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Sensitive Stuff and Expressive Caution: Notes on the Research Process in Studies of Ethnicities Associated with Crime

Åkerström, Malin LU and Burcar Alm, Veronika LU orcid (2021) In Nordic Journal of Migration Research 11(3). p.265-283
Abstract (Swedish)
Questions related to crime and migration are delicate matters, potentially because of associations with ethnicity, racism and oppressive politics and ideology in both the past and the present. The delicate nature of issues of crime and deviance may result in expressive caution exercised by both researchers and those studied. In this article, we discuss these dynamics in the research process in terms of access, data collection, writing and discussions of findings. We base our discussion on examples from our ethnographic studies dealing with youth, crime and ethnicity. Through our empirical examples, we show that researchers in this field need to deal with subtle markers and signals of sensitivity. However, getting all caught up in... (More)
Questions related to crime and migration are delicate matters, potentially because of associations with ethnicity, racism and oppressive politics and ideology in both the past and the present. The delicate nature of issues of crime and deviance may result in expressive caution exercised by both researchers and those studied. In this article, we discuss these dynamics in the research process in terms of access, data collection, writing and discussions of findings. We base our discussion on examples from our ethnographic studies dealing with youth, crime and ethnicity. Through our empirical examples, we show that researchers in this field need to deal with subtle markers and signals of sensitivity. However, getting all caught up in sensitivity could lead to avoidance of doing this type of research at all. Instead, we argue, sensitivity can be included as an important, as well as rewarding, part of the research. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
ethnicity, crime victims, research sensitivity, research process, expressive caution
in
Nordic Journal of Migration Research
volume
11
issue
3
pages
18 pages
publisher
De Gruyter
external identifiers
  • scopus:85118601567
ISSN
1799-649X
DOI
10.33134/njmr.335
language
Swedish
LU publication?
yes
id
7f24353f-e53a-4203-918b-61ade89be820
date added to LUP
2021-09-08 10:07:58
date last changed
2024-08-10 20:43:20
@article{7f24353f-e53a-4203-918b-61ade89be820,
  abstract     = {{Questions related to crime and migration are delicate matters, potentially because of associations with ethnicity, racism and oppressive politics and ideology in both the past and the present. The delicate nature of issues of crime and deviance may result in expressive caution exercised by both researchers and those studied. In this article, we discuss these dynamics in the research process in terms of access, data collection, writing and discussions of findings. We base our discussion on examples from our ethnographic studies dealing with youth, crime and ethnicity. Through our empirical examples, we show that researchers in this field need to deal with subtle markers and signals of sensitivity. However, getting all caught up in sensitivity could lead to avoidance of doing this type of research at all. Instead, we argue, sensitivity can be included as an important, as well as rewarding, part of the research.}},
  author       = {{Åkerström, Malin and Burcar Alm, Veronika}},
  issn         = {{1799-649X}},
  keywords     = {{ethnicity; crime victims; research sensitivity; research process; expressive caution}},
  language     = {{swe}},
  number       = {{3}},
  pages        = {{265--283}},
  publisher    = {{De Gruyter}},
  series       = {{Nordic Journal of Migration Research}},
  title        = {{Sensitive Stuff and Expressive Caution: Notes on the Research Process in Studies of Ethnicities Associated with Crime}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.33134/njmr.335}},
  doi          = {{10.33134/njmr.335}},
  volume       = {{11}},
  year         = {{2021}},
}