When fiction meets reality: ethnofiction as a way of constructing youth narratives about delinquent paths

TL;DR

This paper uses ethnofiction to explore how young people in Portuguese detention centers narrate their delinquent experiences through a fictional character named João.

Contribution

The study introduces ethnofiction as a novel methodological approach to understand youth narratives in juvenile detention contexts.

Findings

Young people's narratives through João reflect their real-life experiences and paths to delinquency.

The method reveals insights into the identities and belonging of detained youth.

Ethnofiction provides a creative and engaging way to explore sensitive topics like crime and masculinity.

Abstract

This article explores an ethnographic experience built with Portuguese young people in juvenile detention centers, using ethnofiction as a methodological strategy for approaching the public under investigation. The study examines the narratives that these young people constructed through a fictional character called João, whose experiences reflect the participants’ life stories and the paths that led them to commit crimes. The ethnofictional experimentation was developed during fieldwork in six Juvenile Detention Centers in Portugal in 2022 as part of the research project X-MEN—Masculinities, Empathy, and Non-violence, coordinated by the Center for Social Studies at the University of Coimbra. This article explores dimensions of young people’s identities and belonging, offering an in-depth view of their experiences and perspectives.

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