Etnicitet: ett engagerande men delikat samtalsstoff – brottsutsatta unga mäns återberättade erfarenheter

Abstract

Ethnicity: an involving topic demanding expressive caution – Young male crime victim’s narratives

This article analyses some young men’s specific ways of retelling victims’ experience when the perpetrators have an immigrant background. In qualitative interviews with twenty young med, fear of being seen as intolerant was distinguished by their expressive caution. This involved using various aligning actions: presenting disclaimers and accounts, but also in terms of hesitant speak, re-takes and throat clearing, and in some case refraining to talk about the attackers or robbers’ ethnic background. Even if the subject was delicate, it was engaging. The topic of ethnicity associated with crime is used as a resource in several ways: to present oneself as a tolerant person (sometimes in contrast to others having the same experiences) but also as a truth-teller who criticizes what men describe as a societally prescribed way of discussing these matters publicly.