Samenvatting

The methods of ethnography have been employed in critical criminology to expose social ills and power differentials endemic to the political economy, culture and history of the global capitalist society. Over three decades, I have continued this tradition in research projects that advance criminological knowledge while contributing to the personal and collective struggles of diverse sub-populations to overcome their oppressed and/or subaltern status. I demonstrate this praxis of activist research through three criminological projects: gangs, deportation and credible messengers. I argue these cases show the possibilities and potential of an activist research agenda based on a commitment to decolonizing methodologies and a radical treatment of theory development.