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Introduction
The Fargo skate-park, located at Dike West on 4th St.
S. in Fargo is a unique environment in the Fargo Moorhead
area. Upon arriving one will find that while the skate-park
is designed for to be used by patrons of all ages, it is
mostly a place where teenagers come to congregate and. The
park’s capacity as an unsupervised social arena allows those
that seek to elude adults and/or contact with formal
authority figures the practical means to do so. In the
modern world of hovering “helicopter” parents, that such an
open, and public space that is so frequently used by
teenagers and young individuals exists without some form of
formal supervision comes as a surprise. The first thing one
notices when walking up to the entrance of the park is the
large white sign posting the rules of conduct. Most are
benign, such as prohibiting use of glass bottles in the park
area, and requiring pet owners to leash & clean up after
their pets, which are typical rules of conduct in most
public places and are for the most part uninteresting-
except for the inclusion of a rather unique statement
printed in smaller lettering across the bottom of the board
that reads “Violators are subject to arrest.” This short
five-word sentence might seem innocuous enough, however, as
social researchers, such language gives the indication that
this is a place that was built and exists under the
presumption that deviant/illegal/delinquent activity is to
be expected from it’s intended patrons. The threat of
outright arrest is not a common thing for one to see posted
on most other city signs, especially for rules of conduct
posted in a city park. This is made even more interesting
when one considers for a moment that some of the posted
rules aren’t even necessarily covered under any applicable
statute or ordinances that would require arrest or
necessitate due interest from law enforcement. A literal
interpretation would mean that not cleaning up after one’s
poodle, or skating after sundown might result in contact
with law enforcement personnel.
Why A Skate-park?
Initially, it was our interest to investigate whether
or not such stigmas associated with the act of skating are
based in any real threat inherent within this specific epoch
of youth subculture within Fargo. Our observations attempted
to identify if those that frequent the park outwardly embody
or display such identifiable characteristics to even make
such a distinction. The skate-park was also interesting to
us because it has the potential to offer unique
opportunities to observe aspects of youth culture and
patterns of social interaction specific to the skate-park
atmosphere where participants and patrons actively watch,
learn, and mimic each other building upon interactions that
form collective identity from which emerges a sense of group
solidarity and community. The skate-park is a purposeful
place for specific activity that can be observed and easily
studied. There is no limitation or hindrance on
accessibility, which makes this an ideal setting for
unobstrusive observations.
Research Objectives
Our research object was to employ an emic approach and
unobtrusive observations to describe the interactions,
activities, and behaviors of individuals observed at the
Fargo Dike West Skate-Park.
Methodology
Our methods involved unobtrusive observations by four
group members that were recorded at various times and
vantages over the course of a 5 day period starting
September 25th, 2009. Approaches that were used attempted to
triangulate data using both qualitative descriptions of
behavior and interactions with observable demographic and
physical characteristics that were compared and contrasted
in an attempt to define discernable groups within the park
and their subsequent group behaviors. We then attempted to
tie our observations to existing theory. Another way we
improved the validity of our study is the fact that one of
the members of our research group has the distinction of
being an insider within the F/M skating subculture, and his
status allows us to assume insider/outsider researcher
roles. Observer triangulation was also utilized, taking
advantage of multiple vantages each day of observation in
order to develop a sound base of observational and
descriptive data from which one might draw substantiated
conclusions.
Ethics
We chose not to include specific descriptive data of
motor vehicles so as to protect the identities of those we
observed from possible consequences of our published
observations. Moreover, we made sure to stay clear of any
interactions with the studied population in order to
maintain proper unobtrusive research role.
Setting/Environment
The Fargo skate-park, located at Dike West on the east
side of 4th St. S. in Fargo is in the downtown area and is
bordered on the north by two basketball courts, to the east
by an earthen dike, and to the south by Prairie-St.John’s
Psychiatric Hospital. The skate-park’s physical layout is
unique because it’s design centers around the facilitation
of various forms of skateboarding, inline skating, or
“freestyle” bicycle moto-cross or “BMX” riding which focuses
on combining acrobatics maneuvers, or “tricks” that are done
using the various concrete structures found within the park.
