Youth street groups and mediation in Southern Europe: ethnographic findings

Abstract

This report includes the ethnographic accounts from the South European region of the TRANSGANG project. Following the initial project design, the somewhat broader core case of Barcelona has been enriched through the contrast cases of Madrid, Milan and Marseille. The project follows the distinction between "major transnationalism" (or transnationalism from above) and minor transnationalism (or transnationalism from below). Centring on youth street groups, migration practices, "gang culture transfer" and similar elaborations of resistance and resilience practices to structural and institutional violence are clear examples of those transnational connections from below. The international exchange of imaginaries, problem definitions or framing, policies targeting youth street groups, or the institutional answers given to the identified problems are illustrations of transnationalism from above. The project in Southern Europe reflects on the changing shape of the concept of gang traditionally charged with stereotypical meanings, opting for the more inclusive and less poisoned term of "youth street group". Certainly, our comparative accounts show how changing institutional, socioeconomic and political settings have reshaped young people's daily socialisation practices, identification norms and, as a consequence, the very ways group memberships are elaborated, borders are redefined, and inter-group and intra-group relationships are forged to create subjectivities. In the light of this complexity "youth street group" results a more inclusive concept to be used.