Urban Girls Revisited: Building Strengths

16. Businesswomen in Urban Life

16 Businesswomen in Urban Life Carl S. Taylor, Pamela R. Smith, and Virgil A. Taylor Establishing Relationships The Urban Female Exploration Project that frames this ethnographic project set the stage for the establishment of effective, reliable, and honest communication between the researchers, the young women who participated , and other citizens and denizens of the community. As in the ethnography of cultural anthropologist Margaret Mead, the principal investigator learned a great deal in this participant-observant project. The project is not the result of an impulse initiative or a sudden 5year study that just arose; Taylor has strong ties to this community going back to the 1960’s. Conversations, sharing of information, informal discussions , sharing of family issues, and assisting community members with problems all led to a determination that research and study of the ecological and cultural phenomena associated with this community were imperative . The trust that Taylor assumed not only as a scholar but also as a native son of this community required dedication to helping his old community and to seeing to it that this trust was also transferred to younger families and friends. Two earlier projects documented in Dangerous Society (Taylor, 1990) and conducted over more than 20 years provide this project with a foundation and legacy of trust with youth and families involved in this study: the Neighborhood Youth Project a partnership with the now defunct community -based organization Operation Soul in 1975; and the Michigan Gang Research Project in 1985. These were longitudinal studies in which researchers observed gang members and non–gang members as they went about their daily lives. Critical observations were made of interactions 338 between gang members, rivals, and enemies, as well as between non–gang members. The data gathered during these studies demonstrated the impact of gang behavior and activity along with other social conditions that affect all members of the community (Taylor, 1990). Through the honest and caring concern demonstrated by members of the research field teams in the Neighborhood Youth Project, in Operation Soul, and in the Michigan Gang Research Project, the teams gained the reputation as trustworthy. The research group demonstrated their allegiance and commitment to the community and to the individuals participating in the study. Although the participants understood that the researchers were conducting these studies for academic purposes, they were also convinced that the field team members were not affiliated with any police or law enforcement agency or group and that their privacy would not be breached under any circumstances. The field interviews for this chapter involved young women who had long-term relationships with field team members. In fact, relationships between the field team and a host of community members were established over a period of several years. In many instances, relationships existed years ago between parents and other relatives of the young women who we interviewed in this study. Participants in this study and other community members are accustomed to seeing field team members in their neighborhoods on a regular basis. Carl Taylor (principal investigator of the research group) lives within the community as an observer and has maintained communications with broad groups of people within the community for more than 30 years. His involvement with individuals from the community includes daily phone conversations with residents, town hall meetings, street corner chats, barber/beauty shop discussions, home visits, and detention facility visits. Throughout the study period these informational meetings have been conducted frequently with participants. They are held in churches, recreational centers, basketball courts, schools, restaurants, social clubs, known hangouts, and public events. Discussions focused on current happenings such as shootings, government policies that affect community members, criminal acts that impact members of the community, and resources available to community members. These meetings and interactions recognize the humanity of the citizens of the community. Unfortunately, far too often members of distressed communities like the one in this research project are viewed as “less than human.” To effectively communicate with this population, it has been crucial to “humanize” it, not only from an Businesswomen in Urban Life 339 outsider’s perspective but even from the perspective of each member within the community. Many young people in this community have negative views of “institutions ” because of strained relationships between institutions and either themselves or other family members. Entrance to this community was facilitated by an in-depth relationship established with Timothy Mitchell, a young man whom Dr. Taylor met more than 20 years...