TY - JOUR
T1 - Researching Protest Policing in South Africa
T2 - A Discourse Analysis of the Police-Researcher Encounter
AU - Cornell, Josephine
AU - Malherbe, Nick
AU - Seedat, Mohamed
AU - Suffla, Shahnaaz
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Author(s). Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.
PY - 2022/12/6
Y1 - 2022/12/6
N2 - Researchers have played a significant role in influencing the public?s critical engagement with the South African Police Service (SAPS). Resultantly, SAPS officers tend to be wary and/or untrusting of researchers. In the present study, we sought to understand how this climate of suspicion impacts policing research in South Africa. To do so, we employed a Foucauldian Discourse Analysis on emails leading up to a study with SAPS officers, and on the transcripts of three focus group discussions with SAPS officers. We identified three discursive strategies that SAPS employed: Security Stall (i.e. blocking research through bureaucratic procedure), Eliciting Sympathy (i.e. winning sympathy for the struggles of SAPS officers) and Undermining the Researcher Subjectivity (i.e. rendering legitimate knowledge on protest violence the sole product of police officers). These strategies destabilize police research while challenging the broader discursive terrain within which SAPS is located. We conclude by offering some insights for police research.
AB - Researchers have played a significant role in influencing the public?s critical engagement with the South African Police Service (SAPS). Resultantly, SAPS officers tend to be wary and/or untrusting of researchers. In the present study, we sought to understand how this climate of suspicion impacts policing research in South Africa. To do so, we employed a Foucauldian Discourse Analysis on emails leading up to a study with SAPS officers, and on the transcripts of three focus group discussions with SAPS officers. We identified three discursive strategies that SAPS employed: Security Stall (i.e. blocking research through bureaucratic procedure), Eliciting Sympathy (i.e. winning sympathy for the struggles of SAPS officers) and Undermining the Researcher Subjectivity (i.e. rendering legitimate knowledge on protest violence the sole product of police officers). These strategies destabilize police research while challenging the broader discursive terrain within which SAPS is located. We conclude by offering some insights for police research.
UR - http://www.open-access.bcu.ac.uk/14546/
U2 - 10.1093/police/paac079/6874861
DO - 10.1093/police/paac079/6874861
M3 - Article
SN - 1752-4512
VL - 17
JO - Policing
JF - Policing
M1 - paac079
ER -