ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author discusses why moving beyond presentational data is a particular challenge when studying the police, and then draws upon her ethnographic fieldwork on Pakistani policewomen to shed light on how anthropology’s ethnographic method is particularly well suited for overcoming this challenge. The three-dimensional, nuanced and complex knowledge that is then generated can subsequently have, as the author discusses in the conclusion, multiple benefits for theoreticians and practitioners alike, and can contribute to the existing literature on organizations in general and the police in particular. The ethnographic method involves immersing oneself in the everyday lives of the subjects of one’s study. Although conventional tools like interviews are a common part of the process, the ethnographic method’s uniqueness lies in the researcher spending a significant amount of time with his or her subjects, engaging in participant observation.
