Rodgers, D. (2006) Living in the shadow of death: gangs, violence and social order in urban Nicaragua, 1996–2002. Journal of Latin American Studies, 38(2), pp. 267-292. (doi: 10.1017/S0022216X0600071X)
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Abstract
This article explores the dynamics of the youth gang (pandilla) phenomenon in contemporary urban Nicaragua, drawing on longitudinal ethnographic research conducted with a Managua pandilla in 1996–97 and in 2002. Pandillas and their violent practices are conceived as constituting a form of local social structuration in the face of broader conditions of high crime, insecurity, and socio-political breakdown. This form of ‘street-level politics’ changed significantly between 1997 and 2002, however, evolving from a form of collective social violence to a more individually and economically motivated type of brutality. This transformation is related to wider structural processes, which are described as coming together and precipitating a form of ‘social death’ in contemporary Nicaragua.
Item Type: | Articles |
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Status: | Published |
Refereed: | Yes |
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: | Rodgers, Professor Dennis |
Authors: | Rodgers, D. |
College/School: | College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences > Urban Studies |
Journal Name: | Journal of Latin American Studies |
ISSN: | 0022-216X |
ISSN (Online): | 1469-767X |
Published Online: | 27 April 2006 |
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