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Title: Longitudinal Ethnograpy: Uncovering Domestic Abuse in Low-Income Women's Lives
Citation Type: Book, Section
Publication Year: 2015
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Abstract: In this ethnography (described in greater detail later in this chapter) we sought to understand the life course experiences of 256 African American, Hispanic, and non-Hispanic white low-income mothers of young children in Boston, Chicago, and San Antonio over a 6-year period following the implementation of welfare reform. We begin this discussion with a brief overview of the features of ethnography that render it a viable life course method for gathering accurate and detailed data about physical and sexual abuse in women's lives. We then describe the processes involved in uncovering women's abuse experiences in the Three-City Study ethnography. In doing so, we illustrate the degree to which experiences of physical and sexual abuse permeate the lives of low-income mothers, and present methodological and ethical challenges to ethnographers. Our process of uncovering abuse in women's lives was characterized by distinctive respondent disclosure patterns evoked by certain trigger topics, recent crisis events in respondents' lives, and ethnographers' direct inquiries. The disclosure experiences also involved ethnographers' own emotional reactions and ethical responsibilities toward the respondents. The implications of these disclosure processes for research designs and methodological issues concerning life course research on low-income women are also discussed.
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Authors: Burton, Linda M; Purvin, Diane; Garrett-Peters, Raymond
Editors: Julia Hall,
Pages: 29-80
Volume Title: Female Students and Cultures of Violence in Cities
Publisher: Routledge
Publisher Location: New York, NY
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Data Collections: IPUMS USA
Topics: Gender, Poverty and Welfare, Race and Ethnicity
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