Youth Gang Culture

Language is rather intricate and vital in terms of communication amongst youth in their specific groups of association. Bucholtz (2000) deliberates a great deal on language and its importance to youth gang culture in Rio de Janeiro, expressing that, “as an important component of these cultural styles, language constitutes a flexible and omnipresent set of resources. Although situations constantly change, the symbolic use of language to preform identity will endure as long as language itself” (p. 280). The use of language in alliance with existing in youth gang culture is paramount as it distinguishes whether or not you are a member of this collective. Slang seems to be a powerful element of these social organizations, evident to all forms of

Jennifer (2007) collected her data in the favelas, located in the city of Rio de Janeiro, in order to contrast the children both rich and poor, particularly aiming to come into contact with those who participate in youth gang culture (p.322). A child named Babú states, “T´a ligado?” which directly translates to, “you know what I’m saying?” (Gordon, 2007, p.322). There are many words and phrases evident in Jennifer’s (2007) ethnographic work that are common amongst children who engage in youth gang culture, words like porra, mané, and rapà (p. 329). Porra means ‘damn’ in the English language, rapà, translates to buddy, and mané directly to ‘man’ used in a different manner than the English language (Gordon, 2007, p. 329). Translated in English, Babú says to his friend, “he wanted to buy red sneakers mané,” and Pitbull answers, “Porra, not even the devil goes there, amigo” (Gordon, 2007, p.329). Feijão, who identifies with youth gang culture, offers to share his story with Jennifer (2007) about his friend who he is unable to rely on (p.330). The area of the story that is critical, is where the word rapà is present, “so then I really told him off I said, ‘Hey, rapà I don’t! (Gordon, 2007, p.330). All three words that Jennifer (2007)

Strocka (2006) observes the structural forces of inequality amongst the urban poor, prompting their behaviour towards society (p.133). These circumstances did not occur immediately, there have been numerous structural forces of prejudice and social exclusion within youth gang culture across Latin America since 1990, which pay attention to industrial and social dilemmas (Strocka, 2006, p. 133). A strong component within Cordula’s (2006) journal examines the immense diversity and positive capacity of youth gang culture, providing acceptance and identification to youth (p. 143). It is imperative to understand that youth gang cultures operates in its own manner due to global transformations, assigning youth a tremendous amount of agency and individuality in response to the inequality taking place within