Spectatorship is also reflected in the parks design with the
inclusion of a set of bleachers that could accommodate about
40 people on the north side under a roof connected to the
small building near the northwest entrance to the park.
The Entrance
The designated skating area of the skate-park extends
off to the south and east of the entrance, and the dike for
which the park is named rises up on the east end and
stretches along the Red River to the north and south. The
North-West corner houses a few stair-sets, and extending
along the east and south edges are a number of boxes, each
with their particular variances and difficulties. From there
an incline leads down into the bowl where there is a table-
top box in the center.
North Flats
The north east corner is a mostly flat section with a
couple of short boxes used mostly for “flat land” tricks, or
tricks requiring no incline or vertical ramp to complete,
which can include a variety of “kick-flips”, “ollies”, and
“grinds”.
Pool Section
South of the flats and east of the center table top is
the “pool” area, consisting of a raised spine section in
between two cement structures modeled after the shape of an
empty swimming pool, a commonly used skating area made
popular by early pioneers of the sport. This area is used
mostly by more advanced skaters because it takes a good
amount of practice to be able to gain and keep the momentum
and balance required to get past the lip and achieve
adequate “hang-time” (time spent in mid-air) to pull off a
trick, as well as transition from the air back on to the
inclined surface.
The Spine
The spine section is used to gain momentum and practice
“lip” tricks, or tricks that use the edge of the vertical
surface to balance and attempt variations of grabs and other
tricks. The spine can be used by less advanced skaters to
gain a better understanding of what the pool will feel like
because it is essentially a toned down version that one can
practice riding down without having to come up the other end
right away.
South Flats
Around the south side of the bowl a variety of boxes
designed for skateboarders and bikers alike are included.
They are various lengths and heights for skaters of every
skill level. There are also a couple of table-top boxes
placed around the south-west perimeter that are mostly used
by the bikers at the park.
Rails & Grinds
There are a few grind rails and waxed edges in the park
as well that facilitate tricks involving jumping and sliding
down or across a section that usually consists of a rounded
pipe or a polished or waxed 90 degree concrete surface using
a part of the board, bike or skate that doesn’t have wheels,
and then “landing” the trick back on the wheels and
continuing motion. A number of such “grind-able” rails and
surfaces are found in front of the bleachers.
The Look
While actual layout of the park has a specific
purpose in mind, it might be inferred that there is also a
purpose to be found in the relatively pristine nature of the
park facilities. What we noticed was the fundamental lack of
one major characteristic of community skate-parks in larger
cities, which was the presence of aerosol art or other forms
of artistic/symbolic decorations that most authorities would
designate as “graffiti” or “tagging” that in other parks are
indelible features of the visual landscape and typically
cover the majority of the paintable surfaces in such parks.
We did see a few areas that looked like they had been
covered by the drab concrete gray paint that most
municipalities use to cover any undesired emergent artistic
contributions made to structures or surfaces within the
city. This is possible evidence that the municipality of
Fargo, North Dakota has read something on Kelling & Cole’s
(1996) broken windows theory on crime deterrence, that
basically asserts that to successfully prevent minor crimes
such as vandalism by removing/covering it as soon as
possible, and effectively “fixing” the problem before it
gets any worse. So the lack of lasting visible graffiti in
the park is likely due to the efforts of municipal
authorities to suppress such activities through actively
reacting to it’s presence within the community.
