A Queer Praxis for Criminological Research: A Manifesto of an Activist Scholar

A Queer Praxis for Criminological Research provides an alternative research method, where researchers place themselves second to draw narratives from folx who are typically sought out by scholars because of their identity.

Describing the authors use of queer praxis during a recent study, the chapters of this book demonstrate how the rigor of qualitative researched was achieved by utilising a queer methodology. It presents how the author interviewed trans folx about their experiences with the criminal legal system; explores her volunteer work with a local group in the trans community; and discusses how, before collecting any data, she spent eight months being a part of their lives and witnessing their everyday experiences. Based on these experiences, the book reveals how individual researchers can increase academic rigor, transparency, and cultivate skills to complete qualitative criminological work. Using personal anecdotes, expert advice, applied examples from study and instrument design, triumphs, and losses, the book puts forward the argument that we can integrate communities into our academic research in meaningful ways to both further the discipline and our pursuit of social justice. In doing so, it seeks to inspire researchers to apply these concepts in their own work, no matter the type of methodology, revealing that as criminologists whose data sets emerge from some of the most personal moments in peoples lives, we have a stronger obligation to ensure our findings empower, not demoralize marginalized people.

Written to be both instructional and inspirational, A Queer Praxis for Criminological Research will be of great interest to students and scholars of Criminology.