Vicious thugs. Superpredators. An infestation. A flood.

A common concensus hold that gang members be understood by such terms. This monograph aims to penetrate such metaphors, towards grappling with the ways young people negotiate with, through and around gangs not as victims or perpetrators, but by strategically using the rituals and assumptions of gangs as resources. The central question this study asks is, is it possible to see gang members as human? What sort of world, and what sort of research, might we create if we did?