19. Ethnography
Paper
Conducting Ethnographic Research in Minors’ Detention Centre in Poland - Looking for Social Justice in the Reality of Educational Practices
Urszula Markowska-Manista1, Krzysztof Sawicki2
1University of Warsaw, Faculty of Education, Warsaw, Poland; 2University of Bialystok, Faculty of Education, Bialystok, Poland
Presenting Author: Markowska-Manista, Urszula;
Sawicki, Krzysztof
Drug addict juvenile offenders are a particular group of young people in educational systems, especially for the actions taken in the social rehabilitation facilities. Managing minors educational resistance is the special aim of the work with youth. Their attitude toward education is shaped by the environmental habitus: poor resources, troubles and conflicts with local social service, masculinist toughness in relations or looking for excitements in everyday relations (Willis, 1997). Due to the specific nature of the 'minor' youth group, the educational process is complex. This results from their sociocultural experiences, shaped by socialization in the area of the underclass: origin from poor backgrounds and inheritance of a para criminal habitus leading to social exclusion.
An additional educational challenge is the traumatic experiences of minors staying in social rehabilitation (total) institutions. Experiencing detention, the use of sanctions by the staff or para prison model of organization of the treatments in many countries cause youth from such institutions to have a sense of social exclusion and injustice. The research took into account in particular the social justice context specific to the research area, which is an ethnoreligious monolith and the source of social inequalities is primarily socioeconomic status (residence in the countryside or poor districts, inheritance of poverty, instability of employment and housing conditions) (Szafraniec, 2015).
As a result, minors' educational strategies place them in sociocultural resistance, denial of education, and inclusive practices. The attitudes presented by minors, therefore, constitute a particular educational challenge in the spirit of social justice, which is intended not only to minimize risk factors (resulting in future reoffending) but, above all, to implement solutions for social justice: a sense of equality rights, minimizing the effects of discrimination based on origin, equal opportunities, but also respect for their rights and those of others. Social justice perceived in this way (following the Convention of the Rights of Child , UN Sustainable Developmental Goals or Tokyo Rules) aims at readaptation and reintegration with the open environment (society), minimizing the risk of exclusion and marginalization, which are carried out in conditions of detention resulting in limited contact with the open environment.
The research is part of the ethnographic study of youth detention institutions according to M. Interbitzin proposal (2006). The author studied the location and appearance of the facility and dealt with the description of everyday life from the perspective of minors and staff, as well as the specificity of the relationship between them. She also paid attention to the readaptation process, analyzing the return of pupils to the open environment. In the presented project, an in-depth study of place and everyday life by this approach additionally aimed to analyze the journey of a minor in an institution from the first days of isolation to reentry, with particular emphasis on educational practices and activities to build a sense of social justice.
The field research aimed to learn, through the methods of institutional ethnography Nichols, (2017), how relationships are shaped between minors and staff, enabling their inclusive presence in the social space.
We included the research problem in the question: How are educational practices implemented in a juvenile detention institution (taking into account the assumptions of social justice)? A detention centre for minors is a place that has been stigmatized in the social and educational discourse, where educational and therapeutic interactions with minors are carried out in conditions of isolation. A paradoxical problem is working with minors in conditions of isolation, i.e. power relations, which is aimed at their social inclusion.
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedThe ethnographic research methodology allowed us to learn about the actual implementation of the goals and assumptions of social rehabilitation, i.e. a detailed understanding of the institution and a description of the educational practices implemented there. The use of a team model of ethnographic research in cooperation with trained students - future educators, places the project between interpretive paradigms (learning about the mechanisms of social construction of the reality of institutions) and critical paradigms (analysis of the educational and upbringing experiences of minors shaped in power relations aimed at their emancipation and transformation). Researchers conducted observations, interviews (Roulston, 2020, Harper, 2018), field diaries, and visual ethnography methods (Kharel, 2015) paying attention on their specificity during doing research in total institution (Gomes & Granja, 2021). In the chosen active model, researchers are people who not only observe and record but are also involved in the life of the studied community of young people and the life of the institution. This active involvement was carried out taking into account the awareness of the role that researchers play, constant reflection and self-reflection, and research mentoring, allowing for an objective, neutral positioning in the research field and interpersonal relationships (Bucerius, 2014).
The use of ethnographic methodology in a closed institution, through which researchers and participants strengthened the research process by generating narratives of mutual transformation (Beach, Vigo-Arrazola, 2021), enabled a broader view of educational practices implemented there in the context of social justice (Arrazola & Tummons, 2023). Ethnographic research in a sensitive context (Markowska-Manista, Górak-Sosnowska, 2022)- with an emphasis on situationality and contextualism (Gewirtz, 2006) is associated with the social and moral responsibility of researchers, mainly doing research in detention centres (Inderbitzin, 2006, Hammersley, 2014, 2015). The research received a positive opinion from the university ethical committee. It was carried out based on the principles of ethical research with sensitive groups in the so-called sensitive contexts of their functioning (McCosker et al. 2001) and based on the ethics of ethnographic research (Goodwin et al. 2003).
