| Formatted contents note |
Introduction: Sociology’s Urban Explorers 1<br/>Richard E. Ocejo<br/>PART I: DATA COLLECTION STRATEGIES<br/>Section I: Being There, Up Close 17<br/>Introduction<br/>Richard E. Ocejo<br/> 1 Gans, H.J. 1962. “Redevelopment of the West End,” The Urban Villagers:<br/>Group and Class in the Life of Italian-Americans. New York: The Free Press:<br/>281; 288–298. 25<br/> From his classic work The Urban Villagers, in this selection Herbert Gans analyzes how an ItalianAmerican<br/>community reacts to impending displacement. By living in their Boston neighborhood<br/>Gans discovers how the primacy of the family and peer group in the lives of these working-class<br/>Italians and the “urban village” community that they constructed influences their inaction against<br/>displacement and the destruction of their neighborhood.<br/> 2 Bourgois, P. 1995. “Families and Children in Pain,” In Search of Respect: Selling<br/>Crack in El Barrio. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press: 259–267; 272–276. 32<br/> This piece showcases how Philippe Bourgois immerses himself in East Harlem (“El Barrio”) to<br/>understand the daily struggles and hardships of families and children in this dangerous and unstable<br/>environment. From living in the neighborhood and having a young son, Bourgois learns both the<br/>important role that children play among residents, as well as the harsh realities that they and their<br/>mothers face.<br/>3 Lloyd, R. 2006. “The Celebrity Neighborhood,” Neo-Bohemia: Art and<br/>Commerce in the Postindustrial City. New York: Routledge: 123–143. 41<br/> In this selection Richard Lloyd takes us inside the gentrifying Chicago neighborhood of Wicker<br/>Park to show how a bohemian aesthetic and work ethic gets contested within and integrated into a<br/>Downloaded by [Sikkim University] at 23:24 31 August 2017 <br/> vi | CONTENTS<br/>commercial nightlife scene. By living in Wicker Park and participating in its arts scene, Lloyd discovers<br/>the importance of leisure spaces in its construction and in transforming it into a postindustrial<br/>neighborhood of cultural production.<br/> 4 Pattillo, M. 2008. “The Black Bourgeoisie Meets the Truly Disadvantaged,”<br/>Black on the Block: The Politics of Race and Class in the City. Chicago:<br/>University of Chicago Press: 86–100. 53<br/> Seeing herself as a gentrifier in North Kenwood-Oakland, Mary Pattillo examines the intra-racial<br/>conflicts between newcomers and existing residents that emerge in a neighborhood experiencing<br/>“black gentrification.” As one of the newcomers against whom working-class residents show wariness<br/>and hostility, her work demonstrates the difficulties ethnographers face in immersing themselves<br/>in their field sites.<br/> 5 Pérez, G. M. 2004. “Los de Afuera, Transnationalism, and the Cultural Politics<br/>of Identity,” The Near Northwest Side Story. Berkeley: University of<br/>California Press: 92–94; 96–110. 64<br/> This piece pushes the community study beyond the boundaries of the urban neighborhood as Gina<br/>Perez goes to Humboldt Park in Chicago as well as San Sebastián in Puerto Rico to examine the transnational<br/>lives and identities of Puerto Rican migrants. An example of “multi-sited ethnography,”<br/>Perez’s study highlights the importance of immersion across spatial boundaries to experience and<br/>understand the impact of social contexts and spatial and cultural distance on people’s lives.<br/>Section II: Being on the Job 79<br/>Introduction<br/>Richard E. Ocejo<br/> 6 Duneier, M. 1999. “A Christmas on Sixth Avenue,” Sidewalk. New York:<br/>Farrar, Straus and Giroux: 253–256; 260–279. 87<br/> Along with his extensive observations of vendors, Mitchell Duneier also gets behind the table to<br/>see the sidewalk from their perspective. In this selection he demonstrates the complex relationship<br/>between the police and the vendors when he creates a situation through which an officer confronts<br/>him.<br/> 7 Moskos, P. 2008. “The Corner: Life on the Streets,” Cop in the Hood:<br/>My Year Policing Baltimore’s Eastern District. Princeton: Princeton<br/>University Press: 64–66; 77–88. 