Ethnography and the city/ readings on doing urban fieldwork Ocejo, Richard E.

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