4

o \fo (

Cl

Vtfofr

i^ /io

twVia \\&lcJJUo\ - rf/ll

Library o f Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

In the field : readings on the field research experience / edited by

Carolyn D. Smith and William Kornblum. 2nd ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-275-95416-1 (alk. paper). ISBN 0-275-95417-X (pbk. :
alk. paper)
1. Ethnology-w-Field work. 2. Participant observation. 3. Social
sciencesField work. I. Smith, Carolyn D. II. Kornblum, William.
GN346.I5 1996
306'.072dc20
96-10431
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data is available.
Copyright 1996 by Carolyn D. Smith and William Kornblum
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be
reproduced, by any process or technique, without the
express written consent of the publisher.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 96-10431
ISBN: 0-275-95416-1
ISBN: 0-275-95417-X (pbk.)
First published in 1996
Praeger Publishers, 88 Post Road West, Westport, CT 06881
An im print of Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc.
Printed in the United States of America
The paper used in this book complies with the
Perm anent Paper Standard issued by the National
Inform ation Standards Organization (Z39.48-1984).
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2

Contents

PREFACE

William Komblum
Introduction

Vll

PART I: GAINING ENTRY

Elijah Anderson
Jellys Place
Carol Stack
Doing Research in The Flats
Terry Williams
Exploring the Cocaine Culture
Peggy Sullivan and Kirk Elifson
In the Field with Snake Handlers

11
21
27
33

PART II: BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS -

Ruth Horowitz
Getting In - i ^ Robert P. McNamara
Earning a Place in the H ustlers World
Douglas Harper
Relations of the Road

41
51
59

Getting In

RUTH HOROWITZ

In the early 1970s Ruth Horowitz conducted extensive field research among the
Chicano residents of the 32nd Street neighborhood in Chicago. In the course of her
research she became fascinated try the contradictions she observed in their behavior.
' She saw residents -making great efforts to help one another, both financially and
socially. At the same time, young men were shot on street comers while discussing
ways of making peace among rival gangs. Residents demonstrated for better educa
tional opportunities, yet the schools were discouraging and dangerous places. The
cultural life of this Chicago community Horowitz wrote, is organized around
several pivotal themes: violence and convention, public life and private identity,
honor and the American dream . . .
To better understand this broad cultural pattern, Horowitz, focused on teenagers
as they interacted and developed identities in various social settings. She also exam
ined the process through which young people make the transition from teenager to
older community member. Her research highlighted the continual tension between
the individualistic success ethic, as taught and expected in the schools and on the
job, and the collective solidarity of the peer group.
Young people in this community carved out several distinctive lifestyles. Some
young men were immersed in the social world of fighting gangs; others remained
T his selection is ad ap ted from Ruth H orow itz. Honor and the American Dream: Culture and
Identity in a Chicano Community, copyright 1983 by R utgers, T h e State University. Re
p rin ted by perm ission o f R utgers University Press. Also from R uth H orow itz, R em aining an
O utsider: M em bership to R esearch R ap p o rt, Journal of Contemporary Ethnography 14, no. 4,
p p 413-423, copyright 1986 by R uth H orowitz. R eprinted by perm ission o f Sage Publica
tions, Inc.

