Gangs, methodology and ethical protocols: ethnographic challenges in researching youth street groups

Gangs have been described as an episodic phenomenon comparable across diverse geographical sites, with the US gang stereotype often acting as the archetype. Mirroring this trend, academic researchers have increasingly sought to survey the global topography of gangs through positivist methodologies t...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Feixa, Carles, 1962-, Sánchez García, José, Brisley, Adam
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión aceptada para publicación
Fecha de publicación:2020
País:España
Institución:Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)
Repositorio:Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
OAI Identifier:oai:recercat.cat:10230/45171
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10230/45171
https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s43151-020-00009-1
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Youth Street Groups
Gangs
Methodology
Research
Descripción
Sumario:Gangs have been described as an episodic phenomenon comparable across diverse geographical sites, with the US gang stereotype often acting as the archetype. Mirroring this trend, academic researchers have increasingly sought to survey the global topography of gangs through positivist methodologies that seek out universal characteristics of gangs in different cultural contexts. So, research about youth street groups requires an innovative methodological approach to develop a renewed approach for the twenty-first century’s youth street groups, different from the local, coetaneous, male and face-to-face model, used to understand the twentieth century’s gangs. How can complex social forms such as street gangs be researched in the twenty-first century? Can a single ethnographic approach be shared by researchers working in entirely different cultural contexts? What novel methodological and ethical challenges emerge from such a task and how might they be resolved? This article examines the methodological perspectives of the TRANSGANG project.