Care and Confusion: A Speculative Ethnography of Youth Residential Care Homes in Sweden

Through the small-scale and imaginative application of a Speculative Institutional Ethnographical study, fictionalised stories have been created based upon observations in the field at three different Youth Care Home Facilities in Sweden. The locations and characters in these stories are composite narratives comprised of actual details from multiple real life places and people, amalgamated to form fictionalised narratives so as to protect the anonymity of real life people. The researcher’s primary motivation with the research is to develop a better understanding of the way in which individual differences between staff members working at these facilities impact their decision making in an environment which is supposedly value-neutral. It is argued that a multitude of factors will influence staff members perceptions of youths at these homes and that a degree of bias or partiality is unavoidable. An awareness of this and a development of critical reflexivity is encouraged. Through drawing data from real life observations in the field to create credible, realistic fictionalised stories, the research project is combining academic and creative writing processes in an innovative and progressive way. The goal of the research is not to prove or disprove a specific hypothesis but rather to explore an issue and develop a better understanding of the complexity and nuances of working at a Youth Care Home facility in view of Intersectional Gender Studies.