42 / Horowitz

on the periphery, sometimes becoming involved in fights but generally only re

sponding to what they perceived as insults rather than instigating incidents (a way
to enhance a gang members reputation). Other youth rigorously avoided the world
of the streets and concentrated on getting an education or holding a job. But while
their orientations to the street world were distinct, all the youth interacted with one
another.
The young women moved in social worlds that were largely separate from those
of the men. Most of them experienced tension in the realm of sexuality and mother
hood. Only a few oriented their lives toward a work career. The others developed
several strategies for resolving the dilemma between the importance of remaining a
virgin and the need to give in to the sexual demands of a boyfriend.
Horowitzs research goals required that she spend a great deal of time with the
teenage residents of 32nd Street as well as with families living in the community.
She also observed residents in the schools, at political meetings, at dances and
parties, and in the streets. For much of the time she hung out with the members of
fighting gangs on street comers, in parks, and sometimes in their homes. She did
not become a gang member; instead, she became accepted as a sort of reporter; some
of the teenagers dubbed her Lois Lane. But while her entry into the community
and the lives o f its residents was relatively easy, after a year she found that resi
dents increasingly defined her in terms of local community expectations, creating
problems for her as a neutral sociologist.
At tim es I have ten d ed to rom anticize my fieldwork experience. T hat ten
dency helped sustain m e from 1971 through 1974 and b ro ught me back
to 32nd S treet in 1977 to find out what had h appened to the youths I
first m et in 1971. A ttending local dances, parties, w eddings, and cotillions
was exciting, and sitting on a park bench o r walking aro u n d the neigh
b o rh o o d talking and observing was an adventure. Many families m ade me
feel at hom e by inviting m e to family functions and letting me know that
I was always w elcom e. They celebrated my birthday and spent long hours
m aking tamales, w hich they knew were am ong my favorite foods. T he ro
m antic adventure im age helped m e overcom e my fears and bear the te
dium o f dictating notes at two o r three in the m orning, often six nights a
week.
T he adventure was often overshadow ed by the fears and drudgery of
doing fieldwork alone. Som e o f the problem s I en co u n tered were typical
o f all fieldwork, others stem m ed from the nature of the com m unity I
had chosen. E ntering an unknow n setting with no set status or identity,
introducing myself to m any people, and rem em bering nam es and their
pseudonym s used in my notes was not easy. In the beginning I regarded
every resident as critical to my research and thought that offending any
o ne of them would com pel m e to leave the field.
T h ough I was fluent in Spanish, life in Spain, Mexico, an d N orth Phila
delphia had n o t prepared m e for doing research. After m oving to 32nd

Getting I n / 43

Street in 1972, 1 quickly learned to distinguish between the sounds of

gunfire and firecrackers and to block out the noise and music em anating
from the pool hall below my apartm ent. However, I found the world of
the streets som etim es a frightening place. W atching guns being passed
through w ashroom windows to young w om en at public dances rattled me,
particularly w hen we retu rn ed from the w ashroom to the dark, noisy
dance floor, w here a bystander could as easily have been shot as the in
tended victim.
Readers may w onder how a w om an could possibly have spent tim e with
gang m em bers as they loitered on street corners and aro u nd park
benches, and developed relationships that allowed h er to g ather sufficient
and reliable data. I never tried to becom e a m em ber of the com m unity.
T he research role 1 developed through interaction with the youth varied
from one group to an o th er and was significantly influenced by som e of
my personal characteristics: I am Jewish, educated, small, fairly dark, a
w om an, dressed slightly sloppily but n ot too sloppily, an d only a few years
older than m ost of those w hom I observed. T hese attributes did m ake a
difference in how people appraised and evaluated m e and my actions,
and in the activities and thoughts to which I was privy. C areful observa
tion o f w hat kind o f inform ation was available to m e and how different
groups perceived and evaluated m e allowed m e to see n o t only w hat cate
gories were im portant to each of the local groups and w hat som eone in
that role was perm itted to see, do, and hear, but also how I should try to
negotiate my identity in the field.
I had little choice but to acknow ledge publicly the reasons for my pres
ence on 32nd Street; not only do I differ in background from the 32nd
Street residents but 1 had to violate many local expectations to g ath er the
data I needed. W hile my appearance allowed m e to blend into a youthful
crowd, I sounded and looked sufficiently different so that m ost people
realized im m ediately that I was not from the neighborhood. M uch o f the
tim e it was advantageous to be an outsider and to be so regarded. For
exam ple, w om en do not spend tim e alone with m ale gangs as I did, espe
cially w ithout being affiliated with one o f the g an g s m em bers. M oreover,
as an outsider I could ask a lot of stupid questions W ho are the guys
in the black and red sweaters? or Why do you fight? As anything but
an acknow ledged outsider I would have had a difficult tim e asking them .
W hile I spent som e tim e with adults teachers in several schools, fam i
lies in their hom es, and political activists in several com m unity organiza
tions I spent m ost o f my tim e with a variety of youth groups in the
streets and at their o th er hangouts. Som e of the yo u th w ere m em bers of
gangs who had and used guns; others were young w om en who frequently
w ent o ut with these young m en; others were m uch less involved in street
life; and still others were college-bound.
M eeting young people was not as difficult as one m ight expect, given