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsThe implementation of the project allowed, based on the chosen critical and narrative paradigms mentioned, to enrich the experience of the researchers involved in the project in two particular dimensions. First, doing institutional ethnographic research led to improved research skills of the field researchers in using observation, oral, and visual methods. Second, research activity in detention center based on direct contact with minors led to a better understanding of the effects of educational practices experienced by minors, their exclusive effects, entanglement in the categories of power and class complicating the empowerment and reentry of such youth with attention paid on the social justice issues. Research ethnographic studies have shown, among others, that the educational experiences of minors are based on various practices of resistance, e.g., negation, which results from school dropout and rejection. In the educational dimension, there is also resistance resulting from the experience of staying in total educational institutions and being under pressure from the hegemonic educational system.
The use of ethnography in educational research also enabled a critical analysis of challenges and barriers to social justice in a total institution, revealing hidden ways of discrimination and exclusion in educational institutions, as well as customs and practices that usually remained unquestioned and which in the context of social rehabilitation are considered neutral and as such fair.
In this study, by strengthening ethnographic reflexivity in words and images (Spickard, 2021), we saw the potential to promote social justice in education and society through team-based research. Moreover, recommendations and dissemination of research results carried out in cooperation with institution employees were crucial for further development and cooperation, facilitating the implementation of further cooperation for social justice.
ReferencesBeach, D., and M. B. Vigo-Arrazola. (2021). “Critical Ethnographies of Education and for Social and Educational Transformation: A Meta-Ethnography.” Qualitative Inquiry 27(6), 677–688.
Bucerius S.M., 2013, Becoming a „trusted outsider”: Gender, ethnicity, and inequality in ethnographic research, „Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 42(6), 690-721.
Gewirtz, S. (2006). “Towards a Contextualised Analysis of Social Justice in Education.” Educational Philosophy and Theory 38(1): 69–81.
Gomes, S., & Granja, R. (2021). (Dis)Trusted outsiders: Conducting ethnographic research on prison settings. Etnografica, vol. 25(1), 5–22.
Goodwin, D., C. Pope, M. Mort, and A. Smith. 2003. “Ethics and Ethnography: An Experiential Account.” Qualitative Health Research 13(4): 567–577.
Hammersley M., 2014, Methodological Ideas, [in:] Understanding research with children and young people, (eds.) A. Clark, R. Flewitt, M. Hammersley, M. Robb, SAGE, Thousand Oaks.
Hammersley, M., 2015, Research ‘Inside’ Viewed from ‘Outside’: Reflections on Prison Ethnography [in:] The Palgrave Handbook of Prison Ethnography, (eds.) D.H. Drake, R. Earle, J. Sloan, Palgrave Macmillan, Londyn.
Harper, D. (2018). People and Places. W C. Jerolmack & S. Khan (Red.), Approaches to Ethnography Analysis and Representation in Participant Observation (pp. 99–127). Oxford University Press.
Inderbitzin, M. (2006). Guardians of the state’s problem children: An ethnographic study of staff members in a juvenile correctional facility. The Prison Journal, 86(4), 431–451.
Markowska-Manista, U., & Górak-Sosnowska, K. (2022). Tackling sensitive and controversial topics in social research-sensitivity of the field. Society Register, 6(2), 7-16.
McCosker, H., A. Barnard, and R. Gerber. 2001. “Undertaking Sensitive Research: Issues and Strategies for Meeting the Safety Needs of all Participants.” Forum: Qualitative Social Research 2 (1).
Nichols, N. (2017). Technologies of evidence: An institutional ethnography from the standpoints of ‘youth-at-risk’. Critical social policy, 37(4), 604-624.
Roulston, K. 2020. Ethnographic interviewing. London: SAGE.
Spickard, J. 2021. Visual Ethnography: Why Reflexivity Matters. In La Sociologia Sovranazionale di Roberto Cipriani, ed. C. Cipolla, and F. Angeli, 132–143, Milan: Franco Angeli.
Szafraniec, K. (2015). Rural-Urban, Central-Peripheral: Durability of Civilisation Divides from the Perspective of Youth. Agricultural Economics and Rural Development, 12(2), 143–156.
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Vigo Arrazola, B., & Tummons, J. (2023). Guest Editorial: Ethnographies of Education for Social Justice. Ethnography and Education, 18(1), 1-3.
Willis, P. (1977). Learning to Labor: How Working Class Kids Get Working Class Jobs. New
York: Columbia University Press.
