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The Broken Ethnography: Lessons from an Almost Hero

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Abstract

In the past, ethnographers often presented themselves in the classic hero frame, where they appeared authoritative and calm. Recent ethnographers, though, reveal hardship and vulnerability yet prevail as “new age heroes” who overcame danger and doubt. Missing are the important methodological insights of ethnographers who experience multiple setbacks and obstacles, ones that lead to a broken ethnography, or one that never materializes or starts. Here, the ethnographer suffers, becoming dispirited and wanting to surrender or give up. This paper breaks that methodological silence, showing how difficult gang research in Los Angeles County placed me in a broken ethnography, one where I became disillusioned and questioned my abilities and resolve. In the end, the experience revealed important methodological lessons, ones that provide guidance for future ethnographers.

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Notes

  1. Venkatesh’s recent controversies suggest that he may not be naïve or vulnerable, but Machiavellian as profiled by the New York Times (Kaminer 2012). In anthropology, he would probably fit the classic hero type, but with a postmodern twist. He also fits what I refer to as the “cowboy ethnographer,” or the ethnographer who, for celebrity gain, presents himself as a loner who traveled into an unknown and dangerous world (Author, 2013). Victor Rios (2011) directly places him within the category of ethnographers that reproduce the “jungle-book trope.”

  2. To show allegiance to La Eme, which translates into “M” in Spanish, most Southern California Mexican gangs attach the number 13 to their name (M is the thirteenth letter of the alphabet; Blatchford 2009).

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  1. Department of Sociology, University of California, Riverside, 900 University Avenue, Riverside, CA, 92521, USA

    Randol Contreras

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Correspondence to Randol Contreras.

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Contreras, R. The Broken Ethnography: Lessons from an Almost Hero. Qual Sociol 42, 161–179 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11133-019-9415-5

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