Possibilities and pitfalls of prison ethnography: methodological reflection on the use of prison ethnography in the Czech context

Abstract:
The aim of the article is to methodologically reflect possibilities and pitfalls of prison ethnography in the Czech prison research. Based on his own survey of Czech prisons, the author discusses some potentially dangerous parts of research in this field with emphasis placed on administrative obstacles, researcher‘s position in the process of data production and research ethics. Using prison ethnography in the Czech context is compared with a position of ethnography as a scientific discipline in the global prison research. Despite many methodological difficulties, the author considers the prison ethnography to be an effective way of analyzing prison system in the Czech Republic. For the purpose of successful development of the Czech prison ethnography a critical methodological discussion is necessary. The aim of the article is to contribute to such discussion.

Keywords:
prison ethnography, qualitative methodology, prison research, the Czech prison system

Authors:
Dirga, L.

DOI: