From sour lemonade to analytical potential: bureaucratic censorship and the methodological turn in the anthropology of ethnographic practice

Abstract

This article analyzes the process of censorship and bureaucratization imposed by the Pará State Department of Penitentiary Administration as a central element in an anthropology of ethnographic practice. The research originates from the author’s doctoral studies, focusing on the deinstitutionalization of the Penitentiary General Hospital and the simultaneous creation of the Custody and Reintegration Unit of Santa Isabel VI, dedicated to the GBT population. However, the obstacles encountered in the field, particularly censorship attempts by SEAP, forced the research to shift toward an anthropology of ethnographic practice, transforming the researcher’s own experience into an analytical tool for understanding the modus operandi of total institutions. The methodology employed is based on ethnography and participant observation, emphasizing the analysis of the bureaucratic continuum as a subtle form of censorship, more effective than explicit denial. The article demonstrates that the absence of data, resulting from institutional prohibition of narrating one’s own experience, constitutes a relevant piece of data in itself, revealing power relations and disputes over the interpretation of reality within the prison system of Pará. This exercise aims to unveil the fallacy of scientific neutrality and to establish the ethical and political positioning of situated research.