Dennis Rodgers, editor: «Gang Lives: Global Portraits from the Streets and Beyond»
Dennis Rodgers (ed.), Gang Lives: Global Portraits from the Streets and Beyond, Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2026.
ISBN: 978-1-3505-2506-1 / DOI: 10.5040/9781350525092 / HAL: hal-05628900
Summary:
Through biographical studies of the life stories of gang members, this book highlights the range of causes, motivations and consequences associated with gang membership. Gangs are among the few truly global social phenomena, present across time and space throughout the world. Partly because of this ubiquity, gangs are inherently revealing social institutions and can be linked to a whole range of fundamental human activities, such as the exercise of power, the accumulation of capital, socialisation, identity formation, territorialisation or the articulation of gender relations, amongst others. However, gangs are also frequently associated with a quasi-pathological form of violence, and gang members often become scapegoats on a global scale. Such representations make it all the more urgent to understand what truly motivates individuals to join gangs, why they follow particular trajectories, and what the long-term consequences of gang membership might be. Through a comparison of thirteen life stories of gang members from twelve different countries around the world, this book offers a nuanced and sensitive insight into the global experience of gangs. Life stories are ideal lenses through which to explore these questions, owing to their ability to reflect both the uniqueness and inherent complexity of gang life, as well as their capacity to offer fundamentally accessible portraits that elicit empathy and humanise individuals.
Link to the book (open access)
Table of Contents
Dedication v–vi
Contributors x–xiii
About the Editor xiv–xiv
Pictures xv–xvi
INTRODUCTION: Global Gang Lives 1–30
1. Gangster, brother, prisoner, son: Chepas and the Mara Salvatrucha in Guatemala 31–47
2. The Many Lives of Ram, the Petty Criminal: Migration, Love and Adaptation Across Indian Ganglands 49–64
3. Jennifer: The first female gang leader in Honduras 65–82
4. ‘Obviously, I do not deny it, nor will I ever deny it’ 83–100
5. Blood, deportee, drug dealer, carer: The Life and Times of a Belizean Gang Member 101–118
6. The hustling ethics of a drug dealer in Mathare, Nairobi 119–135
7. The Second Act: An Oral History of Glasgow Gangs, 1969–2022 137–154
Alistair Fraser , Angela Bartie, and Kate Wilson
8. The Life of Bryan in Nicaragua 155–172
9. The life story of a triad member in Hong Kong 173–191
10. Sharif’s story: From gang member to human rights activist in Bangladesh 193–209
11. The prison and post-prison life of Antonio Fernández, also known as ‘King Tone’ 211–229
12. The Paper Poet: From Crime to Career in Sierra Leone 231–247
13. Website: A Life Interrupted 249–262
Afterword 263–266
