Research in/the crime: transforming pragmatic difficulties in analytical pleasure

Abstract

Doing research with people engaged in criminal activities has certain peculiarities and imposes some difficulties. In this article, I will approach two of them from situations experienced in my fieldwork research. The first is related to the risks involved in live (and research) in crime, and the second is related to my status as a woman researching a universe largely populated by men. Throughout the exhibition, I will present challenges, dilemmas, reflections, choices and treatments offered in each one of them. As I hope to make clear in the course of the article, adversities, situations of risk and mishaps involving gender relations can, in addition to the production of findings or denunciations, say a lot about the questions formulated by the interlocutors and the methods that trigger them to deal with them, bringing important analytical returns to the research.