range of academic perspectives. Yes, these perspectives are challenging, but having taught at a state college for 35 years, I do believe they are presented in ways that are accessible to the average reader who is truly interested. (Certainly, we have made every effort to do so, and this is one priority of the editing process.)  

 The marketing of books is of great concern. Having just published a cross-over volume with Rutgers University Press, I am quite sensitive to the need for authors to take a greater role in the dissemination and marketing of their materials and of the kinds of risks that publishers today take. Edward and I have both been involved in the upper echelons of the yoga community for over 40 years and are prepared to continue reach out to influential teachers, studio owners, and others who are our longtime friends and colleagues to secure endorsements, and market this book to their students. We have a strong online presence and over the years, through our separate and joint trainings, have cultivated and continue to expand a worldwide group of teachers and practitioners. Likewise, in the academic market where universities are more frequently offering courses (I teach one), and even majors in “Yoga Studies” (Naropa University, BA., Somaveda College of Natural and Integrative Medicine, BA.Loyola Marymount, MA., Leslie University, MA., Maryland University of Integrative Health, MA., GTU (Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley) MA., PhD., SOAS, University of London, BA., MA., PhD., Harvard University, PhD.) there are many marketing opportunities, as this book fills a void. In many ways, I have written this book for my classes, both in academia and as a trainer of yoga teachers. As a founding member of Yoga Alliance (1999), I am well-positioned to present this material through industry organizations as well. 

We have attached the proposal and look forward to your consideration and comments. No matter the outcome, we truly thank you for allowing us the opportunity to clarify our presentation and highlight the importance of this work. The yoga community/industry is at a crossroads. There is an opportunity to capitalize on the changing yoga market as it emerges from this pandemic; large industrial venues are closing and those who are left, the serious and dedicated practitioners and teachers, are hungry for material that can provide an intelligent and innovative way forward. 

Sincerely,

Laurie A. Greene

Cast and Characters

 Characters are the people you interact with sometime during the course of your research.

TWO TYPES:

• unique individuals
• class of people (composite)
• fictionalized, yet grounded in your research
• typical cases of a group of people
• alert your reader to this when you use them in your ethnography
• explain details of particular categories in your research
• have layers of complexity-not stereotypes
• want to know WHAT, HOW, and WHY humans do things
• Use anecdotes : personify your character and give your reader insight into their world.
• story is similar to others that you heard throughout your research
• good example of average participant at your site 
• drawn from your fieldnotes and transcriptions
• Descriptive details help the reader imagine your character
• dont overdue it. a few details allow your reader to imagine your character in your head
• "Jason is a tall, thin man with a comb-over"
• think of details that make your character distinct
• how do they speak? are there distinctive details?
• What is their body language, posture? how do they move?
• do they have mannerisms?
• clothing
• better to give your details descriptively instead of explaining anything about the character of the individual directly
• "Zooming Out" to describe the group can help to define your individual characters in context

Metaphorically Speaking:

• Help to personify your characters and bring them to life on the page
• Metaphors are analogies that connect two things that seem on the surface to be unrelated, but when pointed out, makes rhetorical sense.
• metaphors add color to your story and help tap into your reader's imagination
• metaphors that your informants use can be utilized in your storytelling as a literary device in your writing
• what metaphors do your informants use?
• Can act as touchstones in your story
• MUST be familiar to your audience to be useful

write a scene from your research using a metaphor used by your informants.

Vignettes:

• Vignettes are "snapshots" or short description of events or people that evoke the overall picture the ethnographer is trying to paint
• help to set up a scene for the reader
• set up a question in the reader's mind
• stand alone, but also places that question in the reader's mind...it is NOT resolved

Sounding "Smart":

• many of us in academia are guilty of using jargon as an elite membership card
• Elegance in writing is BETTER...simplicity
• relies on trusting the power of the research tale itself, told in a clear and straightforward manner
• your IDEAS make an impression on your reader
• they wont get through your writing if they think it is pedantic or you are a pompous ass.
• look at how many articles or books you have never finished at university

Writing Writing Writing: Voice

 

VOICE

There are two different voices in which ethnographers write: Their own and those of their informants

Greatest concern is how to capture and represent our informants voices authentically.

• voice should bring humanity to the experience
• voice should be "textually embodied"
• test: read your work out load. Does it sound like you?
• Be a relaxed writer and begin by writing quickly. let go of your inner editor and just write. Your inner editor can come back later in the writing process.
• emulate the work of writers you enjoy. Why do you like their writing?

Writing in the Voice of Our Informants:

• you should never embarrass your informants
• gestures used to clarify direct quotes are put in []
• be careful how you use first (we, I), second (you, they), and third (one, she a woman) person in your writing. First person is most evocative, but third person can give a sense of distance, being ignored, or emotional content like disassociation if used properly. Second person is almost never used in ethnography.

