Ethnography and the city : readings on doing urban fieldwork /
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| Imprint: | New York : Routledge, c2013. |
|---|---|
| Description: | ix, 254 p. : ill. ; 25 cm. |
| Language: | English |
| Series: | The metropolis and modern life Metropolis and modern life. |
| Subject: | |
| Format: | Print Book |
| URL for this record: | http://pi.lib.uchicago.edu/1001/cat/bib/8909285 |
Table of Contents:
- Introduction: SociologyâÇÖs Urban Explorers
- Part I. Data Collection Strategies
- Section I. Being There, Up Close
- Introduction
- Gans, H.J. 1962. "Redevelopment of the West End," The Urban Villagers: Group and Class in the Life of Italian-Americans. NY: The Free Press: 281; 288 âÇô 98
- From his classic work The Urban Villagers, in this selection Herbert Gans analyzes how an Italian-American community reacts to impending displacement. By living in their Boston neighborhood Gans discovers how the primacy of the family and peer group in the lives of these working-class and the "urban village" community that they constructed influences their inaction against their displacement and the destruction of their neighborhood
- Bourgois, P. 1995. "Families and Children in Pain," In Search of Respect: Selling Crack in El Barrio. Cambridge, UK: University of Cambridge Press: 259 âÇô 267; 272 âÇô 276
- This piece showcases how Philippe Bourgois immerses himself in East Harlem ("El Barrio") to understand the daily struggles and hardships of families and children in this dangerous and unstable environment. From living in the neighborhood and having a young son, Bourgois learns both the important role that children play among residents, as well as the harsh realities that they and their mothers face
- Lloyd, R. 2006. "The Celebrity Neighborhood," Neo-Bohemia: Art and Commerce in the Postindustrial City. NY: Routledge: 123 âÇô 143
- In this selection Richard Lloyd takes us inside the gentrifying Chicago neighborhood of Wicker Park to show how a bohemian aesthetic and work ethic gets contested within and integrated into a commercial nightlife scene. By living in Wicker Park and participating in its arts scene, Lloyd discovers the importance of leisure spaces in its construction and in transforming it into a postindustrial neighborhood of cultural production
- Pattillo, M. 2008. "The Black Bourgeoisie Meets the Truly Disadvantaged," Black on the Block: The Politics of Race and Class in the City. Chicago: University of Chicago Press: 87 âÇô 100
- Seeing herself as a gentrifier in North Kenwood-Oakland, Mary Pattillo examines the intra-racial conflicts between newcomers and existing residents that emerge in a neighborhood experiencing "black gentrification." As one of the newcomers against whom working-class residents demonstrated wariness and hostility, her work demonstrates the difficulties ethnographers face in immersing themselves in their field sites
- Perez, G. 2004. "Los deAfuera, Transnationalism, and the Cultural Politics of Identity," in The Near Northwest Side Story. Berkeley: University of California Press: 92 âÇô 94; 96 âÇô 110
- This piece pushes the community study beyond the boundaries of the urban neighborhood as Gina Perez goes to Humboldt Park in Chicago as well as San Sebastian in Puerto Rico to examine the transnational lives and identities of Puerto Rican migrants. An example of "multi-sited ethnography," PerezâÇÖs study highlights the importance of immersion across spatial boundaries to experience and understand the impact of social contexts and spatial and cultural distance on peopleâÇÖs lives
- Section II. Being on the Job
- Introduction
- Duneier, M. 1999. "A Christmas on Sixth Avenue," Sidewalk. NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux: 253 âÇô 256; 260 âÇô 279
- Along with his extensive observations of vendors, Mitchell Duneier also gets behind the table to see the sidewalk from their perspective. In this selection he demonstrates the complex relationship between the police and the vendors when he creates a situation through which an officer confronts him
- Moskos, P. 2008. "The Corner: Life on the Streets," Cop in the Hood: My Year Policing BaltimoreâÇÖs Eastern District. Princeton: Princeton University Press: 64-6; 77-80; 83-8
- Peter Moskos in this study goes through the Baltimore police academy and becomes an officer for a year. He provides a firsthand account of the varying perspectives and interpretations of their duties and decisions that officers make while policing in the inner city
- Grazian, D. 2003. "Like Therapy: The Blues Club as a Haven," Blue Chicago: The Search for Authenticity in Urban Blues Clubs. Chicago: University of Chicago Press: 87 âÇô 90; 105 âÇô 116
- In this study David Grazian discovers the multiple interpretations that different actors have of "authenticity" in blues clubs. This piece shows how he uses his own musical abilities on the saxophone to reveal how a community of blues club regulars construct notions of authenticity and socialize people into the group
- Wynn, J.R. 2005. "Guiding Practices: Storytelling Tricks for Reproducing the Urban Landscape," Qualitative Sociology,28, 4: 399 âÇô 400; 404 âÇô 413
- As Jonathan Wynn shows, walking tour guides use storytelling tricks to weave imaginative urban narratives for their participants that parallel some of the tricks that sociologists use in their own work. By becoming a tour guide, Wynn also demonstrates the value of taking the role of the other in terms of validating claims
- Trimbur, L. 2011. "âÇ Tough LoveâÇÖ: Mediation and Articulation in the Urban Boxing Gym," Ethnography, 12, 3: 334 âÇô 6; 339 âÇô 43; 346 âÇô 50
- The boxing gym is often seen as a male domain, but Lucia Trimbur does not just enter it as a female ethnographer, she also enters the ring and to experience the rigors behind the craft of boxing as well as the duties of trainers. This piece focuses on the conflicting discourses that trainers use to coach their amateur fighters inside and outside of the ring
