For the January 2022 meeting of the Qualitative Methods Journal Club, students and colleagues from Simon Fraser University, University of British Columbia, and the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control discussed an exploratory study of policing within a specific drug market context in a South African city. The journal club enjoyed reading this article, which “served as an excellent paper to talk through the value, assumptions, and application of ethnography”.
About this month’s journal club
The article (available here) was discussed online (Zoom), and the journal club was hosted by Dr. Alissa Greer at the School of Criminology at Simon Fraser University (Canada). Journal club members spanned three institutions (Simon Fraser University, University of British Columbia, and the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control) and multiple positions (and therefore perspectives): teaching faculty, research faculty, graduate students, research associates, and postdoctoral fellows. Multidisciplinary members included Naomi Zakimi, Sheri Fabian, Amanda Butler, Jessica Xavier, and Krista Glowacki.
Commenting on the paper, the January 2022 Qualitative Methods Journal Club said:
“We particularly loved the description of their observations, through their own lens. The language used and context provided was vivid, and we could almost picture ourselves in the research. In this way, this study was different but refreshing from a lot of other studies that we’ve read.”
Summary of the article
The article by Marks and Howell (2016) was an exploratory ethnographic study of policing within a specific drug market context in a South African city. It showed how the policing of illicit drugs is reinforced both institutionally and in the daily practices and activities of law enforcement officials. Through the study, the authors challenged assumptions about policing and police officers’ roles in drug markets.
Discussion of the article
The value of ethnography
We were excited to discuss an ethnographic study in our club – as, for many of us, ‘it’s a dream to do an ethnography one day’, but we haven’t had the chance yet. We really appreciated the small nuances that the authors observed within the context of the drug market: disposition, banter, clothing, side conversations. These pieces added to the authenticity and credibility of the findings. Such observations are not captured through other approaches.
Journal club members provided real-world examples of the limitations of interviews about policing practice, in that what someone might say in an interview might be very different from what actually plays out in everyday practice. This everyday practice might be better observed through ethnography. However, as the authors recognised, there are complexities to engaging in ethnography in a politically-charged context such as drug enforcement. Access to the police is one of the main barriers to this type of research.
Unravelling our assumptions about the real world
The authors talked about ethnography as a tool to unravel assumptions. As noted by the authors:
“Assumptions are incredibly important; they are the building blocks of subcultural patterns of behaviour (or habits), sustained through a multiplicity of discreet practices and actions, and structured and reinforced by policy frameworks, organisational rules and reward systems. Collectively, assumptions provide the scaffolding on which broader narratives, such as specific institutional cultures, are built.”
Different members in our journal club interpreted the assumptions that were under examination differently. Was it assumptions about research with police? Was it the readers’ assumptions around how police officers treat and view people? Was it assumptions about drug markets and the context of policing and drug use? Was it the assumptions of police themselves? We see ethnography as a tool to answer all these questions.
Challenging our methodological assumptions
One journal club member posed a question about whether the length of the ethnographic observations (2 days, 2 nights) was enough to qualify this study as an ethnography. This question sparked a deep discussion about our assumptions and the value of ethnography. From our experience and readings of ethnographies, most are far longer both in terms of observation and writing: 6 months, at least, and often presented in a textbook. Did we have to define an ethnography by such strict lines? Or, are such strict lines and definitions inherently non-qualitative? As one member said: “maybe we’re being really rigid and not being qualitative”.
In having this discussion, we landed on ‘yes’ – the study was a rigorous, exploratory ethnography, and focused on its merits and value in the observations. We particularly loved the description of their observations, through their own lens. The language used and context provided was vivid, and we could almost picture ourselves in the research. In this way, this study was different but refreshing from a lot of other studies that we’ve read.
Further discussion points:
- We talked about bias in research, and concluded that research is inherently biased. These biases are evident in what we look at, what we study, the lenses we use, our previous experiences, and interpretation. Do we always write about these biases? Unfortunately, ‘no’. But, we all wanted more opportunities to reflect on our own practice, and were grateful for the qualitative journal club we are in.
- We wish there were more opportunities to provide reflections/research notes about our research. Maybe we should be using the opportunity to add appendices to our papers; that contextual piece can add so much (if we weren’t limited by word counts).
About the article
Monique Marks & Simon Howell (2016). Cops, drugs and interloping academics: an ethnographic exploration of the possibility of policing drugs differently in South Africa. Police Practice and Research, 17:4, 341-352. https://doi.org/10.1080/15614263.2016.1175176
The article can be accessed here.
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