Active/Passive Voice:

• Active voice is best and shows that the unfolding story is dynamic.
• This ethnography explores... versus In this ethnography I explore...
• use active voice by identifying the "actor" things dont happen by themselve
• Adverbs (get rid of them) replace them with action verbs
• change these to verbs "slowly walked", "lovingly touched", "spoke loudly"
• SHOW don't tell
• thick description (Geertz)
• invites readers into the world of your ethnography
• compelling details draw the reader into the story
• details bring context (immerse your reader)
• sensual and visceral
• Can you identify compelling details from your fieldnotes????
• tell a story rather than "use a quote"
• Can you write a character sketch of a composite character from your research (name, characteristics, background story)

Conversations:

• include conversations in your writing if you have recorded them
• more natural speech
• has context within it
• you CAN create a conversation that happened between you and the informant (with a composite) totally kosher!
• Many ways 
• 
  

Writing, Writing, Writing: Structure

 

IMPORTANT ASPECTS OF WRITING

(1)  After watching the film, pick an aspect of "tradition" of the Toda and write detailed notes about it

(2) watch the film again and take notes

(3) Compare both sets of notes

(4) compare your notes to others

• differences between writing (1) (field notes) from memory (lack of detail, and the potential to collapse events and time, among others) and (2) writing while actually in a place (noting more detail, movement of people throughout spaces, variations at different times of day, and other aspects of in-site descriptions). 
• the different possible perspectives on places and events, what anthropologists call positionality; 
• the plethora of detail to be written about; 
• different writing styles; 
• differences in focus, (e.g., writing more about people and their interactions versus writing more about the physical space). 
• all of these are important to consider when writing descriptive field notes, as well as the importance of writing during or as soon after participant-observation experiences as possible. 

Tips and tricks for writers

• write every day
• reread and edit your writing
• find writing/editing partners that you trust for feedback
• Save every edition
• go back to your notes on a regular basis
• Allow your writing to mirror the "inductive" research process

We can Understand ethnography as having 3 basic strategies (noting that no research account can ever be "true"):

• straight forward description
• semi-fictionalized accounts
• creative-nonfiction (fictionalized accounts)

The article linked here discusses these various strategies HERE

What makes a story great and a great storyteller?

• identify a story you find compelling.What details and emotions are evoked in your own imagination? What does the author do to hold your interest?
• What do you hope will resonate with readers after they finish your work?
• Ruth Behar has a concept called the "vulnerable observer"--it states that good ethnography is written with the ethnographer being emotionally vulnerable
• "Ladder of emotion" (Hart)
• Far (away from those you observe-less emotional content)
• Near (close to those you observe-more evocative emotional content) 
• You may go up and down this ladder as you write to keep your reader's interest
• Try writing from a far and close perspective

"Types of Tails"

• realist tales-writer attempts to assume an objective stance in writing their narrative. It is usually written in an "institutional voice." It is focused on theory and make take on a documentary tone. The piece is premised on the authority of the writer/ethnographer (no longer in favor-imperialist)
• confessional tales-The writer is present in their ethnography in that they talk about how they collected their research, how it impacted them, how they went about the writing process. The reader follows the fieldworker through the journey of discovery.
• impressionistic tales-draw the reader into a dramatic story as your device. Utilizes literary and creative nonfiction devices. Characters are developed and their stories are presented in a literary structure. Through fiction one can draw on the totality of their experiences in the field.
• advocacy/critical tales-written with the overt stated purpose to enact social change (critical ethnography) in the service of justice. diametrically opposed to the objective stance.
• collaborative tales-a response to what is perceived as "knowledge appropriation". Here the ethnographer writes with a member of that culture. This is an attempt to diminish the power asymmetry between the researcher and the culture they study.
• experimental tales-reflexive positioning to help establish credibility. can be seen as narcissistic or navel gazing. (postmodern writing)

Story Arcs:

• this is the overall structure of your ethnography rather than the details. It is when you step back and consider the entire structure. (plot)
  
• written work should capture the flow of the dynamic ethnographic experience of fieldwork
• Events are not static categories which occur in a chronological order. They are constantly unfolding. Following transformations: physical, emotional, intellectual -which the ethnographer experiences

• A PLOT emerges when the storyteller carefully selects and arranges materials so that larger meaning can emerge. For larger meanings that connect and resonate with people outside of that culture. diminish the chance that your group will be fetishized by having the meanings be relatable.
• Stages:
• Exposition: introduce the reader to the world of ethnographic research, introduce the characters and give background information. Don't reveal too much too soon. Details will come out as your ethnography unfolds. Give them enough to set the stage and peak their interest.
• Rising Action: Plot point which describe action and the dynamic nature of your ethnographic experience. Readers want action not just facts. Through these plot points, further details may be revealed.
• take the readers into the immediacy of a scene, dramatic action, vivid conversation, and forward moving plots"
• bulid a tension that keeps readers reading through literary devices
• pacing-go quickly through less important bits and slow down with details for the important stuff
• action verbs
• cliff hangers: close out each plot point with a dramatic twist that leaves readers hanging-don't give conclusions too soon. Build evidence through experience into the climax of your plot. (creates tension)
• Crisis: everything hangs in the balance and the story could go a number of different ways for your informants. Like a wave about to break.
• Climax: This wave creates a climax, where things are resolved. We learn the outcome. 
• Falling Action: tie up loose ends and draw conclusions or pose further questions. Ends with a kicker that leaves the reader wanting to know more.

