TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2006//
TI  - Living in the shadow of death: gangs, violence and social order in urban Nicaragua, 1996-2002
JO  - Journal of Latin American studies
A1  - Rodgers, Dennis
SP  - 267
EP  - 292
VL  - 38
IS  - 2
N2  - 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.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0022-216X
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0022216X0600071X
ID  - ref1
ER  -