Inside Puben–Discovering a community through a short-study

Puben, or ‘The Pub’, is a student pub owned and operated by Västmanlands-Dalarna Nation (V-Dala Nation) in Uppsala. Located on Sysslomansgatan, it sits inside the ‘Aalto Castle’ or ‘White Castle’, the V-Dala Nation building designed by Finnish architect Alvar Aalto in 1965 (Image 1). The building also houses Carl Larsson’s Café, Taket (a rooftop summertime restaurant), and several other recreational spaces.

Image 1: The Aalto Castle, The White Castle. Image by V-Dala Nation, 2022.

As one of the largest and most diverse student nations in Uppsala, V-Dala makes Puben one of the most lively and well-known student pubs in the city. It is mainly visited by students and alumni of Uppsala University, many of whom are members of V-Dala. The pub is also run by students, with the staff being current members of the nation. Puben opens daily at 18:00 and closes at midnight. Known for its low prices on food and alcohol, it’s especially popular among students. It also hosts weekly events like a karaoke night on Wednesdays and offers a range of board & card games for patrons to play.

Image 2: A view of Sysslomansgatan from Taket(rooftop restaurant at V-Dala Nation).

I chose Puben as a field for this short ethnographic study because it’s a space I was already familiar with, I often visit with friends, and I’ve worked there as a bartender. This put me in a unique position, both as a patron and as part of the staff. This perspective shaped how I engaged with the field and offered different ways of seeing and interpreting what was happening around me. This ‘short-study’, as I like to call it, focuses on these experiences, drawing from a few ethnographic methods to understand the everyday life of Puben more closely.

Methods of Inquiry

To explore the culture of Puben, I used five ethnographic methods in a layered way, with each method building on the others, revealing new insights rather than standing alone.

• Participant Observations: Initial field visits involved silent, non-intrusive observation of customer and bartender behaviour at the bar.
• Semi-Structured Interviews: Conducted with bartenders and patrons to gather lived experiences, expectations, and insights.
• Short-Term Ethnography: A visit with friends offered the chance to observe social interactions while being embedded as a participant.
• Tracking: Following the journey of a beer glass revealed patterns in how objects mediate social relations.
• Netnography: Using digital observations as described by Pink et al. (2015), through Instagram and Facebook, provided complementary insights into how Puben is represented and experienced online.

Each method contributed to building thick descriptions through contextual detail, emotional depth on motivations and meaning. Reflexive thinking, as a strategy as described by Davies et al. (2008), enabled me to understand my presence and relation with the space.

Thick descriptions, as discussed by Clifford Geertz (1973), refer to detailed, interpretive accounts of social action that go beyond surface behaviour to uncover the meanings embedded within. It involves not just describing what people do, but interpreting why they do it in context.

As Emerson et al. (2011) emphasises, such accounts reveal motivations, emotions, and cultural logics, enabling deeper insight into lived experiences. With these methodological approaches in mind, several key thematic insights emerged.

The Ritual of Ordering through Spoken and Unspoken Codes

One of the most striking cultural patterns at Puben is the semiotic shorthand used at the bar. “One beer, please” universally signals an order for Gränges (a Swedish beer brand), the cheapest and most common option. This implicit understanding, acknowledged by both regular patrons and bartenders, points to a form of shared social knowledge, an unwritten agreement shaped by repetition and collective familiarity.

Image 3: A few pints of Gränges beer.

“Regulars know about the beers here, they know that just asking for one beer means I am gonna give them a Gränges. Most people order that, of course, because it is the cheapest beer, and that’s why people come to the nations. ” — Bartender

Such minimalist exchanges reveal more than linguistic efficiency. They display a sense of belonging. Those who know the regulars signal themselves as insiders. For newcomers, both patrons and staff, the absence of this knowledge temporarily marks their outsider status until they adapt. In this way, a simple drink order becomes like a litmus test for cultural immersion.

Emotional Landscapes with Safety, Familiarity, and Relatability

Puben isn’t just a place to drink, it’s a sanctuary of sorts. Patrons and staff repeatedly described the pub as safer and more comfortable than commercial bars in town. This sense of psychological safety emerged from shared identities, age groups, and mutual expectations. A pub run by students, for students.

