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 arguably constitute fundamental lenses through which to think about and understand the world we live in.
Dennis Rodgers describes how “Soraya” became involved in drug trafficking in Luis Fanor Hernández, a poor neighbourhood in Managua, the capital of Nicaragua. Known locally as “la Reina del Sur” – the “Queen of the South” – her story shows how drug trafficking is a highly gendered activity, that reinforces macho violence and patriarchal dynamics of domination.