MAP YOUR ETHNOGRAPHY AND WRITE A KICKER FOR YOUR ENDING.

Example: Initial Themes in My Drag Fieldwork

 

                                                                    Chunky Marinara

Drag as Inclusion/celebration:

Sandy Beach: book newer queens to work with more experienced queens. The mentor thing, it is what we do. Mimi caused a bit of a stir…drag exploded. At the same time, Ru Paul has shoved drag into the mainstream. Its exploded now. Is Ru Paul’s drag race now setting the standard? Will it go back to being cookie cutter…marketting yourself for television instead of entertainment and performance.

Cleophatra: Drag is a celebration of everything, life, unity, inclusion…it should never be something that excludes. The only label I need is my name.

Gender queer punk rock aret comedy, dance, camp, queens. Drag queens do not have to conform to a mold. The performance art community is very gender fluid in Philadelophia, in drag, burlesque everywhere. Drag can be cookie cutter or open. In AC, it is open

Farrah: Its our second high school…we were bullied in high school and now the drag community is like our cheer learders and the drag bars our schools. Its where we learn to be confident gay men. …The girls will rally the troops. Like if you are having a bad day…instead of being afraid, we go to our clubs and support each other, and believing in ourselves….

Stasha: We can use our drag to influence people for good reason. We support the gay youth. When I was 15 I was kicked out and now I like kids to come out and be there for them and tell em not to be a fraid if their family kicks them out. We can be your family. I feel like I can use that. Drag makes a gay acceptable. Feel comfortable, smile, be entertained. Take a break from your not so easy life. I use it as an opener…for comfotability and acceptability. Here, everyone is welcome.

                                                                     Tinsel and Pattaya

Drag Families:

SS “drag mother in the southern states…kinda collectivelty a family, you two or three, you have one someone who is more the show queen, you have another someone who is more the pageant queen, and then there are some that mother you and guide you, like any mother would give you life lessons”

Roxxy Star (31) gogo dancer for a hip hop troupe at a lesbian bar. Needed know know how to paint my face, so I went to the only one I would ever want to be my drap mother in Tuscon, Jenney Starr…she showed me everything. ..Drag mother is someone who mentors you and shows you how to be in the drag community, the oerson who paints your face first”.

Jackie: In this day and age it is mainstream…I don’t have a drag mother, but my one drag daughter, I inspired a lot, but bob, a biological woamn with huge breasts, she does drag, and I will tell her!...shes a CIS woman…she wore this little wig once, she has big boobs, and im like listen bitch! This does not work!

Stasha.: drag mother took me under her wing. She teached me everything she had went through..luckily, she took me in. She schooled me, and got me off the negativity I was into

Sherry Vine

In NYC, I got a drag mother, it is like a family, and Raven would critique my act and dress…she would help me with my act….now I have a millio drag daughters…

Quinn Matthew:

Stasha is the drag daughter of my best friend, the baby queens that get mentored and they get shown the way…they become family. We fight like brother and sister. We rely each other in the worst of times and celebrate with each other in thebest of times. I do male pageants, as a amna, But I help the girls as a mentor. I like to nurture and give them that snese of…

Sheqeela lee-used to work through the Miss USA ans Miss teen USA as a dance choreographer. (52 years old).

“I have over 40 some kids that call me “mother Lee”, ummm…not all of them do drag, most of them are heterosexual or homosexual males, black males, who look up to what I do as being successful in my career…we all have familes dinners and stuff like that, and mostly, we use it as an outlet, where people don’t have familes that accept them for their lifestyleso they have a place of comfort that they can come and be around, other gays or other people who accept them for being who they are.

                                                                   Mimi, Fifi and Honey

Freedom to define what feminine is:

(SS) we do have a more realistic view of what our bodies are…if you were a woman of that size, how would you do it…we get to be not a cookie cutter, we control the amount of femininity that we are presenting to the audience…”The miss america has become so blocked. When they are in swim suits they all have the same set of hips, and they go ahead and get breast implants to make sure they is the right cup size…we don’t have to do that…we can be one thing one day or even one act, and another thing the other” “In Missed America, I can do what I likes…I can serve up rack of lamb in swinsuit and come back serving lamb bites in evening gown (laughs)”

farrah: The way that I act on stage or present myself on stage, when I get dressed, put on things, it just takes over instinctively. The costume draws something out of me which is already there. It is natural. My male persona is more of a performance…I have had to practice being a man, lower my voice on the phone, for example, shake the hand a little more firm, masculine up. Probably my day to day life is more than a performance…Farrah is easy.

