Defining Sonder

The word sonder is not defined in the english dictionary, but is recognized by many other languages (primarily Saxon languages) as things that were often mysterious, eccentric or set apart. When translated from a similar German word, Sonderling it often means weird or set apart (Sonderling).  Many of the words referred to things such as a section of land that was privately owned and raised questions from people nearby about the use or ownership of the property, also adding a connotation to the word that implies curiosity from other people. While they history and meaning of the word changes depending on the language and culture of the area, it has come more recently to be known as a feeling or realization that you do not know what those around you are really like. This was spurred on by a post from The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows that circulated the internet and became widely known across vocabulary enthusiasts, writers, psychology blogs, sociologists, and more. The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows defines sonder as, 

"the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own-populated with their own ambitions, friends, routines, worries, and inherited craziness- an epic story that continues invisibly around you like an anthill sprawling deep underground, with elaborate passageways to thousands of other lives that you'll never know existed, in which you might appear only once, as an extra sipping coffee in the background, as a blur of traffic passing on the highway, as a lighted window at dusk" (Dictionary).

This definition provides some fairly vivd descriptions of the word and is a lot to unpack. First there is the realization, then the complexities of life that are then applied to others. These complexities include "ambitions, friends, routines, worries, and inherited craziness" and can all be used to discuss a person's day to day life. The definition then goes back to illustration, describing the story as an anthill simply meaning that there are connections to thousands of other people and moments that you may never see or be a part of.

GoPro video from my trip to Niagra Falls in Canada

 of strangers all visiting the same place

The focus of this project is to explore this concept of sonder through research, illustrations, and observations. This project is being done as my independent study under the direction of Professor Elena Flys Sanchez and will be completed by myself, Hannah Burke with help from friends and complete strangers. To kick off the journey this week, we went over potential survey questions to ask strangers that could illustrate some of the aforementioned complexities of their lives without making participants feel uncomfortable. We then sampled some of these questions on two participants, one female over the age of 50 and one male in his 30s. Both participants reported that the questions did not feel too personal or uncomfortable to answer, but that a few of them did make them stop and think about how they are living their lives.

In anticipation of polling these questions to actual participants (rather than just for sampling questions), we discussed what would be the best way to go about choosing locations for the surveys and interactive questions. In order to eliminate our own location biases, I will share a social media challenge with the goal of having people at random recall every place they have been in the last ten days.  This online interaction will give us an idea of where people of various age groups are and which places would be most heavily populated or appropriate for surveying. Asking for interaction online is also a great way to hear from the online community's perspective with this project, as many other aspects will occur real-time in person.

Another consideration was whether there should be a small incentive for participants in different areas and whether we break up the questions. There was discussion about pairing specific questions to upcoming observed holidays, such as Sweetest Day, and doing an interactive mini-exhibit for people to record their responses. This could be done in many ways such as questions written on a white or chalkboard for people to add their responses to, a board with plenty of space and post it notes, chalk on a sidewalk, a piece of paper to be dropped in a mailbox, or a more traditional approach of asking people and recording their answers. With these approaches, it is appropriate to ask one or two questions at that particular location, and spread the other questions around other locations and times throughout the semester. We discussed picking 5 locations based off of the online community's responses and going to each location about 3 times with 2 questions to be asked at each location and time. Aside from setting these up and polling, I will also be doing a minimum of 3 drawings, 1 picture, and observations to work towards the visual and presentation aspect of the project.

References

Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows. (2012, July 22). Sonder. Retrieved August 17, 2018, from http://www.dictionaryofobscuresorrows.com/post/23536922667/sonder

Sonderling translation | German-English dictionary. (2017). Retrieved August 17, 2018, from https://dictionary.reverso.net/german-english/Sonderling