19. Ethnography
Paper
Worldwide Crises & Increasing Contingency. An Ethnographic Exploration of Twitter Discussions in View of the Full-Scale Invasion of Ukraine
Angela Pilch Ortega
University of Graz, Austria
Presenting Author: Pilch Ortega, Angela
Our world has changed dramatically. We collectively experienced the COVID 19 pandemic, which drastically changed our lives and seriously impacted social, health and economic issues. Simultaneously, western lifestyle and the globalized economy cause massive environmental pollution and create climate change that threatens life on our planet. At the same time as we destroy the basis for human survival, we witness the erosion of established conventions for peace in Europe, as Putin’s regime carries out massive war crimes, cruelly killing innocent Ukrainians, and threating the world with nuclear war. Likewise, the reemergence of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict threatens stability across the Middle East and there is no end in sight. The current man-made catastrophes have in common that they unfold unprecedented destructive power, which shake the social structures of our communal coexistence (Heinlein & Dimbath 2020). This results in comprehensive social upheavals, social shifts, and dislocations, which leads us to fundamentally question our sense of integrity and trust in the security and continuity of our lifeworld. The social fragility and vulnerability of our everyday life circumstances require coping strategies to deal with crises, the occurring unpredictability, and increased contingency of our future horizons. What are the consequences of increased contingency for us as individuals and as members of a global community? We have to deal with potential risks of man-made disasters and consequent destruction as an expression of a future which cannot be controlled in full, and have to accept disasters as a constitutive part of our living conditions. Such conditions require us to develop social and biographical resilience in order to handle both known unknowns and unknown unknowns of our future horizons and develop our ability to attend to upcoming challenges of humanity (Bröckling 2008).
This paper explores social responses to man-made disaster, with a specific focus on the Russian military invasion into Ukrainian territory, and the threat of a nuclear war. The exploration aims to highlight different strategies of dealing with the emotions of complete bewilderment, powerlessness, sadness and anger in view of war and tragedy in Ukraine. In particular, the analysis focuses on tweets and interactions of different hashtag and thread discussions on the online platform X (former Twitter) which are related to the Russian full-scale invasion. The comparative analysis of these online discussions explores social interaction and exchange of opinions, created images and expressed feelings, as well as strategies to overcome bewilderment and powerlessness in order to gain agency. Furthermore, the analysis is accompanied by an auto-ethnographic perspective, where the critical reflection and analysis of my online experiences as a researcher are at the center. In general terms we can say that social media and other internet-based platforms are intertwined with our political life and the formation of opinions. They play an important role in allowing people to design, consume and share information and news. But at the same time social platforms and new media are increasingly perceived as conducive to the creation of ideological “echo-chambers” eroding the space for public dialogue. Hence, they are seen as fostering polarisation, radicalisation, de-politicisation, spreading misinformation and subject to manipulation. Having this in mind the exploration pays specific attention to the formation of opinions, the development of critical media literacy and the related dynamics of social interaction.
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedThe ongoing research is based on Grounded Theory Methodology (e.g. Strauss 2004) as a research style, theoretical and methodological perspectives of biographical research (e.g. Pilch Ortega 2018 and 2020) accompanied with digital (auto-)ethnographic perspectives and methods. In the first stage, an open field exploration focused on basic characteristics and dynamics of interaction on the social media platform X (former Twitter) and the question of “what actually goes on” (Hammersley 2017). In the second stage, the active participation in different twitter discussions and the writing of a research diary as a method of critical self-reflection are central. In the third stage, it is planned to conduct narrative interviews with social media users (and activists) who are engaged in different Twitter discussions. Another methodological aspect is that I have taken the liberty to guide my research pathways with an auto-ethnographic approach: this offers the opportunity to include the appearance of emotions and a systematic self-reflection process.
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsIn general terms, social media interactions are seen as learning environments which increasingly gain importance, among other things due to waves of disinformation campaigns which threaten democracies across the globe. Preliminary research findings show that processes of “(political) positioning and opinion formation” play an important role for the engagement in different thread discussions. Another aspect, mostly observed at the beginning of the full-scale invasion by Russia, is the “herorisation and demonization” of the different collective actors involved, which has to be seen in the light of atrocious war crimes. Additionally, the research findings reveal that social actors seek to overcome feelings of bewilderment, powerlessness, sadness, and anger by sharing their emotions and (collectively) searching for pathways in order to gain agency. Hence, agency and the question of impacts of actions is an important issue for the engagement in different social media related activities. Furthermore, creativity and humour is an important resource to counter disinformation and hate speech.
ReferencesBröckling, U. (2008). Vorbeugen ist besser … Zur Soziologie der Prävention. Behemoth. A Journal on Civilisation 2008, 1 (pp. 38–48).
Dimbath, O. & Heinlein, M. (2020). Einleitung: Soziale Gedächtnisse der Katastrophe. In M. Heinlein & O. Dimbath (Eds.), Katastrophen zwischen sozialem Erinnern und Vergessen, Soziales Gedächtnis, Erinnern und Vergessen – Memory Studies, (pp. 1–18). Springer VS.
Hammersley, M. (2017). What is ethnography? Can it survive? Should it? Ethnography and Education, (pp. 1–17), DOI: 10.1080/17457823.2017.1298458.
Pilch Ortega, A. (2018). Lernprozessen sozialer Bewegung(en). Biographische Lerndispositionen in Auseinandersetzung mit Erfahrungen sozialer Ungleichheit. Wiesbaden. Springer VS.
Pilch Ortega, Angela (2020). Teaching Ethnographical Methods: Research Workshops for Students as a Space for Critical Reflection on Knowledge Production. In C. Wieser & A. Pilch Ortega (Eds.), Ethnography in Higher Education, (pp. 111–126). Springer VS.
Strauss, A.L. (2004). Analysis through Microscopic Examination. Sozialer Sinn, 2, (pp. 160–176).
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