Prison ethnography by correspondence?

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    Abstract

    Prison ethnography offers researchers a unique vantage point from which to explore the relationships, power dynamics, degradations, solidarities and sensory assaults which occur within the prison walls. Yet, despite the valuable insights to be gained from this methodological approach, prison ethnographies can be extremely challenging to conduct. Institutional pressures arising from both the prison and the contemporary University pose considerable obstacles for researchers, and the outbreak of Covid-19 has heightened these barriers further still. This article will argue that the methodology of cultural probes can preserve at least some of the ethos of ethnographic research when conducting research by correspondence. It will reflect on the methodological and ethical challenges of this approach, and critically discuss its potential to offer a more participatory and less extractive means for researching the nuances of prison life while collecting data from a distance.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)362-378
    Number of pages17
    JournalCriminology and Criminal Justice
    Volume24
    Issue number2
    Early online date21 Jul 2022
    DOIs
    Publication statusE-pub ahead of print - 21 Jul 2022

    Funding

    The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by the Leverhulme Trust (grant number ECF-2018-059).

    Keywords

    • prison research methods
    • ethics
    • reflexivity
    • cultural probes
    • qualitative research

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