The Rules
-Park closes at dark-Glass bottles are prohibited-No littering/dumping-No alcoholic beverages allowed in park-No vehicles allowed off designated roads-Pets must be on leash-Owners must clean up after their pets-No overnight parkingViolators are subject to arrest
Observations
“Skating” as it is understood within the park is a
specified activity that appeals to a crowd that was mostly
male and between 12 and 18 years of age, and predominantly
Caucasian with few exceptions. While the focus of the park
is to facilitate skating and freestyle BMX, such activities
have the capacity to attract a certain amount of spectator
attention from peers of the same age group of which females
are more represented. Those that were mostly spectators and
didn’t have a skateboard or a bike as well as those that
tended to stay within the park’s parking-lot on the
northwest end were what we designated as the “parking-lot”
crowd, and those that are within the park with the apparent
intentions to skate as the “skate-park” crowd, which are
divided into sub-sects among the “skaters”, the “non-skating
skaters” and the “bikers”.
The Feel on Slow Days
The “feel” of the skate-park is subject to change
depending on how busy it is at the given time. On a slow day
the first thing that one notices about the skate-park crowd
is that they help each other out when they are having
trouble with a certain section, or a certain trick, and by
engaging in such activity they help each other learn new
tricks and develop patterns of interaction that give the
park a sense of community and it’s members a source of
mutual social and practical support. A good example of this
was when two males, approximately 14-15 years of age,
arrived on a pair of custom bicycles, one a three-tall bike
(a bike that is essentially three bike frames on top of each
other) and the other a “chopped” low-rider bike meaning the
front forks were stretched way out and the handlebars were
stretched upward, giving the rider an appearance of riding
lower on the frame than other traditional bicycles. These
two meshed perfectly with the atmosphere of the park on a
slow day as they responded to the curiosity expressed by the
4 skaters already in the park by showing them how to ride
their custom machines. One gave the youngest pointers on how
to stay stable on the chopper, while his friend showed the
others how to mount the tall bike, the oldest skater
appeared to learn the quickest and succeeded within his
first few attempts; then only after a short time riding he
felt comfortable enough to roll down the incline and into
the bowl. Between them, the skaters took several attempts to
mount the seat in which the bike fell over before they were
able to successfully scale the bike and climb into the seat.
This observed interaction says something about the attitude
of the kids on the custom cycles, and the says something in
general about the comfort level that is felt within the
park. This is also a good example of the camaraderie that we
observed when one considers the degree of trust that they
are able to extend to their peers to the extent that they
don’t seem to worry about whether or not their bikes will be
returned to them. In this instance, it appeared that these
young people considered the skate-park to be a safe
environment- even though there is typically no formal
authority there to ensure it. The informal adherence to
commonly held norms is a feature that is found among all
subcultures and is evidence of the solidarity that is
perceived among individuals and interactions that were
observable within the various groups found to exist in and
around the skate-park. It is an environment in which youth
may seek, find, and interact with others that they identify
with and whom they feel are more are likely to accept them.
In this way that the skate park encourages and provides a
sense of community among youth that are found there.
The Feel on Busy Days
The Friday afternoon we spent at the skate-park saw it
at it’s most populated during the few days that we made
observations. Upon arriving, we found a large number of
individuals at the park, on the bleachers, and in the
parking lot; we counted approximately thirty to forty
individuals. Their ages ranged seven to twenty years old. A
mix of races and ethnicities were present, however, the most
common was white.
The “feel” of the busy day was unique in that there was
visibly observable clique segregation. Because there were so
many people gathered in different areas of the park we were
able to visibly differentiate the crowds from each other,
especially those skateboarding and those riding BMX bikes. A
relatively large group (8-9) sat on the Northeast corner
where they watched and mimicked each other’s “flat tricks”.
All of them were males, ages spanned from approximately 7 to
about 20 yrs. of age and their close proximity to each other
signaled a sense of familiarity and kinship. Those sitting
and observing talked with each other and made references to
whomever was doing a trick at the time, and were often
observed making comments/criticisms of their form and style.
A small group of BMX bikers were not as active as the
skaters, and were often observed sitting on their bikes,
simply watching and talking with each other rather than
performing tricks. Eventually a pattern did emerge with the
BMX bikers. We observed that they would talk for a
particular length of time, then one would bike down into the
pool, loop around, and then rejoin his friends, then at
other points the others would do the same. It was unclear
whether this pattern was formally or informally
acknowledged, however, due to our position we were unable to
listen to their conversations.
