Cultural Criminology Dina Siegel

1. Doing criminological research in ‘dangerous’ fieldsEU-Project:„Internationalization in Sociology and Criminology studies“Vilnius/Lithuania Cultural Criminology Dina Siegel

2. Cultural criminology Ethnographic methods (qualitative) & each method which reveals meaning, experience & emotion of crime: engaged criminology Multidisciplinary: from different fields (postmodern approach): visual/ textual, film, art, music etc. Study of emotions & experiences, meaning making Roots: critical criminology(& phenomenology) Mainstream crim. 'Objective' methods: survey research (quantitative and policy-oriented) dominates (society of control/ prevention) Multidisciplinary, but keeping own traditional methods (statistics, macro- sociological) Study of 'facts': positivistic approach Basis in soc. positivism & classic crim. theory

3. Cultural criminology was born: Because new research (research methods) is needed: Because of a domination of policy-making projects CC aks not ‘what works’, but ‘why’, ‘for whom’ and ‘under which conditions ’ (Nelen, 2008) Search of meaning and interpretation Criminology is an object – study with sometimes unbridgeable differences, therefore we need to conduct a detailed analysis (Bovenkerk, 2008)

4. Differences: Mainstream vs. CC Mainstream: reason – intervention Cultural Criminology: experience – reckoning (Boutellier, 2008) Key concepts in CC: meaning, emotion, expression, consumerism, representation, style, social construction, power, reputation, virtual identity, etc.

5. Mike Presdee, 2000, Cultural Criminology and the Carnival of Crime. London: Routledge Criminality and violence can be ‘enjoyable’ Carnival – character of a temporary reversal of a social order In present culture - ‘carnival transgression’, when it has to do with truth, authority and consumption ‘Second life’ incl. immoral, non-civilized social behavior, fantasy, unconscious ‘consumption of criminality’ (in media: egoism, decay)

6. Presdee: our desire for extreme forms of pleasure vs rationalization Dynamic society: space for expression and desires outside the normative conformity

7. …and emotions

8. Study of emotions in Cultural Criminology: Step 1. Recognizing importance of human emotions in crime, punishment and social control Step 2. Understanding how emotions work and what are the reasons Step 3: Analyzing the phenomenological basis, placing emotions in the context of situations, aesthetics and social interaction

9. Jack Katz, How Emotions Work, 1999: Emotions are: on one hand – outside our control (hysteric) On the other hand – ‘make up a part of our lives’ (subjective) Analysis of emotional condition or experience – understanding background (power, gender, social class, ethnicity)

10. Difficult and dangerous communities • Cultural criminologists apply ethnographic research methods • It often fails, but if successful… • Excellent to research culture, motives, backgrounds, perceptions, internal and external relations, functions, relations with street crime, with economy and with social context. Also good for the mundane and common (everyday life)

11. What is dangerous?

12. What is ‘dangerous’? • Something ‘unknown’ – means must be discovered, revealed, understood. • Nikolai Miklucho-Maklai (1846-1888) – Indonesia and Australia – ethnography • Bronislav Malinowski – Trobriand Islands – participant observation

13. Bronislav Malinowski (1884-1942)

14. Fieldwork vs.‘Armchair researcher’

15. Dangerous fields: ‘Unknown city’ • Chicago School • Robert Park, William Thomas and Florian Znaniecki Criminological research: • Ned Polsky (1969) – ‘hustlers’ • William Chambliss (1978) – corrupt officials • Patricia Adler (1985) – drugs dealers

16. What is ‘dangerous’ Physical threat, violence Carolyn Nordstrom and Ton Robben, 1995, Fieldwork Under Fire. Fear, uncertainty, (on frontline, conflict area, dictatorship)

17. Dangerous gender • Being a female researcher: • Contradiction in cultural perceptions • Doing research in a ‘men’s world’

18. Ethnographic fieldwork

19. Ethnographic fieldwork

20. Research on Organized Crime in the Netherlands • Frank Bovenkerk and Yucel Yesilgoz - The Turkish Mafia • Informants – ‘babas’ (leaders of the Turkish heroin trafficking networks) and drug couriers • Participant observation in coffee-houses, informal settings • Most important conclusions: second generation migrants serve the heroin traders, this is the chance for poor young Turks to climb up on a social ladder in the Netherlands.

21. Damian Zaitch: Informants: cocaine dealers, Colombian prostitutes Participant observation: salsa clubs; Red light district; informal settings Important conclusions: no cartels, demand/supply, no violence Colombian traquetos

22. Russian Mafia in the Netherlands Research in 1999-2004, as a result of contract killings of Russian criminals in the Netherlands Informants: Russian businessmen: legal; semi-legal; and criminal. Participant observation: Russian restaurants, informal settings. Important conclusion: Russian Mafia did not present a threat to the Dutch economy and democracy, Russian mafia is not embedded in the Russian immigrant community. Activities in the Netherlands: extortion, money laundering, women trafficking, car theft

23. Ethnographic research problems • Time and efforts demanding • Hidden nature  'off' the streets • Violent nature  dangerous • Good training is necessary (Utrecht University provides)

24. ‘Going native’ with criminals • Ethical perspective (‘coming too close means identify with…’) • Too much seduction (moral considerations) (Sluka, 1990; Sutherland and Cressey, 1967; etc.)

25. Ethnographic fieldwork • Seems to be more successful in some activities (drugs), aspects (underground), location (public) and groups (young, groups, ethnic minorities)  more and more done in the area of human trafficking, corporate crime and in prisons

26. In cultural criminology: art, fiction and images • Lyrics (gangster rap, favela funk , narcocorridos, tango, etc.)  content analysis, context

27. Art, fiction and images • Paintings and photos

28. Art, fiction and images • Films (film noir, Yakuza, Gangster films, Latin American realism, etc.)

29. Art, fiction and images • Literature (Cervantes, Shakespeare, Quincey Baudelaire, London, Chandler, etc.)

30. Art, fiction and images • Comics

31. Art, fiction and images • Advertising

32. Art, fiction and images • Videogames

33. Abu Ghraib – visual criminology

34. History: each new style and genre were received with suspicion and misunderstandingExample: Jazz in the 1920s labeled as ‘primitive’, ‘degrading’, etc. Why? Emotional features, or political symbols, protest, dreams?What was criminal in jazz?Can music be a reason for criminality? Images, art and music in Cultural Criminology

35. Moral enterpreneurs about jazz in 1920-1930: ‘Give up your masculinity, let yourself be castrated’ (Adorno) ‘Jazz has the same effect on the brain as alcohol’ (Dr. Elliot Rawlings) ‘In 1921-22 jazz had caused the downfall of 1000 girls in Chicago’ (Illinois Vigilance Association)

36. Doing ethnographic research in criminology is: • Difficult but not impossible… • ‘The data is there, the problem that criminologists are not…’ (Chambliss) • Make you hands dirty! Questions?