Kristina Lance Engl 1101 Davis 16 April, 2014 Ethnography Just before going over my observations to start drafting,

I had to write a reflection on my year in Model United Nations. Through this reflection, I could clearly pick out what Model UN has taught me, and what it has meant to me throughout this year. Relationships was the one thing that really stuck out for me when writing that reflection, the relationships that one makes in Model UN are truly intriguing and an integral part of that groups functionality. Model United Nations, at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, is the group that I chose to study for this ethnography. I am a current member of the Model UN program at UNC Charlotte, and an insider in the group. I chose this group for my ethnography because I wanted to see from a new perspective how the group functioned and the mechanics of it. Little did I know that observing this group as an outsider was going to be a truly enlightening experience. Model United Nations at UNC Charlotte is both a class, and a club. In the spring, it is an advanced class that you have to be given permission to join. The class meets Tuesday and Thursdays from 3:30 to 4:45. I went and sat towards the back of the class in my first observation and did not participate. I immediately noticed that the students that came in were scattered into groups, and that a student was leading the class. She stood at the front, or sat on top of a desk facing the rest of the students and gave orders or information, on this day the information was about how to nominate people for the upcoming elections, and nominations were that day. I, also, noticed that several, at least three, students came in late, and that most of the students had multiple side conversations going on while the leader was speaking. The interaction was extremely informal and this led me to believe that this group held more importance in friendships and bonding with people. The way that the individuals sat in groups near each other, and chatted throughout the whole class, sometimes rowdily, really proved that relationships are the foundation of this group. The next time I observed this group was in a different setting, at one of the conferences that they attend. I observed one committee in this conference. They were much more professionally dressed, and acted in a more professional manner, with much stricter rules this time. However, I noticed that even though there was a great deal of structure in this observation that lacked before, the individuals were all trying to create relationships with each other to work together or to garner support for their particular idea through speeches or through the times when they would break out of formal rules and get up and form groups to talk with one another. These groups seemed to be the most important part of the committee, as they continually worked together on achieving goals. Many of the speeches given during the formal times were about relationships, and about coming together as a committee to enact something or to get a certain objective accomplished. Even in walking through the halls for a bathroom break, I saw many small groups banded together discussing ideas or hard at work putting those ideas into actions. The interview done with Mike Corbett, and the artifacts, really tied together my thoughts that relationships and building relationships seemed to be the most important aspect of Model United Nations for outsiders to understand. When talking with him, the Vice President

Internal of the organization, or the teacher of the group, I asked him how an individual becomes a member, and he said the best way to become a veteran is to know a veteran. That immediately tells me that most people that join the group do it because they know someone in the group, or they form such strong friendships within the group that they continue on through many years. Mike is in his second year with the organization. When asked what makes this community unique, Mike simply stated that is was the people that you meet, and that Its great because you develop relationships and friendships with people you never thought youd meet just because you go and debate with people interested in international politics. He really showed how truly important and meaningful the relationships he developed were for an organization like this and that shows in every aspect that I observed of this organization. Even the artifacts, which are put together as collective works, by pairs, or by the group as a whole, show that even in doing any kind of work, it is all about partnerships or relationships and working together to achieve goals. These individuals, while they might not be the most serious at all times, work hard and above all, value relationships. They are a tight knit group within UNC Charlotte, and they also, build relationships with people all over the country and the world at the conferences that they attend. They are an extremely unique group because everything that they do is based on building or facilitating relationships whether that is in class or in conferences. Looking back, not only through this ethnography, but also, on the year I spent in the organization, I can now, because of my observations, truly see how important and meaningful that one word, relationships, is for a group of individuals. I can see how truly bonded and connected this group of people are, and how they could not function effectively in the arena in which they compete without their individual abilities to connect with other people from all over the world, and build relationships with those people in order to achieve the goals they have set out for themselves. Relationships are what truly set this Discourse community apart from any other Discourse community.