                                                          Champagne Bubbles

Why do drag?—freedom of expression

Miles: cosmetologist. I like the confidence that drag requires. When I put on a wig or a certain outfit I feel so confident. I go to the gay club here, I m in full get up and you are just free to be you. That’s what our community provides anyway.

Shaquilalee “It brings out the inner person that you always wanted to be…its larger than life, stuff I can do as shaqueeda, I can never do as Jerry…When I am in drag, I am looking at the straight guys, I love that attention…”

“I feel like a barbie doll that I never got to play with, and now I get to dress up and play with it”

Its very empowering, you can dominate the room (SL)

Savannah:It has empacted me on a level of sexiness, I am very thin…I can never…it allows me to be more sexy and bold than I get to be in my every day life….they have to look at me, I am powerful, I am 7 feet tall.”

Jackie Beat: drag used to be a rite of passage in the 70s and 80s, you would all get together for certain occassions in drag and I jus took it a little more seriouysly. There is something about a voice you discover when you are simultaneously not a man or a woman. You can pretty much say and do anything and people cut you slack (liminal)

…this is nirvavana..and hearing people laugh at my horrible jokes.

Savanah S- got into drag to pay for college from a military family, gotten so many opportunities through drag. “ every person is unique, just like stones…as drag queens we are that more rare jewel, because we can live as men or women…we know what women go through, to an extent, yet we are men.” (Savanah)

Roxxy…theater junkie, performer, one other kind of performance, but have severe nerves and anxiety and when it comes to doing that in front of other people, I freeze.”I have no desire to be a female in any sense, Roxxy is a character that comes out and expresses a whole nother side of me that IS me, but that is…that helped to break some barriers in the world and learn WHO I WAS….I think Roxxy has always been in there…it is a really liberating experience…”

CLEOphatra: I am a musical theater actor and I have been told because I am heavy that I wont be taken seriously until my 40s, and…it was devastating, because to be so inlove with something and so good at something and be told you have to wait 20 years…I was always hated drag…never thought it was for me…but I did costumes for Mark and then mimi contacted me, and I was hooked, weve talked on the phone everyday since, started making all her clothes and eventually dragged me in hsahaha to do the show…all of a sudden, drag became the artistic oulet I had been denied for the 5 years post college and then through being a drag queen I got my first off broadway role…I didn’t look like an actor is supposed to look like, but through drag I am able to accept the way that I am, that I am ok as I am…

NOAH “its an extension of ones being…it just sparkles.

…It celebrates everything that I was ever made fun of when I was a kid. ..I was always made fun of for being feminine, I was over the top and it kind of celebrates that…So it makes me feel like I can be myself and other people are that way too.

Chacha: Now I do it because it keeps me alive. It gets me out of depression, out of trouble. My mom and my sisiter passed a year and a half ago….repression…it was destrying me…so I went back to drag…I needde to put my energy into creating something. And…here I am…I ll be doing it until I am 90.

BDC: …the history of queer performance…gay people were forced to be underground, and this campy performance is a mockery of that society that is pushing them into the shadows…self knowleged and self referencing is so a part of camp…a character and and a commentary on the character all at. the same time.

Farrah: Make up costume and wig…when you act, people think they know who you are, but when you are in drag it is like you are wearing a mask, no one knows who you are…its like I am guarded behind the make up…its someone who takes the wheel for a couple of hours and lets me sit on the passenger side and relax and when I get home I can just…take the wig off and I am back to normal…like having a split personality and letting it take over.

                                               Original Miss'd America with Cast

Drag and Subversion:

MimI: I have always thought of my drag of being very brechtian, not trying to fool anyone, trapping them in the story, I never tried to convince you that I am a woman, I don’t really care…I want to get to the heart of the performance…camp. Its about this over the top…drag mocks identity and perceptions of identity. What is the idea of a woman, and then we just like crank it up, beyond barbie…its not even uber femme, it not even femme, its like, beyong the expectations of what is realistic for any living thing. Or simply what hair can do…the purpose of it is that it kind of solves the human need to be able toimagine what you want to be…not forgetting to play or imagine…we get so ingrained in yes no yes no, and…it lets us quesytion all of that drag is the antithessis of that. It gives you the ability to challenges and question whatever you like, drag is a political act, punk rock, activism, a fuck you to societiy’s rules…it is subversive in ots nature. It lives in that zone.

Cleophatra: Gender as a device for performance is one thing. Drag elevates itself beyond the specific gender binary and it allows itself to becomes a starting point for discussion gender and we see gender and speak about gender and a good diffuser for being able to discuss trans issues and the idea of sex…a lot of Trans females use drag as a vehicle to explore their gender.