100<br/> Peter Moskos in this study goes through the Baltimore police academy and becomes an officer for a<br/>year. He provides a first-hand account of the varying perspectives and interpretations of their duties<br/>and decisions that officers make while policing in the inner city.<br/> 8 Grazian, D. 2003. “Like Therapy: The Blues Club as a Haven,” Blue Chicago:<br/>The Search for Authenticity in Urban Blues Clubs. Chicago: University<br/>of Chicago Press: 87–90; 105–116. 107<br/> In this study David Grazian discovers the multiple interpretations that different actors have of<br/>“authenticity” in blues clubs. This piece shows how he uses his own musical abilities on the saxophone<br/>to reveal how a community of blues club regulars construct notions of authenticity and<br/>socialize people into the group.<br/>Downloaded by [Sikkim University] at 23:24 31 August 2017 <br/>CONTENTS | vii<br/> 9 Wynn, J.R. 2005. “Guiding Practices: Storytelling Tricks for Reproducing<br/>the Urban Landscape,” Qualitative Sociology, 28, 4: 399–400; 404–413. 118<br/> As Jonathan Wynn shows, walking tour guides use storytelling tricks to weave imaginative urban<br/>narratives for their participants that parallel some of the tricks that sociologists use in their own<br/>work. By becoming a tour guide, Wynn also demonstrates the value of taking the role of the other<br/>in terms of validating claims.<br/> 10 Trimbur, L. 2011. “‘Tough Love’: Mediation and Articulation in the<br/>Urban Boxing Gym,” Ethnography, 12, 3: 334–336; 339–343; 346–350. 127<br/> The boxing gym is often seen as a male domain, but Lucia Trimbur does not just enter it as a female<br/>ethnographer, she also enters the ring to experience the rigors behind the craft of boxing as well as<br/>the duties of trainers. This piece focuses on the conflicting discourses that trainers use to coach their<br/>amateur fighters inside and outside of the ring.<br/> 11 Bender, C. 2003. “What We Talk about When We Talk about Religion,”<br/>Heaven’s Kitchen: Living Religion at God’s Love We Deliver. Chicago:<br/>University of Chicago Press: 92–103. 138<br/> By exploring a unique field site, Courtney Bender examines how people talk about religion and<br/>act religiously outside of typical settings like places of worship and the home. When she becomes a<br/>volunteer and working in the kitchen at the charity God’s Love We Deliver, Bender enters into an<br/>ongoing conversation filled with subtle but meaningful religious themes, which allows her to both<br/>collect and generate data on the role of religion in everyday talk.<br/>PART II: RELATIONSHIPS WITH PARTICIPANTS<br/>Section I: Crossing Boundaries 149<br/>Introduction<br/>Richard E. Ocejo<br/> 12 Whyte, W.F. 1943. “Doc and His Boys,” Street Corner Society: The Social<br/>Structure of an Italian Slum. Chicago: University of Chicago Press: 14–25. 157<br/> In the selection from this classic example of participant observation research, William Foote Whyte<br/>discusses the importance of bowling scores for social prestige within an Italian gang, including what<br/>happens when he out-bowls its members. Whyte’s account reveals both the importance of overcoming<br/>social boundaries as well as their abiding salience.<br/> 13 Liebow, E. 1967. “Men and Jobs,” Tally’s Corner: A Study of Negro<br/>Streetcorner Men. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company: 61–71. 164<br/> In Tally’s Corner Elliot Liebow navigates numerous social boundaries to provide an in-depth analysis<br/>of the social world of black streetcorner men. In this selection he discovers the meanings the men<br/>construct for their work opportunities and the importance of peer groups in their lives. His “chainlink<br/>fence” metaphor for the ethnographer–participant relationship endures as a characterization of<br/>the limits of immersion.<br/> 14 Stack, C. 1974. “The Flats” and “Swapping: What Goes Around Comes<br/>Around,” All Our Kin. New York: Basic Books: 11–17; 32–43. 