For the past five years, the GANGS project, a European Research Council-funded project led by Dennis Rodgers, has been studying global gang dynamics in a comparative perspective. When understood in a nuanced manner that goes beyond the usual stereotypes and Manichean representations, gangs and gangsters constitute fundamental lenses through which to think about and understand the world we live in.
Ellen Van Damme offers us a portrait of Hondura’s first female gang leader. In the interest of her safety, her name has been changed and details of her location and gang affiliations, kept to a minimum. Her story illustrates the frequently gendered nature of gangs, and the way that machismo and patriarchy constrain Jennifer’s life, even as a gang leader.