Mimi: It would lose something if it was comepletely mainstream. There is something sexy about breakiung the rules.That is the reason why women who dress as men, that does not get the same attention. It is interesting to me…its not taboo for a woman to assume the roles of a mna, for a woman to wear a mans clothing…for a man, how dare you, you give up your male privledge and your male power to be a woamn…its seen as criminal. No one blinks an eye if a woman does it. There is something a little perverse about it…

BDLC:Painting drag with a broad brush..is like talking about art generally, there are many styles …drag is similar…camp sensisbility that I like so much …theres a way in which youre presenting something that is so…naïve to a situation, but in the way thatnthey perform it is clear that the actor is in on the joke with theaudience. The character highlights my positive qualities and my flaws but also a reflection of what I see around me in society…my character has a short attention span for instance..i see my character as a cultural commentary, but how that looks always shifts…it may with an audience, or what I am trying to talk about.

Farrah: If you think gender is all a performance, I would invite you to do it…to put of a pair of high heels and a wig and select a song…everything is real..and everything is a performasnce from the moment we get up and brush our teeth…I don’t understand…at one point we are all acting…for me EVERYTHING is real. EVERYTHING. I feel it. I feel that character…sometimes it takes me a while to get it out of me…ive become it. It could take hours…a shower. (embodiment-method acting) Its all in you…you have to borrow things from your personality to make it beilevable.

Mimi:It’s a really valid arguent…appropriation…but, you cant dress uplike that because you are not from that world…when is the point when you cant be anything but what you are? …Is all blackface wrong? It’s a good question. Ive seen it work. It’s the performance that matter, not the blackface. As long as it comes from a place of respect and love….it comes from an admiration of women and things that are feminine…and the other part is that…its an escape from the oppression that gay men have had for so long, because if you think about…growing up, gay men are picked on when they are growing up and stigmatized, not because they are gay, but because we are feminine. Its because he has femineine qualities…giving up his male power to be feminine. In some ways drag is not about protraying a WOMAN, it is about protraying femininity…its not what a woman does…it is a fantasy…its about gay men and their oppression.

Jackie: There needs to be affection in a performance…that judement does coem from the audience…we see that in black face in drag…palying diana ross…

                                                    Sherry Vine

Drag & Embodiing Femininity

Cleo is an extension of me, my personality doesn’t change, I tell dirtier jokes, but…I need that person to be an extension of me…there is something real in that. She is real. I cant play another person without being myself…

Ben de la creeme:Embodiying her on the stage has changed me, I feel much more aware and comfortable in my life about the way that evereything is a performance, and certainly the way I…can embody a character that comes natural…It has shifted my relationship to my gender presentation over the years in a way that when I was very young, I sortof was like,,,do I want to be a woman or…and I realized no, and..then I wanted to understand about misogyny in drag, I really wanted to understand the history and perspective…more often it’s a real container for qualities that exist in the people who perform it. Push the boundaries…I went through a period when I was way butcher in my daily life, like it let me let go of femininity in a way that I had not, and now I feel really comfortable in my skin with my femininity.

Chacha: People think that we are mocking women, but in my case it is a tribute, not a mocking…I know that women say that…how could you do that when you are not a woman? But you do not need to have a vagina to feel like a woman or a penis, you don’t, to feel or behave like a man, its all in you and how you feel.

Chacha: Females inspire me. I try to replicate the beauty I see in that women. The feamle members in mexico inspire me because they show me what real beauty is…it has nothing to do with the outside, but it’s the inside, and when you can show that…everyone is beautiful…I copy mannerisms and them I put them on the performance. I play six characters…from one to the other…now I put it all in performnace.

Farrah: We go between the two genders and stay in the same body…its had an interesting impact on my body. Sometimes I catch myself walking like farrah…

Farrah: Taking command of a room…they walk into a room and everyone stops and pays attention. My talent is being funny and charismatic. I do a 5 minute meal routine. I love making people laugh and smile.

FARRAH: our own way of taking our creativity, an illustion and play around with the insecurities I have had before, or I get to embrace the fact that I have always been a

feminine boy and that femininity can be very powerful….all the positive role models I have had in my life have always been women. Strong women like my mother and my boss. I was raised by  a lot of women. I have always been attracted to women’s power and what they are and what they can do.

Stasha: When Im stasha, they think im a full on woman. I love that. Im the poochie glam dance queen.

Manilla Luzon: women get so many liberties to be creative…I love being creative and I love pretty things…and it is fun to do it for yourself, instead of your girlfriends, I always loved fashion. I was forced out of the closet, I wasn’t ready, but…since everyone knew…I did what I wanted…when I was playig straight…I mean playing straight, that was the acting. If Ia ma coming out of the closet, I am taking all the dresses with me (laughs).

