Researching Transnational Gangs as Agents of Mediation in the Digital Era

Abstract

In the XXI century, the traditional conformation of gangs has been altered for several reasons. The present global economic situation changed the context of gangs, and as a feature of this century, Internet and social media have shifted social relations and the way urban gang members interact. Ethnographic data demonstrate that gang members and ex-members are not only involved in crime and deviance but can also act as agents of mediation. How can we understand 21 st century gangs and develop a renewed definition that includes the characteristics of the current era? This chapter aims to develop a transnational, intergenerational, intergeneric and transmedia approach for the gangs of the 21st century, which is different from the local, coetaneous, male, and face to face model used to understand the gangs of the 20 th century. First, a brief walk through different gang traditions worldwide is presented. Secondly, a review of the different attempts to propose a gang definition is provided, from past approaches to more recent ones. Thirdly, the impact of information and communications technology (ICT) on gangs is reviewed. Fourthly, we explore the role of gang members as informal/natural mediators. To conclude, a renewed theoretical approach is proposed to research gangs using traditional and virtual ethnographic methods. The purpose is to provide an accurate picture of current offline and online urban street groups.

Gangs, Methodology and Ethical Protocols: Ethnographic Challenges in Researching Youth Street Groups

“…So, the identitarian processes emerge in an interface where, in addition to the hegemonic host culture and the traditional culture of their parents, several other subcultural traditions come together (Brotherton and Barrios 2004;Feixa and López 2015;Klein and Maxson 2006;Matza 1961;Venkatesh 2009). We can define five basic axes according to our subject, which are used as identification sources of cultural devices: (1) North American street gang tradition (Klein 1995;Thrasher 1927Thrasher /2013Whyte 1943); Latin American gang traditions: pandillas and naciones (Feixa 1998;Perea 2007;Ramoset al 2013;Reguillo 2000); Arab youth subcultural traditions (Bayat 2012;Camozzi et al 2014;Sánchez García 2016, 2019; European subcultural traditions (Esbensen and Maxson 2012;Klein et al 2001;Leccardi 2016;Queirolo Palmas 2016;van Gemert et al 2008); and finally, virtual global tradition represented by youth identity models that circulate through the Internet (Fernández Planells et al 2020).…”

Bandas dentro, bandas fuera. (Des)securitización versus punitivismo de las organizaciones juveniles de calle en España, Ecuador y El Salvador

“…En los ámbitos político y mediático, la centralidad de las "bandas latinas", en cuanto objeto social productor de alarma social y mediática, ha ido disminuyendo y, de alguna forma, ha sido sustituida por la aparición de los " jóvenes migrados solos" (también llamados mena [menor extranjero no acompañado]). Aun con ello, la repercusión del proyecto europeo transgang ha permitido recuperar mediáticamente algunos aspectos positivos de la década anterior (Feixa et al, 2019;Fernández-Planells et al, 2020). En Madrid, en cambio, las líneas generales de actuación institucional y mediática respecto al fenómeno de las "bandas latinas" han seguido una línea más homogénea, por medio de la aplicación sistemática y sostenida de políticas punitivistas y de criminalización.…”

“…Todas estas experiencias han servido para generar debate público sobre el fenómeno de las pandillas y su relación con el gobierno de los territorios. Sin embargo, es necesario un análisis sistemático desde una dimensión histórica y comparativa para seguir construyendo modelos que superen el enfoque punitivista de la juventud subalterna organizada y la gestión pública de las agrupaciones juveniles de calle (Freeman & Felbab-Brown, 2021;Fernández-Planells et al, 2020).…”

Gangs and social media: A systematic literature review and an identification of future challenges, risks and recommendations

“…Social media allow gang members to communicate publicly and privately, to perform online as a group or as an individual, to link the physical and the virtual realms and to create transnational connections and identities (Feixa et al, 2019;Fernández-Planells et al, 2020) that shape both time and space. Future research that can encompass these transnational, intergenerational, intergeneric and transmedia approaches is the challenge that awaits scholars interested in social media practices of 21st-century gangs.…”

“…In this global, digital age, as in the world offline, this online universe can offer gang members a space in which they can construct their digital identity and where street culture emerges . Unlike the traditional media, digital platforms offer these gangs or 'youth street groups' a place for cultural construction via self-representations and their online practices (Fernández-Planells et al, 2020). This gang presence on social media sites -referred to by scholars as 'Internet banging' (Patton et al, 2013) or 'cyberbanging' (Morselli and Décary-Hétu, 2013) -serves, among other uses, to promote gang affiliation and glorify gang life, to display power and achieve notoriety by threatening or reporting participation in criminal acts, to create a shared information network and even to support criminal activities (Patton et al, 2013;Pawelz and Elvers, 2018).…”