Ethnography current issue

Introduction

Anderson, E. — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 06:02:11 PST

The Chicago School and the roots of urban ethnography: An intergenerational conversation with Gerald D. Jaynes, David E. Apter, Herbert J. Gans, William Kornblum, Ruth Horowitz, James F. Short, Jr, Gerald D. Suttles and Robert E. Washington

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 06:02:11 PST

Urban ethnography and research integrity: Empirical and theoretical dimensions

Short, J. F., Hughes, L. A. — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 06:02:11 PST

Problems of data reliability and validity continue to plague the social and behavioral sciences. Enhanced reliability of quantitative data has been achieved by such means as greater attention to instrument construction and testing, improvements in survey technology and sampling of targeted populations, and careful operationalization of theoretical ideas. The integrity of much quantitative research is compromised, however, when quantitative measures lack validity, especially when properties of groups and other collectivities are measured by responses obtained from individuals. Ethnographic and other forms of observational data offer important correctives to this problem. We illustrate the interplay of quantitative and qualitative research methods by examining studies extending ideas from Elijah Anderson’s Code of the Street to ‘neighborhood codes of violence’, the violence-avoiding function of street codes, and special problems of evaluation research as they apply to programs designed to control street gangs.

'Senseless' violence: Making sense of murder

Duck, W. — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 06:02:11 PST

This article, based on an ethnographic study conducted over a three-year period in an impoverished, predominately African American and Latino neighborhood in the northeastern US, describes how a drug gang narrative was created by the police and prosecutors to explain a series of unsolved murders. The narrative that the authorities constructed retroactively tied these unrelated crimes together by connecting them to neighborhood drug dealers whom they construed as a gang. Through this narrative, the authorities were able to prosecute all the cases in sequence and deploy a series of defendants and witnesses to win convictions — even in cases where they had little evidence. Murders like these are typically described by law enforcement agencies and the media as ‘senseless’ acts of ‘random violence’. When examined with ethnographic detail, however, these acts of murder turn out to have motives that community members understand but have nothing to do with gang activity.

Primary groups and cosmopolitan ties: The rooftop pigeon flyers of New York City

Jerolmack, C. — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 06:02:11 PST

This article examines a group of working-class men who breed and fly pigeons from their rooftops in New York City. It explores how the flyers experience their neighborhoods through their animal practices and shows how ethnic whites transmitted this practice to non-whites. It also documents their gatherings at a pet shop, where the flyers campaign for status based on their birds’ performance. These men form a distinct collective that is strongly rooted in their solitary animal practices but is given meaning largely through social interactions. Most community studies find conflict among different working-class racial-ethnic groups who share urban neighborhoods, but pigeon flying fosters solidarity among Italian, Hispanic, and African American New Yorkers of varying ages. The study highlights how animal practices can organize social relationships and connections to the environment and demonstrates that shared everyday activities can be as vital as ethnicity or class in primary group formation.

Taking chances: The experience of gambling loss

Avery, J. — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 06:02:11 PST

This article conceives of heavy gambling loss as a phenomenon driven by situational antecedents located in the foreground of the experience itself, rather than being deeply determined by background factors like biological inclinations or psychological pathologies, as the prevalent biomedical model of pathological gambling assumes. Drawing on naturalistic accounts from first-hand observation, this analysis focuses on the internal states of players as they move through distinct stages endemic to gambling, and, specifically, gambling loss. I argue that structuring the experience in this way plays an important role in showing how ethnographic methods that attend to experiential processes and their situational dimensions enable us to reconceptualize what are seen as individual problems or, in this case, pathologies.

Open mic: Professionalizing the rap career

Lee, J. — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 06:02:11 PST

How do the meanings of a Hip Hop venue change over the aspiring rapper’s career? This article draws on four years of ongoing ethnographic fieldwork with inner-city men who rap at Project Blowed, a Hip Hop ‘open mic’ in South Central Los Angeles. While rappers initially view Project Blowed as a place to hone their performance skills and earn the respect of their peers, they hope to move beyond it and make money in the music industry. ‘OGs’, senior rappers, who continue to participate in this scene mentor younger rappers, but may also become examples of the dead-end careers that up-and-coming rappers hope to avoid. This article explores how participants’ perceptions of this venue are linked to their changing perceptions of others in the scene.

'Mama's family': Fictive kinship and undocumented immigrant restaurant workers

Kim, E. C. — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 06:02:11 PST

Undocumented workers create social cohesion, which serves as a source of solidarity and identification for individuals who are otherwise pushed to the periphery by the dominant society. This article is based on a larger study examining the personal, social, and working lives of undocumented restaurant workers using an ethnographic approach in conjunction with the life history method. Based on observation of their day-to-day interactions in the restaurant and in conversations, this article discusses the ‘family’ or fictive kin relationship they establish with their co-workers and their employer. Despite their illegal status and low earnings, this group of undocumented workers is able to maintain their dignity, find ways of bringing joy to their lives, and attain a sense of belonging. Integration into the restaurant’s pseudo-family averts feelings of frustration and loneliness that are often the consequences of marginalization.

Parking lots and police: Undocumented Latinos' tactics for finding day labor jobs

Cleaveland, C., Pierson, L. — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 06:02:11 PST

Lacking access to legal residency and to regular employment, undocumented Latinos in the USA often find work as day laborers. Some suburban towns have tried to force Latinos out by enacting statutes to restrict their movement and their search for jobs. How do day laborers, who are conspicuous because of their racial-ethnic and language differences, find work by meeting employers in public spaces despite legal restrictions against their presence there? This comparative ethnography of day laborers in Freehold, New Jersey, and Manassas, Virginia, shows that workers engage such tactics as avoiding police and showing deference to white residents while battling for leverage when negotiating wages.

Ethnography, interaction and ordinary trouble

Emerson, R. M. — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 06:02:11 PST

With the increased popularity and spread of sociological ethnography, one of the core elements of classic Chicago-style fieldwork — an abiding commitment to examine ongoing social interaction — has sometimes slipped from sight. One fruitful way of increasing sensitivity to and insights into interactional processes is to look at ordinary, small troubles, the often fleeting moments of upset and disruption that arise routinely in many interactions and are often quickly resolved, leading only to small adjustments and changes in life circumstances. By way of example, this article analyzes the ordinary troubles that arise between college roommates, focusing on two distinctive interactional features of these troubles: the obscuring of action components in low-visibility responses, leading to the appearance of passivity or inaction; and the varying and often shifting normative accents that can mark responses to ordinary troubles.

The role of theory in ethnographic research

Wilson, W. J., Chaddha, A. — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 06:02:11 PST

Scholars, including urban poverty researchers, have not seriously debated the important issues that Loïc Wacquant raised in his controversial review of books by Elijah Anderson, Mitchell Duneier, and Katherine Newman concerning the disconnect between theory and ethnographic research. Despite the tone of Wacquant’s review, we feel that he made a contribution in raising important issues about the role of theory in ethnography. The responses to his review that address this issue, especially those by Anderson and Duneier, are also important because they help to broaden our understanding of how theory is used in ethnographic research. What we take from this exchange is that good ethnography is theory driven, and is likely to be much more reflective of inductive theoretical insights than those that are purely deductive. Moreover, we show that in some ethnographic studies the theoretical insights are neither strictly deductive nor inductive, but represent a combination of both.