Critical Ethnography
Intersubjectivity and marginal identity
My friend, Jeanne “Magic” Black passed away over the weekend. We met at the 2001 Seattle Hempfest. She was the one to greet me as I walked into Myrtle Edwards Park. I did not know then, but we would be spending a good bit time together over the next several years, when she temporarily relocated to Boston and we both continued being active participants in trying to advance marijuana (we rarely called it “cannabis” then) policy reform.
Magic passing is the reason I went back into my field notes from my dissertation research; I had not looked at them for decades. What strikes me most about them, now, is that while I was conducting an ethnographic study of marijuana policy reform activists, I ended up with a detailed record of meeting and getting to first know a bi-coastal collection of people that I would spend years working with, after my research was completed.
Magic Black Ferguson - met her in the press tent. She’s from W. Roxbury and hasn’t been in Boston in 20+ yrs.
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Saw Jim (long dreds) — He hooked me up Big Time w/an All Access Pass. He’s a musician—came to Seattle with a reggae band in ‘89. Now plays for Sun’s 4:20 mainstage band—the says “like Phish” Jam, don’t rehearse. We talked about my diss. while we walked from main stage to the Hempfest booth.
I keep running into Magic, the woman I met from W. Rox.
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-Major Development: Entered the V.I.P. Lounge behind backstage and sat w/Jean + Chad (photo guy) Details…pillows, 4 chair, curtains, “911”
-Talked at length w/Magic, met Kevin Zeese on stage.
-at Hemposium (time?) Elvy Musikka Dale Rogers
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8:15 or so - at Space Needle, waiting for next monorail
Wow. People who I need to stay in touch with
-Magic
-Kyle Kushman
-Chris Conrad + Mikki Norris
-Mike [Jim] who set me up w/the pass
-Michael Holden
-Get in touch w/Dominic Holden
-The Squirrels
-Neal ______ (stage guy)
-Tim P.
-Elvy Musikka
-MAMA [Mothers Against Misuse and Abuse]
I also conducted observations at the 2001 Boston Freedom Rally, sponsored by MassCann. The 2001 Rally was held on Sept. 15, four days following the 9/11 attacks. Boston Mayor Tom Menino had asked MassCann President Bill Downing to cancel the Rally, saying it was “the wrong time.” Menino also arranged for all the museums in the city to have free and open admission for the weekend, so that people would have a reason to stop watching television. I guess it was not the wrong time for that.
There was much discussion about the attacks + the relative (in)significance of MJ policy. I offered that it should be said at least once from the stage that “Responsible MJ users do not harm anyone.” There were no protests—usually when ideas are offered there is some degree of protest + debate.
The concern of a bomb threat/unattended bag is significant. When I asked Bill about it during the day he said, “We’ll evacuate the crowd,” so he is conscious of it, though it is not of his control.
Bill + Ed arrived at about 8:45, they had been at MIT doing an interview on WMBR; Joe also said he had an interview that night at 8:30 — he never made it to dinner.
Bill received a call from the Mayor himself. Steve was with him at the time. The Mayor wants Bill to cancel. Bill replied that they couldn’t cancel. The Mayor was willing to try to work things out - offered to postpone to next week. Bill said OK, if they can get the staging, audio, etc. , but they couldn’t. Bill asked if they could use Parkman Bandstand—where the stage was set until 1996, but the Mayor said no. Bill said they were going through with it + the Mayor hung up on him. Bill called the head of the Parks Dept. + he said the Auditorium was available.
Need to interview: Jon Holmes + wife; Cliff; Scott; Bill; Fred
c. 1:45 - about 20,000 in att. + growing, mostly young, white, though the most racially diverse crowd yet of the fests.
Went table to table collecting free lit.
Talked to Fred, C.J., Judy, Joe, Edward, etch. Haven’t seen Bill [Years later, I would learn he would regularly leave the Rally around 1:30 for a slice of pizza and a beer, on Charles St.]
25 or so police, open smoking, no visible arrests
Police are forbidding the sale of papers + bowls.
Tidbits from Post-Rally:
J. Leonard took the majority of $, leaving Steve to have to scramble to get enough cash to pay the stage guys (Ed, Scott, et al) Bill had to w/draw $400 to pay it off. Steve was pissed.
The after-party stuff was a bust - Hibernian was closed - who knows who was at the House of Blues.
Wound up w/Bill, Joe + Phil at The Dig office, Steve came later.
They took in $5,500 - about $5K less than their best year, 1998 (Steve).
They sued the city in ‘97 & ‘98 re: searches. This year Steve sent a letter to the city on behalf of Vermin Supreme, who was denied admission last year by police - asking for $20K. Letter went out yesterday - Mayor called Bill at 1:00 p.m. asking to cancel.
Not many searches, a few, but police were spoken to by Walter, Steve + Bill. 37 arrests reported at 6:00. Later, Steve talked to K. Stroup + he said 34. Reports of police dumping baggies, seizing paraphernalia (bowls esp.) + letting people go.
Steve complained to Joe that the first sentence of the article about him in The Dig is wrong. Legal significance of USSC dec. med necessity not explained properly by author. Steve mentioned that he should have been given a copy of the draft + also mentioned it when I talked to him + Bill + Phil about interviewing them. Bill said, do you leave all the
ums + ahs in? I said yes, in the initial transcription but I would probably leave them out in the written product.
There was tension only when I offered them confidentiality. I fucked up, this re-established distrust. Just at the moment I really began to gain some good connection — I hope I have misread Steve’s eyeballs to Bill. I can’t help suspecting that they are talking about me, either immediately after, or tomorrow. Fuck the OIC [Office of Institutional Compliance, which required researchers to promise confidentiality to subjects that could not be legally guaranteed].
Ed hooked Joe up with some coke.
Bill hooked Ed up with a Z of nugs for 120.
Someone (male) pays for the whole shindig, Someone is writing $30K in check to MassCann to allow for this to go on.
Don King is the name of the head of the Boston Parks Dept. + he + Bill have a good relationship.
High Times had a photographer, but no regular writer at the event. No mugwort joints for sale (turns out they sell them for $1 each). J. Leonard felt that it wouldn’t be respectful, according to Steve. The police acted fairly. Not justly; there’s no justice in “arresting” —from reports oftentimes these cases go nowhere. The arrestees are charged $25 by the bondsman b/c they don’t have bail money they are charged $200 by the city…But there’s no security of the evidence. All confiscated evidence is thrown into a box (according to Bill, who was arrested in 2000) + thus can’t be used in court.
Steve commented that they need ‘BCN bands b/c that gets the young girls to attend +w/them (presumably) the boys. or is this prurient?
Judy was selling memberships at under $25 b/c she wants bodies + #’s, one reason, perhaps, that the take on the MassCann tent is lower.
They didn’t have as many people as in the past—relatively small.
Critical ethnography attempts to understand the world from the research subjects’ perspective. Unlike the traditional anthropological methods, the critical ethnographer works with research subjects to address the problems they are facing, in such ways as to help them. Critical ethnographers do not play games with ‘objectivity,’ instead committing to an intersubjective foundation for understanding identity and social power.
As it was conceived to be a political action, critical ethnography blurs and sometimes eliminates the distinction between the subject and the researcher, in terms of identity and interests. When the police are arresting people for using marijuana in civil disobedience, the researcher’s own status as a marijuana user is being affected, whether they are consuming it or not. It is impossible to study those engaged in a war, and not take sides. As there may be no atheists in foxholes, there are no dispassionate observers either.