It all comes from within, but it is so influenced by so many women, my mother, actresses, pop starts, always drawing inspiration from women, all women. I don’t want to physically be a woman, but I love the powr they have. Drag is the perfect place for me to express myself…drag is about no boundaries, I don’t know where it is going to go, conchita wurst, the bearded drag queen…she is hot, always evloving working with what you have…to express yourself… sickening eye makeup and a beard, no boobs, not tucked, you don’t have to wera haels anymopre as long as you are dressing up…drag is about making sure that people look at you and say yes, this is who ai am , this is how I am expressing ourselves…we can present ourselves any way we want…

Partner sahara davenport died of heart failure at 27, as a result of using designer drugs like ketamine, she got off them with the help of her drag mother before she entered the world of entertainment.

Sherry…And drag is like turning the volume up … we are not playing women…its heightened…its an other. I see it as a character…I don’t see it as a woman or acting feminine.

Jackie B: We grew up watching carol burnett…we wanted it to be campy!

Women are allowed to express themselves…fashionably, hairstyles, emotionally…when you hear a torch song by some woman, its all over the place!...thats not what the male side of the world is…so when I see drag kings, it always shocks me a little bit because what they are really doing..is putting a wayy up and truning the emotions off..women can be so much more…

I don’t really appreciste the draggs that look like real girls…if I want to see real girls, ill hang out at the mall, I want to see a monster…shock value does not work though…

Jackie: Women are allowed to express themselves…fashionably, hairstyles, emotionally…when you hear a torch song by some woman, its all over the place!...thats not what the male side of the world is…so when I see drag kings, it always shocks me a little bit because what they are really doing..is putting a wayy up and truning the emotions off..women can be so much more…

I don’t really appreciste the draggs that look like real girls…if I want to see real girls, ill hang out at the mall, I want to see a monster…shock value does not work though…

                                                        Bebe Zahara Benet

What to Do With Fieldnotes: Discovering Themes

 What the hell do I do with all these fieldnotes?

Discovering THEMES in your qualitative research:

• WORD-BASED TECHNIQUES (easy)
• TEXTUAL SCRUTINY (harder)
• ANALYZING LINGUISTIC FEATURES (not impossible)
• MANIPULATION OR THE TEXT (can't beat it- necessary)

Word-based techniques are typically a fast and efficient ways to start looking for themes, and are particularly useful at early stages of theme identification. These techniques are also easy for novice researchers to apply. 

1. Word repetitions

If you want to understand what people are talking about, look at the words they use.

• Words that occur a lot are often seen as being salient in the minds of respondents. 
• D'Andrade notes that "perhaps the simplest and most direct indication of schematic organization in naturalistic discourse is the repetition of associative linkages" (1991:294). 
• Anyone who has listened to long stretches of talk, whether generated by a friend, spouse, workmate, informant, or patient, knows how frequently people circle through the same ideas using familiar language.

Cleophatra: Drag is a celebration of everything, life, unity, inclusion…it should never be something that excludes. The only label I need is my name.

Gender queer punk rock aret comedy, dance, camp, queens. Drag queens do not have to conform to a mold. The performance art community is very gender fluid in Philadelophia, in drag, burlesque everywhere. Drag can be cookie cutter or open. In AC, it is open

Word repetitions can be analyzed formally and informally. 

• In the informal mode, you simply read the text and note words or synonyms that people use a lot. 
• repetitions indicate some ideas were important, recurring themes. 
• A more formal analysis of word frequencies can be done by generating a list of all the unique words in a text and counting the number of times each occurs. (sort of like "coding")

2. Indigenous categories

Look for local terms that may sound unfamiliar or are used in unfamiliar ways. 

• Understanding indigenous categories and how they are organized has long been a goal of cognitive and linguistic anthropologists. 
• The basic idea in this area of research is that experience and expertise are often marked by specialized vocabulary. 

to "read" someone
"camp"
"uber-femme"

3. Key-words-in-context (KWIC)

If you want to understand a concept, then look at how it is used. 

• In this technique, once you identify key words, systematically search the texts you have to find all instances of the word or phrase. Each time they find a word, make a copy of it and its immediate context. Themes get identified by physically sorting the examples into piles of similar meaning.

Nothing, however, beats a careful scrutiny of the texts for finding themes that may be more subtle or that don’t get signified directly in the lexicon of the text. Scrutiny-based techniques are more time-intensive and require a lot of attention to details and nuances.

4. Compare and contrast

Themes represent the ways in which texts are either similar or different from each other.

• This kind of detailed work keeps you focused on the data rather than on your preconceptions. Like a good journalist, you compare answers to questions across people, space, and time.
• This approach is like "interviewing the text" 
• "How is this text different from the preceding text?" 
• "What kinds of things are mentioned in both?" 
• "What if the informant who produced this text had been a woman instead of a man?" 
• "How similar is this text to my own experiences?" 
• "What does this remind me of?" 
• This often creates questions that lead to clarification with followup interviews with principle informants, or a new focus in continuing interviews.

