Unresolvable Tensions and Ethical Dilemmas: Reflections on the Experience of Doing “Prison Research” in China—A Research Note

DOI10.1177/0032885519877379
AuthorShaoying Zhang
Published date01 December 2019
Date01 December 2019
Subject MatterArticles
https://doi.org/10.1177/0032885519877379
The Prison Journal
2019, Vol. 99(6) 662 –682
© 2019 SAGE Publications
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DOI: 10.1177/0032885519877379
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Article
Unresolvable Tensions
and Ethical Dilemmas:
Reflections on the
Experience of Doing
“Prison Research” in
China—A Research Note
Shaoying Zhang1
Abstract
In this article, I reflect on the ethical implications of my research visit to
China’s prisons. I argue that satisfying instituted ethical protocols in this
type of research is the beginning of the ethical process, not the end.
“Ethical research” involves constant reflection on how the researcher’s self
is constituted in relation to others, not only the primary research group
but also fellow researchers, gatekeepers, facilitators, prison officials, and
the representatives of the many organizations involved in such a program.
Interpretive or critical inquiries are not solely about deciding “whose side
we are on,” but more about what kind of relations between the self and
various stakeholders existed before, during, and after fieldwork.
Keywords
prison research in China, inmates, ethics, unresolvable tensions
Introduction
In recent years, China has increasingly experienced ethnic conflict and the rise
of nationalist movements. These movements have been reportedly instigated
1Shanghai University of Political Science and Law, P.R. China
Corresponding Author:
Shaoying Zhang, Shanghai University of Political Science and Law, 7989 Wai Qing Song Road,
Shanghai 201701, P.R. China.
Email: mr.shaoyingzhang@hotmail.com
877379TPJXXX10.1177/0032885519877379The Prison JournalZhang
research-article2019
Zhang 663
by “Islamic extremists.” The Chinese government has identified these indi-
viduals as “Muslim terorrists, separatists, and religious fundamentalists,” who
are referred to as the “Three Evils.” Following these disturbances, a number of
“extremists” were sentenced and detained in different prisons in China.
Against this background, Chinese academics have become interested in
extremism and the process of radicalization and potential ways of achieving
deradicalization. In this context, prisons detaining “extremists” have become
significant research sites for academic investigation.
In the summer of 2016, the present author, along with other fellow aca-
demics, was invited to visit prisons that had detained some “extremists” dur-
ing a 2-week period. Our visits to these prisons were coordinated by Mr. Y,
who is the head of the research team. Mr. Y explained the rationale for invit-
ing us to these prisons:
The task of anti-extremism is the most serious. As a consequence of [an] anti-
terrorist campaign, many extremists are detained in prisons. These prisons are
therefore a potentially good location for academics to study the process of
radicalization and the possibilities for deradicalization. Also, as far as I
understood, there is a lack of collaboration between academic researchers and
law enforcement in this area. Thus, prisons have become our primary area of
interest.
On my return from this field trip to these prisons, I began to prepare litera-
ture reviews, write up my fieldnotes, and analyze the data from the prelimi-
nary interviews I conducted with prison officials and village officials. In this
initial examination, I found many similarities between the situation in China
and the contemporary theoretical and empirical debates regarding mass
incarceration in the West. The preliminary data I have gathered have con-
vinced me that this is a research area well worth pursuing in the future. This
potential new area of research would focus on questions such as the follow-
ing: How are contradictory models of power, such as panopticism and synop-
ticonism, becoming merged in these prisons? What is the relationship between
social deprivation and extremism? How does incarceration for offenses
related to extremism impact family members and familial relations? Does the
incarceration of a family member lead to suspicion and the monitoring of his
or her extended family members? That is, in the Chinese regime of deradical-
ization, who is actually being targeted? How are familial relationships being
implicated in “the war against extremism, separatism and terrorism” in
China? From my initial findings from this field trip, I am aware that the inclu-
sion of family members of those incarcerated for extremism in China in a
deradicalization process could make a significant contribution to the “deradi-
calization” literature and paradigms found in the West.

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