44 / Horowitz

the public nature o f m uch o f their social life, particularly gang activity. In
the first weeks of the project I chose to sit on a bench in a park w here I
saw m any youth (aged 15 to 19) gathered from m idafternoon until late
at night. A fter several afternoons of sitting on a bench nearby, a m ale
youth cam e over as I d ro p p ed a softball that had rolled toward m e and
said, You can t catch (which I acknow ledged) and Youre not from the
h o o d , are you? T hese were statem ents, n o t questions, by G ilberto, the
Lions president. I told him I w anted to write a book on C hicano youth.
H e told m e that 1 should m eet the d udes and took m e over to shake
hands with several o f the m em bers o f the Lions gang. T h e park becam e
my hango ut every day after that, but it was several m onths, several bottles
o f B oones Farm Straw berry W ine, and a nu m b er of rum ors abo u t my
being a narcotics agent before m any of the gang m em bers would give me
intim ate inform ation about their girlfriends, families, and feelings about
them selves and the future. Som e never did.
T he facility with which I en tered the com m unity and eased into a fairly
com fortable relationship with the Lions w ent to my head, and I nearly
pushed my acceptance too far by n o t exercising a reasonable degree of
caution. D uring my second m onth in the field, 1 heard about a gang
peace m eeting that was to take place on a Sunday afterno on at the park.
All area gangs had been invited to attend. A perfect situation, I thought,
a superb piece o f data. O n Sunday it was drizzling but I h u rried down to
32nd Street. By 1:30 about 120 gang m em bers had gathered u n d er the
porch o f the park gym. A lthough I noticed that all the young w om en had
disappeared from the park, I tho u g h t nothing of it.
T he m eeting began. A m an in his late twenties started talking. I could
n o t identify him as he was not w earing his colors." H e spoke for alm ost
ten m inutes about how the C hicano gangs had to stop fighting each o th er
and instead get together for political purposes. Everyone listened atten
tively. A lthough I saw that several of them had guns, it did not register
with me at the tim e.
Suddenly the speaker stopped and tu rned toward me, as did everyone
else. My h eart started doing triple tim e. H e dem anded, W ho are you?" 1
m anaged to say, Hi! Im R uth and Im w riting a book on how the gangs
are really together aro u n d h ere. G ilberto grabbed my arm , pulled me
behind him , and said, S h es cool, sh es been hanging with us. A nother
m em ber o f the Lions w hispered to m e to get out.
T he gang m em ber who challenged m e at the peace conference was a
Senior G reek. After the m eeting I cam e back to the area w here all the
gangs were standing around. T he speaker cam e toward m e and invited
m e to jo in him and som e o th er Senior G reeks at the co rn er tavern. They
already had been drinking heavily. Frightened, but thinking only of the
research opportunity, I followed them to the tavern. T h ere they pro
ceeded to tell m e a story that sounded like the song O fficer K rupke

Gelling 1m / 45

from West Side Story: They were sick and losers, the system was corrupt,
and their parents had m any problem s. O ver the next few years I got to
know them m uch better, both how cruel and dangerous and how polite
and thoughtful they could be.
My relationship with the m ale gang m em bers evolved slowly and never
was easy. Key elem ents of the identity we negotiated were my gender and
the fact that I was an outsider. Being a wom an both lim ited and ex
panded w hat I could see and do with the gang m em bers. R em aining an
outsider was essential. As a w om an, I was not invited to attend fights or
to go out looking for o th er gangs, but I was taken along to buy guns and
was told afterw ards about the fights, inform ation that 1 would then verify
with individual gang m em bers and outside observers. I could talk to them
about som e aspects o f their private lives, which they rarely discussed with
oth er m en. My lack o f care with appearance, which both m ales and fe
m ales continually rem arked upon, allowed m e to play down my sexual
identity. However, I was very careful n ot to spend too m uch tim e alone
with any one m ale and not to dance with them at the m any parties and
dances I attended.
T he m ale gangs had a difficult tim e developing an identity for m e that
would allow them to be com fortable with a w om an, as w om en do not
hang aro und with m en. However, as a w om an I could do them little harm
while they evaluated the situation; w om en can be harm ful only w hen they
are seen as controlling the situation. G ang m em bers were the ones who
could decide w hether or n ot I could stay; I had m ade that option explicit.
A m an in a sim ilar situation may have had a m ore difficult tim e, as his
requests m ight be seen as a challenge. I later discovered that several
weeks before 1 arrived a news p h o tographer had had his cam era taken
from him and been told to leave.
T he first dim ension of my identity that I discovered they were con
structing was as a lady, which placed me in a respected but som ew hat
distant position from them . A lady im plied th at a w om an was unobtain
able sexually. O ne day when 1 was asked to accom pany one of the m em
bers (age 15) to a c o rn e r grocery, we saw a young w om an approaching
and he said, H ere com es my girl. I had not m et h er and asked him if I
should explain to h er w hat 1 was doing. H e replied that it was all right
because she could see that I was a lady. (His girl was not.) They began
to treat m e differently than the young w om en who sat in the park. They
did not swear or discuss sex with a lady, but did a ro u n d som e o f the
young w om en who spent tim e at the park. A m an walked on the curb
side with a lady, helped to find h er a chair, an d took h er arm to help
h er across an icy street; however, they did not do these things with most
o f the girls at the park. O n several occasions a gang m em ber would take
my arm as we crossed an icy street, and w hen I dressed up for a fancy
party, one of them rushed aro u n d to find m e a com fortable chair. The