5. Social science questions

Besides identifying indigenous themes—themes that characterize the experience of your informants—I'm also interested in how textual data illuminate questions of importance to social science. (theoretical importance).

• evidence of social conflict, cultural contradictions, informal methods of social control, things that people do in managing impersonal social relationships, methods by which people acquire and maintain achieved and ascribed status, and information about how people solve problems. 
• examining the setting and context, the perspectives of the informants, and informants’ ways of thinking about people, objects, processes, activities, events, and relationships. "
• ideas about gender, sexuality, the nature of sexual identity, the role of gender performance
• be sensitive to conditions, actions/interactions, and consequences of a phenomenon and to order these conditions and consequences into theories. 
• conditional matrix: a set of concentric circles, each level corresponding to a different unit of influence. At the center are actions and interactions. The inner rings represent individual and small group influences on these actions, and the outer rings represent international and national effects.
• be careful not to overfit your data – that is, find only that for which they are looking. 
• There is a trade-off between bringing a lot of prior theorizing to the theme-identification effort and going at it fresh. Prior theorizing, can inhibit the forming of fresh ideas and the making of surprising connections. But, theory-avoidance brings the risk of not making the connection between data and important research questions. 
• Novice researchers (like yourselves) may be more comfortable with the tabula rasa approach. More seasoned researchers, who are more familiar with theory issues, may find the social science query approach more compatible with their interests.

I am studying gendered performance, so in addition to my principle goal, which is to give voice to an informant's "story", I am always looking for elicited and observed information that sheds light on my research questions:

• what does all this say about gender and performativity
• how does this comment on the feminist critique?
• is drag inherently subversive?
• What is drag?
• What is femininity?

6. Searching for missing information

Instead of identifying themes that emerge from the text, search for themes that are missing in the text.

• A lot can be learned from a text by what is not mentioned. 
• Sometimes silences indicate areas that people are unwilling or afraid to discuss. 
• There are things that are difficult to ask for various reasons (direct questioning)
• Other times, absences may indicate primal assumptions made by informants-they leave out information that "everyone knows." (abbreviating) 
• looks for what is not said in order to identify underlying cultural assumptions. 
• searching for missing information is difficult. There are many reasons people do not mention topics. 
• avoiding sensitive issues 
• assuming investigator already knows about the topic,
• people may not trust you 
• people may not wish to speak when others are present 
• people may not understand your questions or may want to answer the way they think YOU want them too. (observer's bias)
• Distinguishing between when informants are unwilling to discuss topics and when they assume you already knows about the topic requires a lot of familiarity with the subject matter.

Using linguistic features of meaning such as metaphors, topical transitions, and keyword connectors to help identify themes.

7. Metaphors and analogies

People often represent their thoughts, behaviors, and experiences with analogies.

• Pay particular attention to informants' use of metaphors and the commonalities in their reasoning and explanations. 
• The object is to look for metaphors in rhetoric and deduce the schemas or scripts, or underlying principles, that might produce patterns in those metaphors. 
• schemas or scripts are what make it possible for people to fill in around the bare bones of a metaphor, so the metaphors must be surface phenomena and cannot themselves be the basis for shared understanding. 

8. Transitions

Another linguistic approach is to look for naturally occurring shifts in thematic content. 

• Linguistic forms of transition vary between oral and written texts. In written texts, new paragraphs are often used by authors to indicate either subtle or abrupt shifts in topics. In oral speech, pauses, change in tone, or particular phrases may indicate thematic transitions. 
• once  patterns are discovered (and markers of shifts-voice quality, tone, style, etc), it can be generalized and make you more sensitive to situations where they may be absent or more subtle.
• In two-party and multiparty speech, transitions occur naturally. In looking at conversation or discourse, you must closely examine linguistic features such as turn-taking, body language, speaker interruptions, and time holding the floor to identify transitions in speech sequences. 

9. Connectors

Look carefully at words and phrases that indicate relationships between things, to discover themes by searching groups of words and looking to see what kinds of things the words connect.

• Words such as: if or then, rather than, and instead of often signify conditional relationships. (or lack of certainty)
• The phrase: "is a" is usually associated with taxonomic categories (felt essential truths). 
• Time-oriented relationships are expressed with words such as: before, after, then, and next.
• Typically, negative characteristics occur less often than positive characteristics. So, simply searching for the words not, no, none, or the prefix non may be a quick way to identify themes. 
• Hale (1999): attributes (e.g., X is Y), contingencies (e.g., if X, then Y), functions (e.g., X is a means of affecting Y), spatial orientations (e.g., X is close to Y), operational definitions (e.g., X is a tool for doing Y), examples (e.g., X is an instance of Y), comparisons (e.g., X resembles Y), class inclusions (X is a member of class Y), synonyms (e.g., X is equivalent to Y), antonyms (e.g., X is the negation of Y), provenience (e.g., X is the source of Y), and circularity (e.g., X is defined as X).
• Metaphors, transitions, and connectors are all part of a native speaker’s ability to grasp meaning in a text. So, we tend to do this NATURALLY. By making these features (and our own analytical process) more explicit, we sharpen our ability to find themes.

