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2022
HOWARD WILLIAMSON
University of South Wales
Thank you for letting me in – observations on the methodological agility required for sustaining contact with the Milltown Boys over 50 years
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The ethnographic study of the 'Milltown Boys' has lasted almost 50 years. Howard Williamson first met the Boys when they were young teenagers: they were typically school drop-outs and young offenders. He was a 'participant observer' with them on the streets of Milltown and in courts and custodial institutions, exploring their engagement with and perspectives on the criminal justice system. Twenty years later, he conducted semi-structured interviews with them about how their lives had unfolded, and twenty years further on, he interviewed some of them online as they passed the age of 60. This presentation considers these different ways through which both human and research relationships were sustained with the Milltown Boys over time, providing me with knowledge and understanding of both their public and private lives and – critically for sociological analysis – their perspectives on the interaction between the two . The 'methodological agility' invoked over 50 years did not always guarantee 'successful' research but, without it, any research would have been impossible; the Boys controlled the situation and, for the most part, continued to 'let me in'.
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Moderator: Susana Henriques (CIES-Iscte)
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04 February 2022, 16:00-18:00, Zoom link: https://videoconf-colibri.zoom.us/j/85337455469