Homegirls

In this ground-breaking new book on the Nortena and Surena (North/South) youth gang dynamic, cultural anthropologist and linguist Norma Mendoza-Denton looks at the daily lives of young Latinas and their innovative use of speech, bodily practices, and symbolic exchanges that signal their gang affiliations and ideologies.

Her engrossing ethnographic and sociolinguistic study reveals the connection of language behaviour and other symbolic practices among Latina gang girls in California, and their connections to larger social processes of nationalism, racial/ethnic consciousness, and gender identity.

Homegirls offers an engrossing account of the Norte and Sur girl gangs - the largest Latino gangs in California. It traces how elements of speech, bodily practices, and symbolic exchanges are used to signal social affiliation and come together to form youth gang styles.

The book explores the relationship between language and the body: one of the most striking aspects of the tattoos, make-up, and clothing of the gang members. Unlike other studies, which focus on violence, fighting, and drugs, Mendoza-Denton delves into the commonly-overlooked cultural and linguistic aspects of youth gangs.