Performing the role of ethnographer: processing and managing the emotional dimensions of prison research |
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Authors: | Deborah H Drake Joel Harvey |
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Institution: | 1. Department of Social Policy and Criminology, The Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA, UK.d.drake@open.ac.uk;3. School of Psychology, London Metropolitan University, 166-220 Holloway Road, London, N7 8DB, UK. |
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Abstract: | This article presents a reflective account of the emotional dimensions of in-depth field research in prisons. Drawing on the work of Goffman to make sense of ethnographic processes and techniques, it is argued that performance and impression management play crucial roles in the research process. However, it is suggested that there are commensurate emotional costs associated with the roles and identities that ethnographers might enact in the field. It is argued that the finer details of ethnographic practice can be better understood when the emotional dimensions of research experiences are carefully analysed and processed. |
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Keywords: | ethnography emotion-as-data methodology epistemology prisons |
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