The Spatial Gaze

 "Gaze is the act of seeing; it is an act of selective perception. Much of what we see is shaped by our experiences, and our "gaze" has a direct bearing on what we think. And what we see and think, to take the process one step further, has a bearing upon what we say and what and how we write ."

--Paul Stoller

Spatial gaze is the fieldworker's stance and worldview. In the field we must do the following things to give comprehensive attention and description to the importance of space:

• how to look at your fieldsite
• detailing and mapping space
• finding unity and tension within a place
• tension is revealed in the moments of contradiction when multiple or opposing perspectives collide
• locating a focal point (finding a perspective from which to describe your fieldsite)

Personal Geographies (sense of place) influence our spatial gaze, how we look.

• factors influencing gaze may not always be in our awareness

Selective Perception

• letting your eye rest on things locals do (as insiders)
• methods
• outside to inside: begin with a large, sweeping description of the fieldsite landscape and move inside to important details you will "rest" on.
• questions which reveal selective perception (ethnocentric gaze):
• why do i focus on this element and not that?
• what is my reason for narrowing my gaze to any specific place?
• what spaces have i rejected when narrowing?
• Why do i use the metaphors and descriptions that i do?
• which metaphors and descriptives did i abandon as inappropriate?
• where in my fieldnotes do i find evidence for this description?
• what have i rejected and why?
• REMEMBER don't rely only on visual cues (I'm blue in the face):
• sound
• tastes
• textures
• smells
• light, shapes, time, season, weather, atmosphere, etc.

Writing about perceptions

• Nouns
• a focal point is often a noun that recurs, provides a starting point for understanding the fieldsite, provides a metaphor (acts as a generalizing symbol) for your fieldsite. 
• a place from which you might logically elaborate on your fieldsite (tell its story)
• ex: NY Ave. as the nexus of gay culture (even though the gay section of AC was the area surrounding NY Ave.)
• look for vocabulary specific to your fieldsite
• Verbs
• bring action to your fieldsite
• look for exactly the right verbs to describe the activities taking place
• look for precision and active voice
• so, use ACTIVE (not passive) verbs
• Adjectives and adverbs
• cultural assumptions can hide inside adjectives and adverbs!
• qualifying words contain value judgements and are not verifiable
• leave most of them out and just describe what you see, hear, taste, smell...through your SENSES rather than draw conclusions

Colonized spaces result when (don't produce a colonized space through your observational accounts):

• when people inhabit spaces over which they have no control.
• when researchers don't adopt the informants perspective
• when researchers write about a culture from their own privileged gaze, 
• when ethnographers fail to use the informants voice in the writing process
• seen in situations of urban blight
• seen in situations of gentrification