Gang Lives

Dennis Rodgers is University Professor and Excellence Chair in the MESOPOLHIS laboratory (UMR 7064 AMU-CNRS-Sciences Po Aix) at Aix-Marseille University, France, and Research Associate in the Centre on Conflict, Development, and Peacebuilding (CCDP) at the Geneva Graduate Institute, Switzerland. He has authored or edited over 150 publications, including the edited volumes Ethnography as Risky Business (2019), Global Gangs (2014), and Youth Violence in Latin America (2009).

• Introduction (Dennis Rodgers, University of Aix-Marseille, France)1. Gangster, Brother, Prisoner, Son: Chepas and the Mara Salvatrucha in Guatemala (Anthony W. Fontes, American University, USA)2. The Many Lives of Ram, the Petty Criminal: Migration, Love, and Adaptation across Indian Ganglands (Atreyee Sen, University of Copenhagen, Denmark)3. Jennifer: The First Female Gang Leader in Honduras (Ellen Van Damme, KU Leuven, Belgium)4. ‘Obviously, I Do Not Deny it, Nor Will I Ever Deny it’: An Individual History of the Barrio 18 Gang Between El Salvador and Italy (Paolo Grassi, University of Milano Bicocca, Italy)5. Blood, Deportee, Dealer, Carer: The Life and Times of a Belizean Gang Member (Adam Baird, UNIDIR, Switzerland)6. The Hustling Ethics of a Drugs Dealer in Mathare, Nairobi (Naomi Van Stapele, The Hague University of Applied Sciences, the Netherlands)7. The Second Act: An Oral History of Glasgow Gangs, 1969-2022 (Alistair Fraser and Angela Bartie, with Kate Wilson, Universities of Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Newcastle, UK)8. The Life of Bryan in Nicaragua (José Luis Rocha, Universidad Rafael Landívar, Guatemala, and Universidad Centroamericana ‘José Simeón Cañas’, El Salvador)9. The Life History of a Triad member in Hong Kong (Sharon Ingrid Kwok, Western Sydney University, Australia)10. Sharif's Story: From Gang Member to Human Rights Worker in Bangladesh (Sally Atkinson-Sheppard, University of Westminster, UK)11. The Prison and Post-prison Life of Antonio Fernández, a.k.a. ‘King Tone’ (David C. Brotherton, City University of New York, USA)12. The Paper Poet: From crime to career in Sierra Leone (Kieran Mitton, King’s College London, UK)13. Sito: A Life Interrupted (Laurence Ralph, Princeton University, USA)Afterword (Javier Auyero, University of Texas at Austin, USA)

Dennis Rodgers and his colleagues have compiled a compelling and unique volume of research. It presents mixed media views of the lives of gang and “near-gang” members as they go about their daily lives. The chapters bring a passion and personal understanding not often seen in social research. The book is dependent on the words and meanings of the researcher and the researched.