169<br/> Race is a significant social barrier for ethnographers to navigate, and in this study Carol Stack, a<br/>white anthropologist, enters into and contributes to an inner city African-American kinship network<br/>Downloaded by [Sikkim University] at 23:24 31 August 2017 <br/> viii | CONTENTS<br/>to reveal the importance of non-blood kin relations for impoverished families. Her identity as a<br/>mother with a young son aids her in overcoming social distance and forming a close relationship<br/>with her main informant.<br/> 15 Venkatesh, S. 2002. “‘Doin’ the Hustle’: Constructing the Ethnographer<br/>in the American Ghetto,” Ethnography, 3, 1: 91–92; 96–103. 179<br/> Ethnographers are trained to analyze the thoughts and perceptions that their participants have<br/>about their own lives, but rarely do they consider the thoughts and perceptions their participants<br/>have about them. In this piece Sudhir Venkatesh discovers that the “hustle” principle that permeates<br/>life in the Chicago housing project he studies is also applied to him and his fieldwork by its residents.<br/>Such reflection casts a critical lens on the ethnographer’s role in the field at the same time as it aids<br/>him in his own analysis.<br/> 16 Cavan, S. 1966. “The Marketplace Bar,” Liquor License: An Ethnography of<br/>Bar Behavior. Chicago: Aldine Publishing Company: 171–177; 193–200. 186<br/> Along with race, gender is often another important social boundary between ethnographers and<br/>their participants. In this study from the 1960s, Sherri Cavan examines gender relations in pickup<br/>nightspots. She often uses her gender to position herself in the world of male-dominated bars and<br/>analyze how social interaction between men and women works in them.<br/> 17 Auyero, J. & Swistun, D. 2009. “The Compound and the Neighborhood,”<br/>Flammable: Environmental Suffering in an Argentine Shantytown. Oxford:<br/>Oxford University Press: 28–31; 32–44. 194<br/> In this co-authored study on the people in an impoverished and highly contaminated shantytown<br/>and their reactions to their hazardous surrounding conditions, Javier Auyero and Debora Swistun<br/>use the “photo-elicitation” method with the town’s children to learn how they understand<br/>their environment. Through this method they overcome the age gap that exists between them while<br/>remaining sensitive to the vulnerability of their population.<br/>Section II: Doing the Right Thing 207<br/>Introduction<br/>Richard E. Ocejo<br/> 18 Humphreys, L. 1975. “The People Next Door,” Tearoom Trade: Impersonal<br/>Sex in Public Places. Piscataway: Aldine Transactions: 106–111; 114–122. 216<br/> This controversial work by Laud Humphreys is among the most mentioned in courses and textbooks<br/>that discuss ethics in sociological research. This selection showcases the actual data that Humphreys<br/>gathered and the analysis he conducted on impersonal homosexual sex in public places.<br/> 19 Ferrell, J. 1993. “Denver Graffiti and the Syndicate Scene,” Crimes of Style:<br/>Urban Graffiti and the Politics of Criminality. Boston: Northeastern<br/>University Press: 21–26; 49–53. 225<br/> It is not uncommon for ethnographers to engage in illegal activities with their participants, and in<br/>this piece Jeff Ferrell joins a group of graffiti writers in Denver as they reveal the importance of style<br/>in constructing their subcultural community. Ferrell argues that he engaged in illegal activities with<br/>his participants to experience their world and validate their claims, but places limits on doing so for<br/>all activities.<br/>Downloaded by [Sikkim University] at 23:24 31 August 2017 <br/>CONTENTS | ix<br/> 20 Contreras, R. 2009. “‘Damn, Yo—Who’s That Girl?’ An Ethnographic<br/>Analysis of Masculinity in Drug Robberies,” Journal of Contemporary<br/>Ethnography, 38, 4: 465–466; 474–483. 231<br/> In this work, Randol Contreras deals with a number of ethical issues from studying drug robbers<br/>who regularly engage in violent acts. In this piece he focuses on their mistreatment and exploitation<br/>of women in their robberies. Contreras’s work exemplifies situations when participants engage in<br/>behaviors that fieldworkers are morally against. |