Among all the crowds, there was a small group of pre-
teen boys, approximately age 12 who were on skateboards.
They had no set location and skated across the entire park.
They wore skinny jeans, one of them wearing a beanie with a
stripped, long-sleeve shirt, the other two in t-shirts. What
was most intriguing was that one of them had a video camera
and followed the other two, recording them. After performing
a trick, one would hand off the camera to another and be
filmed. This went on for some time until they stood around,
talked for a length of time, and eventually left the park on
their boards.
Lastly, we observed the number of individuals with no
apparent affiliation to other individuals. We counted three
of them. They did not have a designated place in the park,
but rather, they were concentrated on skating. One of them
was male, white, in his twenties with a beard, cargo shorts
and a black t-shirt. We have no estimate of how long he left
about ten minutes after our arrival. Another individual who
was male, in his late teens sported a shaved head, multiple
facial & body piercings, black pants and a white t-shirt.
The third individual had longer hair, a beanie, an orange t-
shirt and baggy cargo pants. All of these individuals did
not belong to any crowd, did not talk with anyone, and left
alone.
Overall, on a busy day, a wide variety of people
populated the park. Some come in groups, others arrive
alone. There is definite visibility of segregation and
different purposes of being at the skate-park. What may look
like chaos can be deconstructed into categorized groups and
individuals who all share the same space for different
reasons.
Community & Social Function
Common to the average day spent at the Dike-West is a
visible sense of community among it’s patrons. This is
evident in that the skaters and bikers who are attracted to
the park seem to understand their environment to be valuable
for it’s ability to function as a safe place to practice
their skills, but it is also apparent that the social
functions are just attractive as anything else to be done
there. The social scene is such that it is not uncommon to
see more people sitting around talking than actually skating
or biking around the park. The females that we observed
within the park seem to be most attracted to the social
aspect of the environment than the actual act of skating.
While it is common to see females at the skate-park, it was
uncommon to see them skating. They spend a lot of time
sitting around talking and visibly flirting with a number of
males. They also spent a lot of time in the parking lot, an
area that is a part of the social environment that will be
explicated later in this paper.
Non-Skating Skaters
The term “non-skating” skaters may be confusing at
first glance but a look into the sub culture shows you that
there are skaters that are there to skate and there are
skaters that are there to look like they skate, that’s where
these non-skating skaters come in. The group of non-skating
skaters we observed were all in very flashy name brand skate
apparel, top of the line gear, and pristine scratch-less
skateboards. A true committed skateboarder would have a
skateboard that looked like it was pulled out of a dumpster
after about a week’s worth of use. Skateboarding is not a
sport that is meant to keep your hardware in pristine
condition. Boards get scratched, dented, and broken
regularly for a committed skateboarder and many of those
skaters will go through a few boards a year. Non-skating
skaters may have one board that will last them the length of
their skating “career” or however long the decide to hang
out at the skate park.
A good example of a non-skating skater that we observed
was in a DC shoes printed t-shirt, plaid shorts, and bright
blue skate shoes of some kind. All of these things are
prominent in the skate culture, but as we viewed him skating
he would skate around half of the park then kick up his
board and chat with a few people as he used his board as a
leaning post. He never once dropped into the bowl nor did
his board ever leave the ground other than when he picked it
up to stand. At any given time during our observations there
were always significant proportions of non-skating skaters
milling about, many just like the individual in our example
who would use their skateboards a prop, one that to serves
to identify them as a “skater” and symbolically ties them to
the sport and provides them the means to socialize with
peers that are likely to have similar interests.
