Abstract

NARCISO, Lorena. Becoming an ethnographer at prison. Runa [online]. 2021, vol.42, n.1, pp.209-226.  Epub Apr 21, 2021. ISSN 1851-9628.  http://dx.doi.org/10.34096/runa.v42i1.8377.

In this article I consider dilemmas and methodological decisions which I have taken on throughout research and activism processes at prisons of the province of Santa Fe (Argentina) for 10 years. I propose to analyse the prison scenery as a field where to form a research problem and develop the practice of ethnography across two aspects: one is the decisions regarding how to build relationships where there are noticeable power struggles among areas; the other is the moral dilemmas likely to emerge in the research -particularly among women investigators- in an eminently violent and unequal environment. This reflexivity contributes to weigh the importance of making theoretical decisions pointing to produce a comprehensive yet localized approach of the problem under study and to build multiple relationships with people from diverse angles and positions within the ethnographic field.

Keywords : Prisons; Ethnography; Moral dilemmas; Penitenciary field; Epistemological surveillance.

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