SE 3

Modern Segregation

It is no secret that food and food culture is an extremely large part of human civilization, it has been for centuries.  Through observing certain habits related to food and its consumption, one can determine numerous aspects about the culture one is in.  In addition to having a specific culture between different societies, there are also sub cultures within a society, this could be something as broad as a certain state or province within a country or as specific as a school’s cafeteria.  This was very evident in an observation of the Centennial Halls’ dining room at the University of Denver.  Multiple aspects of the school’s sub culture was revealed but perhaps the most surprising was how  much racial segregation was prevalent in a supposedly very diverse and integrated liberal university. 

The University of Denver has three main dining halls across campus, Nagel Hall, Nelson Hall and Centennial Hall, the latter hall was the dining halls utilized in the observation.  Centennial Halls, colloquially known as “Halls”, mainly caters to underclassmen, especially freshmen.  The observation was carried out on a Sunday evening from 6:50 p.m. to 7:35 p.m., Halls officially closes at 7:30 p.m.  The staff was serving the same dreary food that was served the previous day with the exception of roasted chicken.  An average day at Halls contains pizza, burgers, grilled cheese, “fresh” salad, soup, various deserts, rice and a main course that is usually not filling, tasty, nutritious or quite frankly very edible.  Despite all of this, it is food extremely close to home therefore many people venture here to eat, so it was relatively full of students in the beginning, but dwindled down as it came close to closing. 

The customers of Halls were a very select few, yet very broad, select in regards that everyone was a college student from 17-24.  Within this demographic however, the subjects had various clothing from nice polo’s to pajamas and ranged from more book-oriented students to only sports focused students.  All of this was expected in a college cafeteria, people are here on scholarships, their parents’ money and from working their way through school, naturally there will be people from all areas of society.  What was interesting to see was how these social and racial groups sat with in the cafeteria.

We would think that segregation was a thing of the past, at least for most places in modern America and other first-world countries, however is present all over the world, simply not in the same degree as it was thirty to forty years ago.  It was interesting to see how this took place in the Halls cafeteria.  It was observed that certain nationalities would stick together while they ate rather than integrate with the rest of the dining hall.  Unlike years ago, this is not fed by racism; instead it is fueled by the desire to remain in a comfort zone those that make you feel at home.  As stated by Clack in his study of a university cafeteria, “segregation… arises because of pre-existing patterns of friendship and acquaintance.” (14). What he is saying is that this segregation was formed in the beginning of school when students were nervous, therefore they naturally gravitated towards familiarity of their own race, these bonds grew stronger, sometimes isolating them from other social groups.  As stated above, this is not due to racial prejudice; it is simply a product of an attempt to feel safe in a time of need.

What was found in Halls, as well as in Clack’s study, was that the two main ethnic groups in the cafeteria were Asians and Caucasians.  Other groups were so underrepresented that they were forced to integrate with the local population.  Essentially, the Asians sat primarily with other Asians towards the back of the cafeteria, while Caucasians and other ethnic groups ate together throughout the rest of the cafeteria, with minor pockets of ethnic minorities such as Saudi Arabians.   This helps prove Clack’s conclusion that racial segregation in modern cafeterias are primarily not due to racial disputes but rather ethnic groups gravitating towards each other from the beginning of school to create a home away from home.  It is understandable, most foreign students here never visited the U.S. prior to arriving for college and do not know the language enough to have an easy, fluid conversation; there’s no surprise that they would want to be with each other so they can speak in their own tongue and retain some aspect of their homeland thousands of miles away from their real homes.

Observing a community consuming their food in a communal space allows one to identify certain aspects about that society previously unknown to most people.  While observing the dining area at Centennial Halls at the University of Denver, it was obvious that a degree of segregation was evident within the student population.  However, it was determined through this observation and other studies that this was not a factor of racism but of prior friendship.   

 

Bibliography:

Clack, Beverley, John Dixon, and Colin Tredoux. "Eating Together Apart: Patterns of Segregation in a        Multi-ethnic Cafeteria." Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology 15.1 (2005): 10-16. Print.