Committed Skaters
The committed skaters are totally different from the
park’s non-skating skaters in the sense that they are at the
skate park for the sole reason of skating. A good example
of this was one young male we saw, (19-20) years old, didn’t
converse with the other skaters when he was skating. But on
the day we viewed him there he was definitely the most
involved and committed skater. He had a beanie type
stocking cap on over his shoulder length hair with a bright
yellow shirt and plaid shorts. This type of clothing is
very common in the skating culture and was definitely not
out of place. When he finished his skate session and left
the park he switched out of his blue shoes he was wearing
and kicked on a pair of more casual skate shoes. It seemed
as though he was so committed to the sport that he had a
certain pair of shoes that he wore every time he went to the
skate park.
Skate-Park Girls
Among the different cliques at the skate-park therein
lies some mixture of individuals who go from one crowd to
another. Most noticeably were two girls who tended to weave
in and out of the crowds. Their descriptions are as follows:
both were Caucasian, high school aged (approximately 15 to
17 years old), and both were had dark brown hair. Both wore
very tight Skinny styled jeans (where the cuffs at the
bottom of the pants are tight around the ankles). Perhaps it
was due to the cooler weather or perhaps it is their normal
apparel, but they both wore hooded sweatshirts that did not
have any kind of logo or affiliation to them as far as one
could tell from a distance.
Just at a glance, one could easily tell that these two
girls were close friends. The proximity between their bodies
was minimal and they often talked to each other while
looking each other in the eyes. They literally ran around
together from the bleachers to the parking lot. At one
point, they sat down on the asphalt of the lot facing each
other and talked. This kind of behavior was interesting to
observe so candidly and they appeared to be very boisterous
and attention seeking. It was evident that these two young
girls were not there to skate, but clearly had affiliations
with individuals hailing from the parks various social
groups. At one point, they were lying on one of the boxes.
Clearly, they knew they were a hazard to those who were
using that part of the skate-park. However, (possibly
because of) this endangerment attracted attention and in
just a matter of minutes, a crowd of skaters gathered had
around them. Their body language indicated that they had a
very close relationship since they were both lying on their
stomachs, facing each other, talking very closely. This
seemingly hazardous behavior was apparently acceptable since
there were no visible signs of skaters being upset about the
girls being in the way.
What we noticed in the park was that most of the
individuals around the park, even if they weren’t skating or
riding at least had some item, or prop used for that
purpose. The lack of these items, or props, is what one of
the major factors in what segregates people into their
different groups. The two raucous girls had no such props,
but interestingly enough, their clothing (which was
specified earlier) matched the general style of clothing a
lot of others were wearing: the skinny jeans, punk haircuts
(sometimes cut relatively short, spiked, and dyed different
colors, other times, longer, straight hair with bangs as was
the case with the two attention seeking girls), and
skateboard specific shoes (such as classic Vans, or DC
Shoes). What was so interesting and evident to us was the
distinction we found between looking like a skater and
actually being a skater.
The Competition element
The competition that was viewed at the park on the days
we were observed were mostly informal games, most frequent
of which was “horse”, a competition/game/activity whereby
one individual attempts a trick or completes a trick from a
specific area and the next competitor must copy the same
action. Failure to do so results in the accumulation of
“letters”, which eventually spell out words such as “horse”,
“pig”, or “skate” at which point one is eliminated, or
effectively “loses” the game, even though such distinctions
don’t seem to matter much to those that engage in such
interactions. This seems to be a great way for new and old
skaters alike to learn new tricks because someone may bring
out a new trick others haven’t tried and in this setting,
are required to try in order to stay in the competition.
The day we viewed this friendly competition there were four
or five skaters participating in the event. There was a lot
of encouragement and advice being offered between the
skaters of all skill levels.
