Ethnography of the State

In spite of federal legislation concerning sex work in Germany, the practice of regulation of sex work differs remarkably from region to region. This is because the logics of regulating sex work differ, and range from repression and dispersion to integration and taxation. These logics are in turn dependent on the varying constructions of „the sex worker“ which reaches from the criminal and pathological to the victimized, and to the rational citizen unfairly disadvantaged by structural constraints, to economic subjects characterized by economic rationality and professionalism. It seems as if legislation had little or no impact on the actual administrative practice of local civil servants.

During the 2008 global financial crisis, gold-backed reserves became a 'safe haven' for capital investment, causing gold prices to hit historic highs. Globally , small-scale gold mining activities proliferated as prices climbed. Along the banks of Ghana's Offin River, abandoned, waterlogged mining pits now stretch for kilometres where agricultural and other land uses recently existed. While small-scale mining is a right reserved for Ghanaian citizens, many mining sites are foreign-operated and almost all go unremediated. There is thus a stark tension between Ghanaian minerals laws and environmental regulations and the ongoing transformation of rural landscapes. Based on 112 interviews and long-term observation in Ghana since 2010, this article untangles the relationships and practices mediating 'illegal' foreign mining operations. Shifting subjectivities, performances and practices bring land grabbing into being as state actors weave together legal and extra-legal domains to facilitate, and profit from, foreign mining. Other officials experience fear and frustration in the face of powerful mining interests, demonstrating the complex workings and conflicts between government actors and agencies. Detailing co-productions between 'legal' and 'illegal' domains in official licensing procedures complicates understandings of the state and its role in foreign land grabbing, breaking down the ontological binaries — rational/irrational, official/unofficial — used to uphold an image of state legitimacy and cohesion. Finally, given the spatial extent of small-scale mining deals and ensuing social and environmental transformations, the authors urge land-grab scholars not to dismiss the importance of small-scale deals alongside larger transactions.

Comprehending the term " victim of human trafficking " as a classification in the sense of Ian Hacking (1999), we studied mundane institutional practices aimed at the classification of migrant sex workers as " victims of human trafficking " in German police offices, victim counselling centres, and in trials. Following the tradition of an ethnography of the state (Lipsky 1980, Dubois 2010), we regard the practices of so called street-level bureaucrats not as merely implementing national policies and legislation, but rather as producing governmental action as such in the first place. In doing so, institutional practices have to be understood and analysed within a bureaucratic context with emergent and deployed bodies of hybrid knowledge and discourse, which are the effect of and at the same time producing subjectifications that are deeply emotionally embedded. The bureaucrats' emotions and beliefs actually inform the identification processes and the management of trafficking victims. Thus, instead of constituting a Weberian rational authority who solves problems exclusively in accordance with organisational and legal guidelines, the bureaucrat in our study appears to act according to modes of knowing that are always already situated within a specific social setting. This, we argue, changes the picture of governance. Thus, we shall theorise practices of governance that draw on emotional logics and affective rationalities within emergent state discourses and the ‘politics of pity’ (Aradau 2004) and, additionally, offer a new perspective on how to study the role of emotions, values, and affects in legal and bureaucratic classificatory practices.

In this article the state initiatives for environmental conservation are analyzed as a technique for the production of spaces, rural populations and subjectivities. Those initiatives generate unfinished, contingent and everchanging effects, influenced by the power systems which operate in the regions where they are implemented. From the notion of production
of space, the transformations operating on public policies in a frontier zone as the Guaviare are examined since the area was declared a forest reserve of the Amazonia in 1959. On the other hand, the mechanisms of aggregation, simplification and standardization that technical expertise has developed to guide the state intervention in this region of the country are identified. Likewise, it analyzes the effects and adaptations of the environmental policies in the addressed communities, showing their density and multiple causes in a particular socio-
historical stage as the Guaviare is.

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.

Keywords: Adolescence, childhood, ethics, qualitative research, state ethnographies.

Desafíos de las etnografías estatales en instituciones cerradas para niños, niñas y adolescentes

Resumen: en este artículo abordamos los desafíos de la investigación cualitativa con orientación etnográfica en espacios administrados por el Estado uruguayo para la atención de niños, niñas y adolescentes. Con base en dos estudios cualitativos, nos preguntamos por la pertinencia de la investigación en instituciones estatales cerradas que gestionan la vida cotidiana de niños, niñas y adolescentes. De esta manera, surgen varias cuestiones y retos metodológicos: las diversas dimensiones del acceso institucional, el tránsito y la permanencia; la relación y comunicación con participantes de la investigación y actores institucionales clave, y la escritura y difusión de los resultados de este tipo de investigaciones. Discutimos las posibilidades y los obstáculos asociados con las metodologías cualitativas aplicadas en etnografías estatales, así como la importancia de estos estudios para evidenciar las condiciones de vida de niños, niñas y adolescentes que viven en estas instituciones. En la conclusión, reflexionamos sobre las dimensiones éticas de la investigación. Las etnografías estatales permiten pensar el futuro de la investigación cualitativa, y en especial de la etnografía, en relación con un quehacer ético que se construye en el encuentro con esas otras personas que configuran los procesos de investigación. Un enfoque ético-político que concede agencia a las personas participantes en nuestra investigación, a pesar de que las condiciones de vida en estas instituciones muchas veces les vulnera el derecho a ser escuchadas. Nos preguntamos sobre la relevancia ética y política del conocimiento producido, considerando que la información pública sobre algunos grupos afectados no necesariamente se traduce en una mejora de sus condiciones de vida.

