CONSIDERING IDENTITY THROUGH QUALITATIVE IMITATION GAME DATALOCAL UNDERSTANDINGS OF SEXUALITY, RACE, AND OTHER SOCIAL IDENTITIES

Andrew BartlettBartlettA@Cardiff.ac.

uk&

Jennifer Lyttleton-Smith

SmithJR1@Cardiff.ac.uk

School of Social Sciences

Cardiff University

TYPES OF QUALITATIVE DATA PRODUCED DURING IMGAMES

Judge Questions

•Produced during live games in step one•“Ask questions which you believe would be difficult for someone who does not share your X identity to answer well”

Non-Pretender Answers

•Produced during live games in step one•“Please answer naturally and truthfully, as yourself”

Pretender Answers

•Produced ‘survey style’ in step two•“Please answer as you imagine someone who holds X identity would answer”

Judge Reasons

•Produced ‘survey style’ in step four•“Please indicate the reasons for your judgement, giving as much detail as possible”

THE IMPORTANCE OF JUDGE QUESTIONS

Defines the local parameters of knowledge, understanding, and experience of different social groups that shapes the entire game

Through recording frequency of references to particular topics, we can know what the key features of these identities are considered to be by those who locate themselves within them

In order to produce reliable statistical measures for IMGAME (pass rate) judges have to be clever and play ‘well’. This is not necessary for qualitative analysis – all questions are equally interesting and helpful for analysis

NB. Unlike the statistical measure, a minimum standard of researcher knowledge is required to analyse the qualitative game data and deeper knowledge will result in more effective analysis, however basic content analysis can be conducted by anyone with an understanding of the Imitation Game

ASKING QUESTIONS TO DISCERN SOCIAL IDENTITY In sexuality Imitation Game post-game surveys, most participants report that

playing the judge role is the hardest part of the game “A lot of pop-

culture is homogenised

and they aren't that many 'gay-

only' or 'straight-

only' things”

“It was very hard for me to

invent questions

”“I couldn’t

think of questions

about heterosexuali

ty”

“It's bloody hard to think of

questions”

• Likes/dislikes

• Stories from life – lived experiences and emotions •Facts, trivia, definitions – usually right/wrong answersBiographical•Views on situations, real or imagined Knowledge•Hypothetical situations where related actions or reactions are requestedOpinion

PreferenceSituational

UNIVERSAL CATEGORIES OF JUDGE QUESTIONS

IDENTITY SPECIFIC QUESTION TOPICS

Sexuality Sex

Porn, first time, bad sex, fantasy, promiscuity Encounters

Flirting, cruising, seduction Coming out

To family, to friends Entertainment and interests

Movies, music Friendships

Best friends, colleagues, gender of

Race Education Gender, sexuality and relationships Politics Race Food and drink Music and dance Religion Sport Traditions

SOUTH AFRICA ‘RACE’ IMGAMES

Race Imitation Games: symmetrical games in which black students pretended to be white students, and white students pretended to be black students.

2 x Cape Town South Africa is a racially divided country. To what degree can members of one racial

group pass as members of another? Cape Town 2013 Pass rates:

Black pretending to be white: 66% White Pretending to be black: 90%

Awaiting Cape Town 2014 results. What are the differences between the ways that black judges and white judges

attempt to identify pretenders? What can these tell us about race and identity?

RACE, SOUTH AFRICA, AND UCT

‘KNOWLEDGE’ QUESTIONS IN ‘RACE’ IMGAMES

‘KNOWLEDGE’ QUESTIONS ABOUT ‘TRADITIONS’

‘KNOWLEDGE’ AND/OR ‘TRADITION’ EXAMPLE QUESTIONS

Black Judges• What determines the value of

the lobolla and how is it negotiated? (Knowledge/Traditions)

• Why is a sheep not a traditional animal to be slaughtered in ceremonies? (Knowledge/Traditions)

• What happens at the funeral of a twin, when one twin is alive and the other is dead? (Knowledge/Traditions)

White Judges• Who won the first ever SA

Idols? (Knowledge/Music and Dance/TV and Films)

• Which sport/activity uses word slalom? (Knowledge/Sport)

• What do you and your family do at Christmas? (Biographical/Traditions)

DISCUSSION OF CAPE TOWN ‘RACE’ IMGAMES Imitation Games are potentially an particularly

incisive way of collecting evidence as to the ‘culturelessness’ of whites.

A sense of there being a common distinctiveness to ‘being white’ is not explicit in the questions asked by white judges.

If there was genuine ‘culturelessness’ – if other groups had ‘culture’, and ‘being white’ was simply the norm – we might expect black pretenders to have the better pass rates.

The default to biographical questions of white childhood, which residential and educational segregation have made (relatively) inaccessible to black pretenders, might explain why ‘being white’ is harder to imitate.

CARDIFF AND WROCLAW ‘SEXUALITY’ IMGAMES Sexuality Imitation Games: heterosexual men

pretending to be homosexual men 2 x Cardiff, 2 x Wroclaw (and 2 x Palermo, 2 x

Granada) The UK and Poland have very different attitudes

towards homosexuality, so we could expect very different Imitation Game pass rates

Cardiff vs. Wroclaw Pass rates: Cardiff (May 2013): 64% Cardiff (Dec 2013): 58% (average = 61%) Wroclaw (2013): 57% Wroclaw (2014): Awaiting result

How can we explain the similarity in results between two such different countries?

Pew Research Centre, 2013Available at: http://www.pewglobal.org/2013/06/04/the-global-divide-on-homosexuality/

QUESTION TYPES IN CARDIFF AND WROCLAW ‘SEXUALITY’ IMITATION GAMES

SEXUALITY BIOGRAPHICAL AND PREFERENCE QUESTION TYPE EXAMPLES

Biographical

•How was it when you came out to your parents or friends? •How did it feel when you lost your virginity? •What experiences of homophobia have you had?

Preference•What kind of men are you attracted to and are you ever attracted to women?•Are you a top or a bottom in bed?•Which gay celebrity do you most admire and why?

POTENTIAL EXPLANATIONS FOR SIMILAR PASS RATE UK and Polish judges are asking different types of

questions about very different topics Is it easier to answer biographical questions about

coming out than preference questions about sex? Need to swap question sets to explore further Sexuality is a universal experience and arguably

the most popular topic in public discourse – should we be surprised that people are able to discuss it knowledgably, whatever their personal attitudes and experiences might be?

Is a quantitative pass rate the most important measure for sexuality studies, or is qualitative analysis necessary to reveal the true value of Imitation Games in this area?

Question Topics by % of Total Questions

WHAT NEXT FOR QUALITATIVE IMITATION GAME ANALYSIS?

Huge amounts of data produced over 34 Imitation Game studies (so far…)

Judge Reasons Pretender and Non-Pretender Answers Variations on method (group games, altered step

four etc) How can the qualitative data improve the Imgame

method? How do notions of social identity vary across

cultures? What can the data tell us about how people

construct their identity, and the social recognition of identities?