youth frequently referred to th eir own m others as ladies. H ere I was

able to begin to discover the m eaning o f an im portant category to them
and w hat they did in situations in w hich ladies are present.
However, ladies do n ot sit in the park an d are not interested in gang
m em bers lives. Social w orkers m ight be ladies" who asked questions, but
there were no outsider-social w orkers in the com m unity, and the Lions
discarded that category for m e because I was at the park on evenings and
w eekends and did n ot try to m ake them do anything differently. Social
w orkers w orked from nine to five and told people w hat to do, they
claim ed. Finally, about four weeks after I arrived, and after exam ining the
small notebook I carried with m e, one of the gang m em bers declared
that I was like Lois Lane, the rep o rter (S u p erm an s girlfriend). It was an
identity that alm ost transcended gender. T his provided them with the
necessary identity with which I could ask about their activities and they
could readily respond. O ften they would seek me o u t to relay new stories
o f gang activities and, w hen som eone w anted a story retold, to say, Ask
R uth, sh es been w riting it all dow n.
A lthough the Lions began to treat m e as a lady reporter, they still had
misgivings as to w hat I was doing. Why w ould any outsider, particularly a
w om an, w ant to spend so m uch tim e with them ? Both the research er and
the people w ho are being observed m ake sure the d ata are realistic by
com paring them with their own ideas and experiences; the reliability of
the data is checked by com paring w hat one is told with w hat is observed
and with o th er accounts o f the sam e events.
In the w orld of those w hom I was observing, the police often asked
questions. My behavior o f asking questions and rem aining in the back
g ro u n d fit n ot only th at o f a rep o rter but also that of a n arc. A rum or
that the narcotics squad was sending aro u n d a fem ale agent gave rise to
suspicion o f my role. After I drank with them (fruit wines and beer) and
w atched them sm oke m arijuana and take acid w ithout an arrest, that sus
picion disappeared. T h en they began to show m e their weapons. O ne o f
the Lions show ed m e his radio, in which he had placed a small caliber
gun. H e explained to m e that he had seen guns p u t inside dictionaries
on television, b ut he knew the police w ould be suspicious if they saw him
carrying a book. W hen one o f the Lions was arrested, not only did I m ake
a small contribution to his bail but, as the only person over 21, I signed
for him. L ater I was asked and began to contribute small sum s to the
g ro u p s funds for beer and wine, which m eant that they had decided that
I was going to be aro u n d continuously. I had begun to notice that only
those who were m em bers o f the gro up and always aro u n d contributed to
the collective pot.
T he outsider identity and som ew hat m arginal position of lady re
p o rte r allowed som e closeness w ithout being threaten in g as a woman
w ho spent so m uch tim e with them asking what they often thought were