Palabras clave: adolescencia, ética, etnografías estatales, infancia, investigación cualitativa.

Desafios das etnografias do Estado em instituições fechadas
para crianças e adolescentes

Resumo: neste artigo, abordamos os desafios da pesquisa qualitativa orientada etnograficamente em espaços administrados pelo Estado uruguaio para o atendimento de crianças e adolescentes. Com base em dois estudos qualitativos, questionamo-nos sobre a pertinência da pesquisa em instituições estatais fechadas que gerem a vida diária de crianças e adolescentes. Desse contexto, surgem várias questões e desafios metodológicos: as várias dimensões do acesso institucional; transições e permanência; a relação e comunicação com os participantes da investigação e com atores institucionais-chave, bem como a escrita e divulgação dos resultados deste tipo de pesquisa. Discutimos as possibilidades e obstáculos associados com as metodologias qualitativas aplicadas em etnografias do Estado, bem como a importância desses estudos para mostrar as condições de vida das crianças e adolescentes que vivem nessas instituições. Na conclusão, refletimos sobre as dimensões éticas da investigação. As etnografias do Estado permitem pensar o futuro da pesquisa qualitativa e especialmente da etnografia, com relação a um fazer ético que se constrói no encontro com aqueles outros que configuram os processos de pesquisa. Uma abordagem ético-política que dá agência às pessoas que participam de nossa pesquisa, apesar de as condições de vida nessas instituições muitas vezes violarem seu direito de serem ouvidas. Questionamos sobre a relevância ética e política do conhecimento produzido, considerando que a informação pública sobre alguns grupos afetados não necessariamente se traduz em melhoria de suas condições de vida.

Palavras-chave: adolescência, infância, pesquisa qualitativa, ética, etnografias do Estado.

Este estudo apresenta uma visão etnográfica de três funções
representativas do Estado: o poder político personificado nos
deputados à Assembleia da República; o poder judicial personificado
nos magistrados ou oficiais de justiça de dois tribunais de primeira
instância; e a gestão do ambiente levada a cabo pelos técnicos
da Agência Portuguesa do Ambiente. Metodologicamente apoiado
em trabalho de campo intensivo com recurso à observação participante,
procurando dar primazia às pessoas que, quotidianamente, fazem do
Estado uma realidade concreta e actuante, o estudo retrata e analisa
os meandros do funcionamento daquelas quatro instituições,
procurando compreender o trabalho dos seus agentes nas suas
vertentes interaccionais, sociotécnicas e culturais.

Abstrakt
Das deutsche Strafrecht unterscheidet Menschenhandel zum Zweck der Arbeitsausbeutung von Menschenhandel zum Zweck der sexuellen Ausbeutung. Unsere Untersuchungen zeigen, dass das soziale Objekt " Opfer von Menschenhandel " trotz geschlechtsneutraler Gesetzgebung in popkulturellen Narrativen aber auch in Praktiken der Rechtsprechung stark vergeschlechtlicht ist. An die Zeuginnen bzw. Zeugen werden geschlechtlich codierte Erwartungen herangetragen. Dies ist nicht einfach in einem Sexismus der RichterInnen begründet, sondern ein struktureller Effekt der Logik von Rechtsprechung und institutioneller Pfadabhängigkeiten. So werden Standardnarrative zum weiblichen, unschuldigen Opfer sexueller Ausbeutung in der Prostitution zum Deutungshorizont in Gerichtsverfahren, an dem die realen Personen, die als Geschädigte aussagen, gemessen werden. Zur Arbeitsausbeutung fehlen dagegen verfestigte Narrative, und die Unterstützung von Betroffenen ist weit weniger institutionell verankert. Fälle von Arbeitsausbeutung werden deutlich seltener angeklagt, und die Betroffenen erscheinen vorrangig als ökonomische Subjekte und häufiger als Mitschuldige. In beiden Fällen resultiert dies in einem Verschwinden von Opfern: Im einen Fall aufgrund der Überdeterminierung, im anderen Fall aufgrund von Unterbestimmung.

Abstract
German criminal law distinguishes between trafficking in human beings for the purpose of forced labour and for sexual exploitation. Though the language of the law is gender neutral, our research shows that " victim of trafficking " as a social object is strongly gendered, both in standardized narratives about trafficking and in juridical practice. Courts and other institutional actors attending to witnesses in such trials work in accordance with strongly gendered expectations, not because of the sexism of individual judges, but due to the structural logic of German legal practice and institutional path dependency. Standardized narratives featuring feminine, innocent victims of sexual exploitation in prostitution structure the expectations of those who hear actual victim statements in trials, and affect how their statements are evaluated. Victims of labour exploitation reach the courts far less, and the victims are framed as economically interested subjects and often as active participants in their victimization. In both cases victims disappear: the one set of victims is over-, the other underdetermined, by expectation.