Challenges of State Ethnographies in Uruguayan Enclosed Facilities for Children and Adolescents

Abstract

In this paper, we address the challenges to ethnographically-oriented qualitative research in Uruguayan state facilities for children and adolescents. Based on two qualitative studies, we examine the relevance of conducting research in enclosed institutions that manage the daily lives of children and adolescents within a state framework. Several methodological challenges and questions arise including the different dimensions of institutional access, transit and permanence; the rapport and communication with research participants and key institutional actors; and the writing and dissemination of the results of this type of research. We discuss the possibilities and obstacles associated with qualitative methodologies when carrying out state ethnographies, and the importance of such studies as a way to evidence the living conditions of children and adolescents in these institutions. In the conclusion, we reflect on the ethical dimensions of research. State ethnographies allow us to think about the future of qualitative research, and especially of ethnography, in relation to an ethical task that is constructed in the encounter with those others that shape the research processes. An ethical-political approach that gives agency to the participants in our research, despite the fact that living conditions in these institutions often violate people’s right to be heard. We wonder about the ethical and political relevance of the knowledge produced, considering that public information about some affected groups does not necessarily imply an improvement of their living conditions.