Observable Patterns of Activity
While it is clear that skating is the central focus and
purpose of the park in the minds of the majority of
individuals who go there, the social aspect of the park has
a subtle, but observable influence on the activities of
those that brought skateboards or bikes (presumably to ride
or skate), but spend the most time on the periphery talking
to each other and watching. A peculiar trend we noticed was
that when small groups of people first entered the park, a
number of those that had been sitting around had the
tendency to get up and do a few passes through the park and
maybe attempting to do a few minor tricks for the duration
of the next few minutes. This was interesting to watch
because it was an observable phenomena- one that had a
visible effect on the behavior of those in the park. If
activity had been dying down in the park the arrival of new
skaters seems to get everyone ready to go again. The park
had noticeably more people skating and biking through it
right after new groups arrived then at any other points in
our observations. While this was a somewhat general
phenomenon, the more committed skaters and BMX bikers in the
park appeared to need no such encouragement. Committed
skaters rarely stop skating for the duration of their time
spent at the park. When they did it was usually brief. This
led us to believe that it is possible that many of the
social non-skating skaters feel the need to validate their
presence at the park whenever new skaters arrive.
The Parking-Lot Crowd
The parking lot is attractive to the skate-park crowd
presumably because the activities that take place there
speak to the rebellious attitude that formed the basis for
many of the early skating/biking pioneer’s appeal. What can
be concluded from the fact that the city designated, built
and paid for this space specifically for the use of
skateboarders and bmx bikers and thereby legitimize such
activities. However, an alternative explanation for the
supposed extension of legitimacy is that while extended as
it may be, it is legitimacy that is limited to the
geographic area of the park. In this light the skate-park’s
legitimacy could be seen to be as a sort of informal
segregation of a stigmatized group and their activities to a
single area. While subtle, it seems apparent to us that the
authorities in the Fargo/Moorhead community have essentially
taken the rebelliousness out of skateboarding. Because of
this, the skaters/bikers who frequent at the park, whether
they are aware of it or not, cannot be rebellious simply
through the act of skating. We contend that the use and
social meanings ascribed to the activities within the
parking lot have become a necessary venue for the expression
and extension of teenage rebellion that had at one time been
inherent within the act of skating and freestyle biking
itself.
Observable forms of youth rebellion came in the shape
of underage smoking, possible illicit drug use, and
behaviors that could be considered as “disturbing the
peace”, such as yelling, cussing, and playing loud music
from their car stereo systems. These were the central
observations noted of the parking lot crowd that we
correlated to rebellious activity. The parking-lot provides
a multitude of ways for adolescents and young adults to
conveniently and publicly exhibit all forms of youthful
unruliness and social displays meant to (consciously, or
not) communicate some message or shared meaning intended to
bolster one’s own social standing within the group and
garner approval from one’s peer networks.
So who makes up the Parking Lot Crowd? A few of the
members of this crowd were skaters who were old enough to
drive a car (which says that they had economic means and
resources to acquire/own a car. Their cars do not show the
same degree of adherence to the skate-punk aesthetic as is
typically seen with their attire.
One particular individual (male, high-school aged, dark
hair) pulled into the parking lot in a, four-door black
sedan (which we coined the “community car” since it was
there every day during the majority of our observations) was
greeted by a number other individuals. We observed them
exchanging hugs and ritualistic greetings that included
specific handshakes such as the “clinch” and the ever
popular “knuckle bump”. Some of the skaters who pulled up in
cars lingered in the parking lot, but most eventually went
into the park and skated after a few minutes. It was in and
around this “community car” where most observable deviant
behaviors were observed. The owner appeared to allow his car
to be used as a rally point for groups to congregate where
they would often engage in frequent displays of what we
assumed to be underage smoking. While he skated, he would
leave his car wide-open for use by other people affiliated
of both the skating and non-skating varieties. For instance
another individual went into the passenger side of an SUV
while a young girl earlier seen in the bleachers sat in the
driver seat. She dressed in skinny jeans, had dark hair down
to her shoulders, and was high-school aged (approximately 16
to 17). Interestingly enough, instead of blasting punk-rock,
rap music was being played (a song by rapper Eminem was
recognizable). What went on in the car is unknown and many
conclusions could be drawn, however, there is no
substantiated evidence of any wrongdoings. What can be drawn
from this is that they often use cars as semi-private
spaces. Using their vehicles for such a purpose likely
arouses suspicion from adults and other authority figures in
other more supervised environments but here it is just
another part of the subtle and complex social landscape to
be found here.