Getting In / 47

dum b questions. T his identity did n ot relegate me to lurking in the back

ground, but allowed me to participate in m any of the ongoing activities
and was an indication of the limits of their interaction with adults in the
wider society, their social skills, their categories of w om en, and the sym
bols they use to express the expected continuity o f presence.
My identity as a lady rep o rter and the m arginality that it im plied had
both advantages and disadvantages. Being a rep o rter allowed m e to ask
questions publicly about exciting events but not about family and per
sonal experience. As a trusted, som ew hat distant "lady, I had their re
spect. They would talk about their fam ilies in private; however, there were
o th er things they w ould not discuss with or say in front o f a lady.
As a rep o rter I was allowed to check out accounts of fights by discussing
them with individual m em bers, the group, and older residents who had
worked with gangs or had been m em bers. From the very beginning, the
gang m em bers would talk about their fights and challenges by oth er
gangs. G athering data on fights and reputations was relatively easy, as it
was seen that a rep o rter w ould be interested in their adventures.
O ccasionally the subjects o f school and work did arise naturally in the
Lions conversations; however, as a rep o rter and educated outsider I
could probe these topics and probably extended them beyond their natu
ral length in piublic discussions. School arose naturally as a topic o f con
versation w hen a particular event such as a fight, graduation, or suspen
sion occurred. W ork was a fairly com m on topic, as m any of the Lions had
worked, at least part tim e, from the age o f 16. O n o th er occasions, I
would ask questions about school o r work and, m uch of the tim e, a dis
cussion w ould follow. As a recognized educated person (a re p o rte r), I was
asked questions about school and jobs.
N either my identity as a rep o rter nor as a lady allowed m e to obtain
personal inform ation concerning hopes, relationships with w om en, and
families of the street youth. I was able to discover through conversations
with form er gang m em bers that these were not topics discussed in public,
and infrequently in private. Using the role o f rep o rter was a failure; I
tried to interview one o f thfe gang m em bers with a small portable tape
recorder. H e was so concerned about how he said things and m aking a
good story that m uch of the m aterial was so exaggerated and stilted that
it was unusable. O nly as a respected and trusted outsider was it possible
for m e to engage in such discussion.
T he gang m em bers could not discern what use personal inform ation
could be to me. However, they tried and failed to start rum ors through
me. In this way they gained confidence that I w ould not express their
hopes and fears to others. They began to talk to me individually about
them selves and the problem s they had with their fam ilies and girlfriends.
M ost of my discussions o f family, girlfriends, and the future occurred
w hen I would bum p into one o f the street-oriented m ales and he would
1

48 / Horowitz

ask for my advice about girlfriends, work, o r school. Som etim es being
slightly h ig h encouraged the gang m em bers to talk, but all questions
had to be indirect. O n one occasion I was talking to a Lion whose girl
friend had ju st told him th at she was pregnant, w hen my rep o rter role
got the best o f me and I m ade the m istake o f asking him why he had not
used birth control in a tone that he took as an indictm ent o f his behavior.
W ith that com m ent, w hat had been a fascinating conversation about his
intim ate life, his fears o f m arriage and fatherh ood, tu rn ed into a discus
sion o f sports and fights. I had sim ilar private conversations with m any of
the Lions and o th er street males, b ut som e never felt close enoug h or
trusted m e enough to engage in such conversations.
O n som e occasions th eir evaluation o f m e as a lady proved an advan
tage. It allow ed me to rem ain uninvolved. Being a lady lim ited o p p ortu
nities to atten d gang fights; w hen several gang m em bers would take off
in a car to shoot at som e enem ies I was rarely invited. My refusal to go
even w hen asked was readily honored. Additionally, w hen I was asked to
hide a gun, being a lady, n o t a rep orter, gave me the n eeded excuse to
refuse. E xcept for gang fights, they rarely told me about illegal activities
before they occurred, although they usually inform ed me afterwards. In
th eir view, rep orters did n o t know about stories until afterwards, and they
were all aware that the w ider society, o f which I was a m em ber, did not
approve o f m uch of th eir illegal behavior.
My identity as a lady did m ean that swearing and public discussions
o f sexual exploits w ere lim ited. W atching how they reacted to me as a
lady, however, did tell m e som ething about how they perceived that
class of w om en. For exam ple, one m em ber was terribly em barrassed w hen
I picked up a book he was reading and discovered that it was a graphic
account o f som eones sexual exploits. R uth, you sh o u ld n t see that kind
o f th in g , he said as he grabbed the book back. T hrou gh oth er m easures,
I was able to find o u t that they often discussed sex. W hen a m ale friend
who was researching rich kids (which they fou nd am using) jo in e d me
at the park, they told him that they never talked abo ut sex in front of me.
T here was no identity I could negotiate that would allow m e to be privy
to discussions o f sex. I was unable to explore how they used public discus
sions of sexual relations and, therefore, was unable to explore the m ean
ing of such discussions to group status and relationships.
*

Identities are not fixed, b ut are affirm ed or changed continually. It was

an advantage to be appraised as a lady and a rep orter, as that identity
allowed m e to m aintain a degree o f distance and legitim acy as a woman
am ong m en. However, the longer I rem ained with the group, the m ore I
becam e aware that som e o f the young m en were attem pting to redefine

Getting In / 49

my identity as a potential girlfriend, m aking my sexual identity salient.

