ABSTRACT
The key contribution of this book lies in the ethnographic approach undertaken to understand port security. As I have tried to make clear in the introduction, adopting an ethnographic approach over an extensive period of time in an attempt to explore and comprehend the everyday lives of those involved in port security is unusual. In fact, longitudinal ethnographic studies during which the ethnographer frequently revisits the fieldwork sites are rare in general (Burawoy 2003), let alone revisits in the highly closed-off socio-cultural realm of port security. However, ethnographies provide valuable intellectual and detailed insights into social realities. This chapter will concentrate on the ethnographic approach I took to gain a criminological understanding of the participants. First, I will describe what a criminological understanding is and how it is connected to ethnography. Then, I shall describe the multi-sited field of the port securityscape, how I got into it, the participants involved and how I gained insider status. I will look at the characteristics of fieldwork in the port securityscape and what issues arose. Lastly, I will reflect on the analysis and on identity as an emerging major theme.
