Chicano Gang Members in Recovery: The Public Talk of Negotiating Chicano Masculinities

Abstract

Using ethnographic data from Los Angeles, this article examines the ritualized forms of verbal communication used in two Chicano gang recovery programs, Homeboy Industries and Victory Outreach. These two distinctive programs facilitate recovery from gangs through contrasting models of communication anchored in religion and therapeutic rehabilitation. In recovery, ritualized verbal displays subordinate gang masculinity and elevate conventional notions of masculinity. Former gang members use sermons, group therapy, 12-step programs, and personal testimonials to articulate hegemonic ideals of masculinity, such as responsible fatherhood. A critical component of these gang rehabilitation programs rearticulates the meanings of Chicano masculinity to include abstention from drug use, providing for family members, and engaging in nurturing behavior. Through these verbal rituals, reformed gang masculinity is repositioned as dominant, desirable, and accessible to marginalized Chicano men with past gang affiliations and addictions.

Supporting Masculinities: Wounded Healing and Masculinity in Peer Support Organizations for People with Experiences of Criminality and Substance Abuse

“…This dynamic of distancing and reinforcement is also evident in the ethnographic research of Flores and Hondagneu-Sotelo (2013) and Flores (2014Flores ( , 2016 that builds on data from two mutual-aid, faith-based programmes for marginalized Latino men recovering from gang life. For example, Flores (2016) examines how embodied practices facilitate desistance from gang life.…”