- Bender, C. 2003. "What We Talk about When We Talk about Religion," HeavenâÇÖs Kitchen: Living Religion at GodâÇÖs Love We Deliver. Chicago: University of Chicago Press: 92 âÇô 103
- By exploring a unique field site, Courtney Bender examines how people talk about religion and act religiously outside of typical settings like places of worship and the home. When she becomes a volunteer and working in the kitchen at the charity GodâÇÖs Love We Deliver, Bender enters into an ongoing conversation filled with subtle but meaningful religious themes, which allows her to both collect and generate data on the role of religion in everyday talk
- Part II. Relationships with Participants
- Section I. Crossing Boundaries
- Introduction
- Whyte, W.F. 1943. "Doc and His Boys," Street Corner Society: The Social Structure of an Italian Slum. Chicago: University of Chicago Press: 14 âÇô 25
- In the selection from this classic example of participant observation research, William Foote Whyte discusses the importance of bowling scores for social prestige within the Italian gang, including what happens when he out-bowls its members. WhyteâÇÖs account reveals both the importance of overcoming social boundaries as well as their abiding salience
- Liebow, E. 1967. "Men and Jobs," TallyâÇÖs Corner: A Study of Negro Streetcorner Men. Boston, MA: Little, Brown, and Company: 61 âÇô 71
- In TallyâÇÖs Corner, Elliot Liebow navigates numerous social boundaries to provide an in-depth analysis of the social world of black streetcorner men. In this selection he discovers the meanings the men construct for their work opportunities and the importance of peer groups in their lives. His "chain-link fence" metaphor for the ethnographer-participant relationship endures as a characterization of the limits of immersion
- Stack, Carol. 1974. "The Flats" and "Swapping: What Goes Around Comes Around," All Our Kin. NY: Basic Books: 11 âÇô 16; 32 âÇô 43
- Race is a significant social barrier for ethnographers to navigate, and in this study Carol Stack, a white anthropologist, enters into and contributes to an inner city African-American kinship network to reveal the importance of non-blood kin relations for impoverished families. Her identity as a mother with a young son aids her in overcoming social distance and forming a close relationship with her main informant
- Venkatesh, Sudhir. 2002. "âÇ DoinâÇÖ the HustleâÇÖ: Constructing the Ethnographer in the American Ghetto," Ethnography, 3, 1: 91 âÇô 92; 96 âÇô 103
- Ethnographers are trained to analyze the thoughts and perceptions that their participants have about their own lives, but rarely do they consider the thoughts and perceptions their participants have about them. In this piece Sudhir Venkatesh discovers that the "hustle" principle that permeates life in the Chicago housing project he studies is also applied to him and his fieldwork by its residents. Such reflection casts a critical lens on the ethnographerâÇÖs role in the field at the same time as it aids him in his own analysis
- Cavan, S. 1966. "The Marketplace Bar," Liquor License: An Ethnography of Bar Behavior. Chicago: Aldine Publishing Company: 171 âÇô 177; 193 âÇô 200
- Along with race, gender is often another important social boundary between ethnographers and their participants. In this study from the 1960s, Sherri Cavan examines gender relations in pickup nightspots. She often uses her gender to position herself in the world of male-dominated bars and analyze how social interaction between men and women works in them
- Auyero, J. & Swistun, A. 2009. "The Compound and the Neighborhood," Flammable: Environmental Suffering in an Argentine Shantytown. Oxford: Oxford University Press: 28 âÇô 31; 32 âÇô 44
- In this co-authored study on the people in an impoverished and highly contaminated shantytown and their reactions to their hazardous surrounding conditions, Javier Auyero and Debora Swistun use the "photo-elicitation" method with the townâÇÖs children to learn how they understand their environment. Through this method they overcome the age gap that exists between them while remaining sensitive to the vulnerability of their population
- Section II. Doing the Right Thing
- Introduction
- Humphreys, L. 1975. "The People Next Door," Tearoom Trade: Impersonal Sex in Public Places. Piscataway, NJ: Aldine Transactions: 106 âÇô 11; 114 âÇô 22
- This controversial work by Laud Humphreys is among the most mentioned works in courses and textbooks that discuss ethics in sociological research. This selection showcases the actual data that Humphreys gathered and the analysis he conducted on impersonal homosexual sex in public places
- Ferrell, J. 1993. "Denver Graffiti and the Syndicate Scene," Crimes of Style: Urban Graffiti and the Politics of Criminality. Boston, MA: Northeastern University Press: 21 âÇô 26; 49 âÇô 53
- It is not uncommon for ethnographers to engage in illegal activities with their participants, and in this piece Jeff Ferrell joins a group of graffiti writers in Denver as they reveal the importance of style in constructing their subcultural community. Ferrell argues that he engaged in illegal activities with his participants to experience their world and validate their claims, but places limits on doing so for all activities
- Contreras, R. 2009. "âÇ Damn, Yo--WhoâÇÖs That Girl?âÇÖ An Ethnographic Analysis of Masculinity in Drug Robberies," Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 38, 4: 465 âÇô 466; 474 âÇô 483
- In this work, Randol Contreras deals with a number of ethical issues from studying drug robbers who regularly engage in violent acts. In this piece he focuses on their mistreatment and exploitation of women in their robberies. ContrerasâÇÖs work exemplifies situations when participants engage in behaviors that fieldworkers are morally against
