13 Approaching foreign milieus
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Gisela Pauli Caldas
Abstract
This contribution is based on reflections from a seminar entitled, ‘Approaching foreign milieus’, which was jointly led by the two authors, combining the training of young police officers, and a seminar on ethnographic methods for young BA students in 2019. Translation work featured in a number of ways in this seminar. First, translation between the methods of policework and the ethnographic methods of African Studies/Anthropology formed much of the content throughout the seminar. Second, the main task for seminar participants was to translate their interests in learning about foreign milieus into actual questions that could be asked to interlocutors. Third, translations took place between the ‘working cultures’ of the applied police training setting and the academic university setting. A fourth level of translation is proposed indirectly, which is a more comparative perspective on differing international police practices and strategies. This chapter includes the results of trying out methods in practical exercises, an analysis of interactions between students of different backgrounds, as well as their interactions with one another. While most participants realised that the foreign milieus were much more heterogeneous than they initially anticipated, they also discussed the similarities and differences between ethnographic work and police routines. The chapter thus addresses key issues about the relationship between practice and theory, interviewing and observing, and distance and closeness. The chapter reflects on the multiple roles played by observers, researchers, police, and their diverse interlocutors, and concludes with some ideas about how to improve joint training courses in the future.
Abstract
This contribution is based on reflections from a seminar entitled, ‘Approaching foreign milieus’, which was jointly led by the two authors, combining the training of young police officers, and a seminar on ethnographic methods for young BA students in 2019. Translation work featured in a number of ways in this seminar. First, translation between the methods of policework and the ethnographic methods of African Studies/Anthropology formed much of the content throughout the seminar. Second, the main task for seminar participants was to translate their interests in learning about foreign milieus into actual questions that could be asked to interlocutors. Third, translations took place between the ‘working cultures’ of the applied police training setting and the academic university setting. A fourth level of translation is proposed indirectly, which is a more comparative perspective on differing international police practices and strategies. This chapter includes the results of trying out methods in practical exercises, an analysis of interactions between students of different backgrounds, as well as their interactions with one another. While most participants realised that the foreign milieus were much more heterogeneous than they initially anticipated, they also discussed the similarities and differences between ethnographic work and police routines. The chapter thus addresses key issues about the relationship between practice and theory, interviewing and observing, and distance and closeness. The chapter reflects on the multiple roles played by observers, researchers, police, and their diverse interlocutors, and concludes with some ideas about how to improve joint training courses in the future.
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents v
- List of figures and tables vii
- List of contributors viii
- Acknowledgements xiii
- Introduction 1
- I Categorisations of difference in police work 29
- 1 Police racism in France and Germany 31
- 2 Policing order 53
- 3 Predictively policed 72
- 4 The social construction of parallel society in Swedish police documents 95
- II Doing differences in everyday policing 115
- 5 Dirty Harry gone global? On globalising policing and punitive impotence 117
- 6 Instrumentalising racism in Russian policing 135
- 7 Negotiating with ethnic diversity 157
- 8 ‘Do you understand? Yes, you understand.’ 174
- III Policing as translation 193
- 9 Inclusive and non-inclusive modes of communication in multilingual operational police training 195
- 10 Talking with hands and feet 219
- 11 The Portuguese police and colonial sedimentations 240
- IV Police officers and ethnographers 265
- 12 Albanian culture and major crime 267
- 13 Approaching foreign milieus 289
- Postface 314
- Index 326
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents v
- List of figures and tables vii
- List of contributors viii
- Acknowledgements xiii
- Introduction 1
- I Categorisations of difference in police work 29
- 1 Police racism in France and Germany 31
- 2 Policing order 53
- 3 Predictively policed 72
- 4 The social construction of parallel society in Swedish police documents 95
- II Doing differences in everyday policing 115
- 5 Dirty Harry gone global? On globalising policing and punitive impotence 117
- 6 Instrumentalising racism in Russian policing 135
- 7 Negotiating with ethnic diversity 157
- 8 ‘Do you understand? Yes, you understand.’ 174
- III Policing as translation 193
- 9 Inclusive and non-inclusive modes of communication in multilingual operational police training 195
- 10 Talking with hands and feet 219
- 11 The Portuguese police and colonial sedimentations 240
- IV Police officers and ethnographers 265
- 12 Albanian culture and major crime 267
- 13 Approaching foreign milieus 289
- Postface 314
- Index 326
