On the possibility of an engaged ethnography in prison

Abstract

The state responded brutally to lockdown protests in Italian prisons soon after Italy announced its first national Covid-19 lockdown. This article affirms the need for prison ethnographies, exploring ethical and methodological directions to research what is potentially a violent environment. However, within a prison context devoted to secrecy and suspicion, this research focuses on mundane fieldwork topics ‘other than violence’; namely, everyday life in prison (such as food, health and spirituality). Such a focus allows us to develop cultural intimacy in formal institutions while preserving political engagement