Image 4: The bar, a patron’s POV with staff having a conversation beside it.

“I like the ambience in nations, it’s all by students and people expect you to behave like students, I feel safer this way. I’d rather come to nation pubs than an outside pub, at least for as long as I can” — Customer 1

The casual nature of the service, some of the bartenders not being formally trained, and patrons not demanding high professionalism, reinforce the idea of Puben as a down-to-earth and grounded space. It’s not just about affordability; it’s about being seen, understood, and unjudged. This atmosphere encourages small acts of kindness: paying for each other’s beers, waiting together at the bar, or striking up spontaneous conversations with folks sitting nearby.

Shared Objects, Shared Meaning, Shared Experiences

Tracking a single beer glass throughout an evening revealed how a mundane object could mediate social interaction. From its pouring at the bar to its final rinse in the dishwashing station, the glass became a silent player in the pub’s choreography. It was cheered, sipped, clinked, and held onto long after it was empty, acting as both prop and placeholder in the ongoing social space.

Image 5: Tracking a glass of Gränges.

When multiple patrons sat at a table with indistinguishable glasses, ownership was confirmed not by visual markings but through habit and proximity. The empty glass continued to be handled, suggesting emotional attachment or serving as a signal to re-order beer.

The shared handling of these glasses, especially by servers and bartenders, also highlighted the physical labour and behind-the-scenes work that sustain the space, rarely acknowledged but vital to the field’s social metabolism.

Atmospheres of Labour through Joy, Fatigue & Flow

Bartenders at Puben described their work as both fun and exhausting. They moved with fluid familiarity, pouring drinks, fetching glasses, and hydrating with free sodas or water between rushes. Their camaraderie behind the counter contrasted with the structured, transactional interaction at the bar front.

“Mostly they (customers) wait there patiently. Sometimes they begin random conversations or ask me about my day. People are usually polite, and they know it’s a student pub and do not have the most professional expectations from us,” — Bartender

Image 6: A view from inside the bar at the end of the night.

This shared labour builds solidarity not only between staff but with patrons who recognise their efforts. The work environment’s informality creates space for humour and small talk, forming micro-relationships that punctuate the evening. The blurred lines between worker and community members reflect the unique hybridity of Puben. It is both a workplace and a social ground, both performance and participation.

Digital Echoes of Puben

Although Puben lacks a strong digital footprint of its own, it echoes across Instagram and Facebook through #vdalanation and tagged posts. The digital representations tend to emphasise peak experiences, karaoke, celebrations, and group photos, offering a curated version of life at the pub. These images present Puben not just as a space but as a memory-machine and an evolving space. A backdrop for nostalgia and community expression. Still, digital content lacks the nuances of in-person interaction. It captures smiles, not silences and raised glasses, not awkward pauses.

Conclusion

Through layered methods, reflexive thinking and thick descriptions, this short-study into Puben revealed a micro-culture marked by unspoken norms, emotional comfort, shared ritual, and student-led labour. The pub is more than its architecture or menu, it's a lived and evolving social fabric, one that sustains, reflects, and occasionally subverts student life in Uppsala.

Image 7: Leaving the ‘Aalto Castle’.

From the way beer is ordered to the way strangers become co-conspirators in line, Puben offers a compelling case study of how meaning is made through action, repetition, and collective intelligence. The methods employed here, observation, interviewing, short-term ethnography, tracking, and netnography, proved most effective when viewed not in isolation but as layered ways of seeing and interpreting.

In future iterations, this type of study could benefit from longitudinal fieldwork or collaborative inquiry with other researchers. But even as a short-term project, it offers a textured lens into one of Uppsala’s most beloved student spaces, a place where glass, laughter, and language come together to build a meaningful community experience.

Readings

1. Davies, C. A. (2008). Reflexive Ethnography: A Guide to Researching Selves and Others. Routledge.
2. Emerson, R. M., Fretz, R. I., & Shaw, L. L. (2011). Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes. University of Chicago Press.
3. Geertz, C. (1973). The Interpretation of Cultures. Basic Books.
4. Pink, S., Horst, H. A., Postill, J., Hjorth, L. et al. (2015). Digital Ethnography: Principles and Practice. Sage.