GangstaLife: Fusing Urban Ethnography with Netnography in Gang Studies

Urbanik, Marta‐Marika; Roks, Robby

doi:10.1007/s11133-020-09445-0

Cited by 22 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…Doing online ethnographic fieldwork poses important ethical dilemmas (e.g., Urbanik and Roks 2020 ). The unwieldly nature of the community on Instagram as one constituted through webs of connections rather than a contained group meant that it was impossible to collectively ask for consent, and the volume of users I encountered daily made individual consent unsustainable for the ethnographic portion of the study.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diagnosis as Subculture: Subversions of Health and Medical Knowledges in the Orthorexia Recovery Community on Instagram

Arguedas

2022

Qual Sociol

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Diagnoses are powerful tools that fulfill various practical and symbolic functions. In this paper, I examine how a contested diagnosis called orthorexia nervosa has been taken up by users on Instagram, where tens of thousands of posts engage with the topic, many of them from individuals who identify with the condition. I put scholarship on medicalization and diagnosis in conversation with literature on subcultures to foreground the subversive work that is enabled through this diagnosis. Drawing on more than 350 hours of online ethnographic fieldwork and 34 in-depth interviews, I examine how participants construct a shared identity, draw on common language and norms, and undertake collective practices, as they negotiate dominant understandings of health. I show how they draw on the legitimacy endowed by the diagnostic label to validate and make sense of experiences of suffering but also to counter dominant health-seeking discourses, practices, and aesthetics in an online space where these are highly visible and valued. I also discuss some ways Instagram as a digital platform shapes its uptake by this community in meaningful ways. On the one hand, participants draw heavily on the language and framing of medicine to make sense of their fraught experiences with food and their bodies, effectively advocating for the medicalization of their own suffering while also creating a sense of community and shared identity. However, on the other hand, they actively use the diagnosis and the recovery process enabled through it to effectively resignify dominant beliefs, values, and practices that are experienced as injurious, including some that are particularly prevalent on Instagram.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diagnosis as Subculture: Subversions of Health and Medical Knowledges in the Orthorexia Recovery Community on Instagram

Arguedas

2022

Qual Sociol

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“…Additionally, I hope my refl ection on my relationship with Raymond sparks some debate on how to critically examine and publish on informants' criminal and violent posturing while maintaining personal fi eld relationships. Nowadays, where we see street-oriented individuals on both "the digital street" and physical street (Lane 2019), this issue of dealing with informants' performativity and how this impacts fi eld relations is especially relevant for ethnographers to explore in more detail (Stuart 2020: 209-217;Urbanik and Roks 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Aft er the summer of 2013, I gradually decreased my visits to the neighborhood in Th e Hague. Every now and then, in the process of fi nishing my manuscript, I kept in touch with Raymond and other informants, mostly via WhatsApp and social media platforms (Urbanik and Roks 2020). In the week before defending my dissertation, I invited Raymond to attend the public ceremony at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam, but also to inform him about what I said in media interviews about my forthcoming book.…”

Section: "Something About An Informant"mentioning

confidence: 99%

“I Showed You What I Thought Was Appropriate”

Roks

2021

Conflict and Society

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This article highlights some aspects of doing longitudinal ethnography in criminology. By zooming in and reflecting on some of the key moments and methodological choices made over the course of more than 15 years of fieldwork among members of a Dutch gang, this article illustrates that relations with informants have the potential to strengthen over time, but that building rapport and trust with (active) offenders is not necessarily a linear process. In addition to voicing the emotional and evocative aspects of these methodological deliberations, this “true confession” is meant to spark some more debate on how longitudinal fieldwork in criminology impacts field relations by critically examining not only the performativity of informants, but also of researchers.

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“…We distinguish three types of studies on the social media use by gang members or street-involved groups: One-way study of participants prior to field entry. Urban ethnographers can monitor and analyze the prospective participants' online presentations and interactions, but participants cannot "see" or interact with the ethnographer (Urbanik and Roks (2020) b Two-way observation, communication, and participation between urban ethnographers and their participants 1. Studies focused on asking current and former gang members or practitioners about their Internet usage or social media activities 2.…”

Section: Studying Gang Members and Street-involved Groups Onlinementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Therefore, Urbanik and Roks (2020) propose an addendum to the traditional typology of participant-observer roles in ethnographic fieldwork, that is (1) complete participant, (2) participant-as-observer, (3) observer-as-participant, and (4) complete observer (Gold, 1958). On the observant side of the continuum is the "one-way mirror," which enables the one-way study of research participants via social media.…”

Section: Studying Gang Members and Street-involved Groups Onlinementioning

confidence: 99%

Gangs in the Era of Internet and Social Media

2020

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the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

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GangstaLife: Fusing Urban Ethnography with Netnography in Gang Studies

Cited by 22 publications

References 37 publications

Diagnosis as Subculture: Subversions of Health and Medical Knowledges in the Orthorexia Recovery Community on Instagram

Diagnosis as Subculture: Subversions of Health and Medical Knowledges in the Orthorexia Recovery Community on Instagram

“I Showed You What I Thought Was Appropriate”

Gangs in the Era of Internet and Social Media

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