Paper short abstract:

This mini-Ethnography explores the visual identifications of litter at Chapel Market. Observing party string change from an object of play, to a discarded piece of litter on the ground, I knew I had sourced a novel topic to undergo participant-observation, with the aid of my smartphone camera.

Paper long abstract:

As a part of my MSc in Social Research Methods, I undertook a mini-Ethnography on Chapel Market and researched vendors' and visitors' visual identifications of litter. My rationale for this topic arose greatly from my gendered experiences of objectification, for I feared objectifying and ‘taking’, from a place that comprised people's identities, histories and stories. As a result, I chose a topic that participants could observe outside of the self and yet be prompted in being introspective of their individual or shared identities and histories, in exploring why objects or spatial areas signified litter. These interviews were undertaken overtly and in centring the participant's perspective in the gathering of data, I’d argue, a novel analysis was elicited. In the analysis, I discuss one exemplar, where discarded fruit and vegetables oscillated between the boundaries of rubbish to the discarded by vendors and a source of life for a visitor, who picked fruit from the discarded trays.

The data catalogue comprising overt interviews, covert observations and photographs taken by participants and myself, highlighted the extent to which litter, is intertwined with themes of the self and communal identities, history and Council policy. This provided an opportunity to be introspective of the apparatuses, that have influenced participants' perceptions in visually identifying litter. This in turn formed and determined the research purpose. Litter is an interesting, novel and visually effective topic, to engage and unite communities local and afar, in exploring their everyday practices in the forming, discarding and processing of litter.