Sometimes, theme discovery, requiring some physical manipulation of the text itself.

10. Unmarked texts

One way to identify new themes is to examine any text that is not already associated with a theme 

• This technique requires multiple readings of a text. 
• On the first reading, salient themes are clearly visible and can be quickly and readily marked with different colored pencils, sticky tabs or highlighters (I like colors). 
• In the next stage, the search is for themes that remain unmarked. 
• This tactic–marking obvious themes early and quickly—forces the search for new, and less obtrusive themes.

11. "Pawing"

I highly recommend pawing through texts and marking them up with different colored highlighter pens. 

• underlining key phrases because they make some (as yet not totally understood) sense-otherwise known as eyeballing. 
• In this method, you get a feel for the text by handling your data multiple times. (I have been known to print out my interviews, spread their them out on the floor, tack bunches of them to a bulletin board, and sort them into different file folders and -wait for patterns to hit me).
• This may not seem like a very scientific way to do things, but it is one of the best ways to begin hunting for patterns in qualitative data. Once you have a feel for the themes and the relations among, then we see no reason to struggle bravely on without a computer. Of course, a computer is required from the onset if the project involves hundreds of interviews, or if it’s part of a multi-site, multi-investigator effort. Even then, there is no substitute for following hunches and intuitions in looking for themes to code in texts (Dey 1993).

12. Cutting and sorting

Cutting and sorting is a more formal way of pawing and a technique I use quite a bit. It is particularly useful for identifying sub-themes. 

• The approach is based on a powerful trick most of us learned in kindergarten and requires paper and scissors. 
• First, read through the text and identify quotes that seem important. 
• Cut out each quote (making sure to maintain some of the context in which it occurred) and paste the material on small index cards. 
• On the back of each card, we then write down the quote’s reference—who said it and where it appeared in the text. 
• Then we lay out the quotes randomly on a big table and sort them into piles of similar quotes. 
• Then we name each pile. These are the themes. 
• An advantage to the cutting and sorting technique is that the data can be used to systematically describe how such themes are distributed across informants. After the piles have been formed and themes have been named, simply turn over each quote and identify who mentioned each theme.

Discussion

The variety of methods available for coding texts raises some obvious questions:

(1) Which technique generates more themes?

• there is no best method, but word-based techniques are easiest for novices

(2) When are the various techniques most appropriate?

• The choice of techniques depends minimally on the kind and amount of text, the experience of the researcher, and the goals of the project. 
• Word-based techniques (e.g., word repetitions, indigenous categories, and KWIC) are probably the least labor intensive. Word-based techniques are also the most versatile.  Given their very nature, however, they are best used in combination with other approaches.
• Scrutiny-based techniques (e.g., compare and contrast, querying the text, and examining absences) are most appropriate for rich textual accounts and tend to be overkill for analyzing short answer responses. If you are beginning to explore a new topical area, you might want to start with compare-and-contrast techniques before moving on to the more difficult tasks of querying the text or searching for missing information. If the primary goal of the this portion of the investigation is to discover as many themes as possible, then nothing beats using these techniques on a line-by-line basis.
• Linguist-based approaches are better used on narrative style accounts rather than short answer responses. Looking for transitions is the easiest technique to use, especially if the texts are actually written by respondents themselves (rather than transcribed from tape recordings of verbal interviews). Searching for metaphors is also relatively easy once you know what kind of things to look for in the texts. Looking for connecting words and phrases is best used as a secondary wave of finding themes, once you have a more definite idea of what kinds of themes you finds most interesting.
• In the early stages of exploration, nothing beats a thorough reading and pawing through of the data. It is particularly good for identifying major themes. The cutting and sorting techniques are most helpful. 
• An even more powerful strategy would be to combine multiple techniques in a sequential manner. 
• For example, you might begin by pawing through the data to see what kinds of themes just stick out. As part of this process, they might want to make comparisons between paragraphs and across informants. A quick analysis of word repetitions would also be appropriate for identifying themes at such an early stage of the analysis. If key words or indigenous phrases are present, you might follow-up by conducting more focused KWIC analyses. If the project is examining issues of gender and sexuality, for instance, you might also look for texts that are indicative of these things. Texts representing major themes can be marked either on paper or by computer. 
• You also might consider beginning by looking for identifying all metaphors and similes, marking them, cutting them out and sorting them into thematic categories. (I like this one)

(3) When do you know when you’ve found all the themes?

• There is no magic formula to answer this question. One strategy would be to interview people until some number of respondents in a row (say five or more) fail to mention anything new.
• another (my case) is to interview everyone you can (small sample) who has some knowledge as they emerge and then continually repeat the steps above.
• At some point you are willing to be DONE (there is always another study).