The Allure of the Unsupervised Setting
The specific appeal of the skate-park as a setting for
the act of skating and biking is obvious since it is a place
built for the sole purpose of skating. We consider the use
of the skate-park as a social setting to be equally (if not
more) important than the actual act of skateboarding, at
least for our interests; from our observations it seems
reasonable to conclude that the lack of adult supervision is
likely it’s most powerful social draw. The rebellious
aesthetic was one that that existed within all observed
groups at the skate-park. The predominance of such attire
(in many minds) is inextricably linked with youth who are
often getting into trouble or believed to have a propensity
for delinquency (which we would consider to be the
definition of rebellious, more or less).
This type of adolescent likely comes to see the skate
park as a social space, and largely as a place in which they
are less likely to get into trouble or be punished by
formally recognized authority for breaking the rules or
violating the law. This was evidenced by the fact that many
of the behaviors that were commonly observed among the
adolescents at the skate-park were such that would
ordinarily get them into trouble in setting that was more
supervised and/or scrutinized. This was especially so in the
case of underage smoking, and the apparent consumption of
other (possibly illicit) substances.
It seems unlikely that these activities would be
prevalent in the open in an area under vigilant adult
supervision. This indicates to us that many of the
individuals who engage in this sort of behavior would most
likely just seek another place to go if the park didn’t
exist or didn’t safely facilitate such activities. Insofar
as many of the behaviors common in the skate-park social
scene are only possible in the absence of supervision, it
appears to us as a reasonable conclusion that the overall
lack of adult supervision is one of the park’s greatest
appeals to adolescents.
Discussion & Limitations
While we feel that we were able to offer a valid
description of our observations at the Dike-West Skate-Park,
first and foremost we would like to be clear in our
recognition that the findings in this report are based on a
mere five days of observation. Also, most observations were
not during the park’s most busy periods. This was likely as
a result of the rapidly cooling Fall weather. Observations
were also limited to the late afternoon and early evening;
it is certainly possible that the skate park is a very
different place during the day. Ideally we would have had a
longer observation period with more varied times. The
unobtrusive observation format we used for this report was
restrictive in the sense that not only were we unable to
overhear many of the conversations that we saw occurring- we
also were unable to discuss what we saw with members of the
skate-park scene to hear their interpretations of what was
happening in and around the park and their perceptions of
our own observations. While this was somewhat remedied by
researcher Justin Nistler’s role as an insider and member of
the skate-park’s subculture- we still faced limitations on
what and how much we can infer from what we observed with an
adequate degree of validity. This report is also specific to
the groups of people we observed skate-park during the times
we were able to observe, what we have found is not
necessarily applicable to other locations or times. We would
also like to note that our relative inexperience in the
realm of sociological and unobtrusive observation led us to
fumble somewhat regarding our measures and observational
standards, which will hopefully be ameliorated in subsequent
research attempts.
Suggestions for Future Studies
Further investigation of this setting should be
directed to include a deeper & more thorough observation
regarding both the activities of the skate-park girls and
those of the parking-lot crowd. These groups are both
removed from skating and as a result there is probably more
to observe regarding their presence and intentions at the
park than we were able to observe in the course of these
observations.
CONCLUSION
Our observations of the Dike-West Skate-Park in Fargo, ND
definitely proved to be an interesting social situation
where we were able to unobtrusively observe the activities
of the various social groups that frequent the facility. As
an unsupervised environment, it lends itself as a popular
place for teens to congregate and interact in a rare place
that isn’t under the watchful eye of formal or informal
forms of authority. The tension that exists between the
symbolic legitimacy that the act of a city building such a
facility bestows upon the activities that had been
previously considered illegitimate by authorities, and the
visible expressions of rebellion seen among the park’s
adolescent patrons was interesting to behold. One only hopes
that our observations and subsequent descriptions of what we
saw provide one the degree of insight that we were able to
gain about this place and time.