After m ore than a year of using "lady re p o rte r as a key identity, som e
m em bers began to flirt seriously and tried to ask m e out. They claim ed
that my age (six to eight years older) did not constitute a barrier to start
ing a relationship. They were trying to replace my identity as a lady re
porter with an identity that encom passed my potential as a sexual partner,
regardless o f my efforts to deem phasize my appearance and em phasize
our age difference and my outsider status.
My failure to dress well initially acted as a d eterre n t to their appraising
me in term s of my sexual identity. In contrast to my unpressed (but clean
and unpatched) jeans, T-shirts or turtlenecks, and flat rubber-soled shoes
or sandals, and my lack of m ake-up or a sophisticated hairstyle, the m ajor
ity of young w om en on 32nd Street were m uch m ore concern ed with
appearance and dressed m ore neatly and fashionably in the latest style
jeans or slacks (always well pressed), pretty blouses, and m ake-up. My lack
of w hat they considered decen t clothing and my inability to do anything
with my hair were frequently a source o f com m ent. O ne o f the gang
m em bers teased m e for two days w hen he noticed (im m ediately) that I
had bought a new pair o f shoes to replace the ones with holes, and sev
eral o f the young w om en offered to lend m e outfits w hen we discussed
an upcom ing dance. T he young w om en frequently w orried about my abil
ity to "catch a m an . W hile I dressed within the acceptable range, the
rem arks concerning my inability to dress well left m e to see how im
portant appearance was for both m en and w om en. They also served, at
first, to dow nplay my role as a sexual object.
Several o f my actions may have encouraged the gang m em bers at
tem pts to renegotiate my identity as an insider and sexual object. My
move into,a small apartm ent in the com m unity was in terp reted as a possi
ble indication of com m unity m em bership. M oreover, a friend from out
of town cam e to visit, m aking the Lions aware that I m ight be attracted
to som e m en, so they could begin to ask, Why not us? I had provided
them with new inform ation that they could interp ret as indicating a need
to change my identity.
W hile I was continually at the point o f losing my lady rep o rter identity,
I was not challenged all the time. I rem ained wary, m aking sure that o th er
w om en were included on trips to the Lions clubhouse and not dancing
at parties. However, the attem pts to renegotiate my identity began to limit
my m obility and discussions with the gang and to reem phasize the im por
tance o f the wide gap between acceptable m ale and fem ale roles and
"ladies and chicks that I had been observing.
As a lady rep o rter m arginal to the com m unity, I did n o t have to be
treated as a sexual object and was free to spend tim e with m en and ask
questions. However, as an indep en d en t person I did no t ap pear to be
subordinate, which was threatenin g to their views of them selves as men

50 /

Horowitz

who dom inated w om en. N ot only did I com e and go as I wished, b u t I

knew a lot about them . From their perspective, that gave m e control.
A fter fifteen m onths, th eir sexual teasing increased significantly; they
com m ented about how good I looked, asked if I would go o ut with them ,
and several stated th at I knew too m uch about them .
I did n ot know m uch m ore about their fighting, n um b er o f guns, or
o th er illegal activities than m any com m unity residents. T hat was not what
they were w orried about. R ather, I knew too m uch about them as peo
ple their problem s, weaknesses, hopes, and fears. They n eeded one an
o th er and they knew that I knew that. I knew them too well and was
aware th at they were not all that they publicly claim ed to be (tough war
riors) . T hey m asked their intim acy and need for one an o th er in o rd er to
be perceived publicly as tough. As soon as they began to see m e as a
potential sexual partner, my in d ependen ce and possible control over
them through intim ate know ledge becam e problem atic for them . As a
w om an, I should have been subordinate, but I was do m inan t through my
indep en d en ce and had potential pow er over them based on my intim ate
know ledge about them .
A sexual identity w ould have greatly im peded the research process.
T his culture creates strong param eters within which a fem ale researcher
w ould be very constrained as a com m unity m em ber. As the pressures in
creased to take a locally defined m em bership role, 1 was unable to negoti
ate a g en d er identity that w ould allow me to continue as a researcher.
A fter eighteen m onths I had to stop spending so m uch tim e with the
gangs and tu rn ed to the study o f o th er youth groups in the com m unity,
seeing the gang m em bers on occasion.