Who You Claim : Performing Gang Identity in School and on the Streets / Robert Garot.
2010
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Details
Title
Who You Claim : Performing Gang Identity in School and on the Streets / Robert Garot.
Author
Garot, Robert, author.
ISBN
9780814733141
Published
New York, NY : : New York University Press, [2010]
Copyright
©2010
Language
English
Language Note
In English.
Description
1 online resource
Item Number
10.18574/nyu/9780814733141.001.0001 doi
Dewey Decimal Classification
364.10660973
Summary
The color of clothing, the width of shoe laces, a pierced ear, certain brands of sneakers, the braiding of hair and many other features have long been seen as indicators of gang involvement. But it's not just what is worn, it's how: a hat tilted to the left or right, creases in pants, an ironed shirt not tucked in, baggy pants. For those who live in inner cities with a heavy gang presence, such highly stylized rules are not simply about fashion, but markers of "who you claim," that is, who one affiliates with, and how one wishes to be seen.In this carefully researched ethnographic account, Robert Garot provides rich descriptions and compelling stories to demonstrate that gang identity is a carefully coordinated performance with many nuanced rules of style and presentation, and that gangs, like any other group or institution, must be constantly performed into being. Garot spent four years in and around one inner city alternative school in Southern California, conducting interviews and hanging out with students, teachers, and administrators. He shows that these young people are not simply scary thugs who always have been and always will be violent criminals, but that they constantly modulate ways of talking, walking, dressing, writing graffiti, wearing make-up, and hiding or revealing tattoos as ways to play with markers of identity. They obscure, reveal, and provide contradictory signals on a continuum, moving into, through, and out of gang affiliations as they mature, drop out, or graduate. Who You Claim provides a rare look into young people's understandings of the meanings and contexts in which the magic of such identity work is made manifest.
Access Note
Access limited to authorized users.
System Details Note
Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
Digital File Characteristics
text file PDF
Source of Description
Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 18. Sep 2023)
Series
Alternative Criminology ; ; 3
Available in Other Form
print 9780814732120
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Table of Contents
Frontmatter
Contents
Acknowledgments
Preface: Emily's Tale
1. Gang Identity as Performance
I. Alienation in School
2. Moral Dramas at School
3. The Contradictions of Controlling Student Dress
II. Performing Gang Identity on the Streets
4. Claims
5. Affiliations
6. Violence and Nonviolence
7. Avoiding Retaliation
8. Streetwork
Conclusion
Appendix: Getting Schooled
Notes
References
Index
About the Author
Contents
Acknowledgments
Preface: Emily's Tale
1. Gang Identity as Performance
I. Alienation in School
2. Moral Dramas at School
3. The Contradictions of Controlling Student Dress
II. Performing Gang Identity on the Streets
4. Claims
5. Affiliations
6. Violence and Nonviolence
7. Avoiding Retaliation
8. Streetwork
Conclusion
Appendix: Getting Schooled
Notes
References
Index
About the Author