Abstract:1. IntroductionBy the late 1980s, while thousands of former gang members were either dead or incarcerated, their legacy and the gang subculture was being celebrated and commodified through gangsta rap music and videos, film and fashion. In the early 1990s this lucrative cultural trend sparked interest from potential authors and publishers. Such literary attention was partially fuelled by a public fascination with life in the ghettos following the 1992 Los Angeles (LA) riots, resulting in a ne..
In the twenty-first century, the established methodological props for gang research have worn increasingly thin. Place-based definitions involving territorial groups confined to neighbourhood fiefdoms have become increasingly fractured, as shifts in social life increasingly overwhelm and undercut such approaches. This paper seeks to offer a new methodological agenda for transnational gang studies that is premised on the significance of mobility and flow. The paper first sets out a review of existing approaches, drawing on three established lines in critical gang studies—vertical, horizontal and parallel—which are rooted in place. Next, we suggest three emergent lines—circular, radial and transversal—which are designed to interrogate dynamics of mobility and technology in global gang studies. We suggest, in conclusion, that methods based on ‘flow’ should not replace those rooted in ‘place’ but must operate in a dialogue between online and terrestrial space, paying close attention to the role technology plays in shaping social interaction.
In the twenty-first century, the established methodological props for gang research have worn increasingly thin. Place-based definitions involving territorial groups confined to neighbourhood fiefdoms have become increasingly fractured, as shifts in social life increasingly overwhelm and undercut such approaches. This paper seeks to offer a new methodological agenda for transnational gang studies that is premised on the significance of mobility and flow. The paper first sets out a review of existing approaches, drawing on three established lines in critical gang studies—vertical, horizontal and parallel—which are rooted in place. Next, we suggest three emergent lines—circular, radial and transversal—which are designed to interrogate dynamics of mobility and technology in global gang studies. We suggest, in conclusion, that methods based on ‘flow’ should not replace those rooted in ‘place’ but must operate in a dialogue between online and terrestrial space, paying close attention to the role technology plays in shaping social interaction.
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