On Wednesday, November 9, 2016 I attended Edward Flores’, Ph.D. lecture on his book, God’s Gangs. The event was held in room 190 in Fresno State’s Music Building, and was Co-sponsored by the Departments of Anthropology and Sociology. It was a part of the 2016-17 Lecture & Film Series, “Lived Experiences, Social Justice, and Social Science”. In his lecture, Dr. Edward Flores spoke a little about his background, how he got started writing his book, and of course talked about his book God’s Gangs. Dr. Edward Flores opened his discussion by telling us a little about himself. He mentioned that his parents were both immigrants and that he grew up in a neighborhood full of gangs. Flores spoke about how even though he was not apart of any of these
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Flores’ book God’s Gangs (NYU Press 2014) has won the American Sociological Association's (ASA) Latina/o Sociology Section's 2014 Distinguished Contribution to Research Book Award. The epicenter of America’s gang problem is Los Angeles. The common rituals and customs of gangs, including Los Angeles’ eastside gangs, are hand signals, graffiti, and clothing styles. These have spread to small towns and big cities alike across America. Many people believe that urban marginality is related to the gang problems. A lot see the Latino immigrant population struggling with poverty and social integration, and believe that they join gangs because they offer a close-knit community. Dr. Edward Flores book God’s Gangs looks at how Latino gang members handle life when they get out of incarceration. He argues in God’s Gangs, that gang members can be successfully redirected, and made to make better choices through efforts that change the way in which they view themselves, as well as their notions of what it means to be a man. Flores’ main focus in his book is to show how Latino men recover from gang life through involvement in urban, faith-based organizations. Using research on, and participant observation with Homeboy Industries, a Jesuit-founded non-profit that is one of the largest gang intervention programs in the country, and with Victory Outreach, a Pentecostal ministry with over 600 chapters, Flores was able to demonstrates that organizations such as these facilitates help gang members recover by allowing them to remake or reinvent themselves as family men and as members of their
Flores’ book God’s Gangs (NYU Press 2014) has won the American Sociological Association's (ASA) Latina/o Sociology Section's 2014 Distinguished Contribution to Research Book Award. The epicenter of America’s gang problem is Los Angeles. The common rituals and customs of gangs, including Los Angeles’ eastside gangs, are hand signals, graffiti, and clothing styles. These have spread to small towns and big cities alike across America. Many people believe that urban marginality is related to the gang problems. A lot see the Latino immigrant population struggling with poverty and social integration, and believe that they join gangs because they offer a close-knit community. Dr. Edward Flores book God’s Gangs looks at how Latino gang members handle life when they get out of incarceration. He argues in God’s Gangs, that gang members can be successfully redirected, and made to make better choices through efforts that change the way in which they view themselves, as well as their notions of what it means to be a man. Flores’ main focus in his book is to show how Latino men recover from gang life through involvement in urban, faith-based organizations. Using research on, and participant observation with Homeboy Industries, a Jesuit-founded non-profit that is one of the largest gang intervention programs in the country, and with Victory Outreach, a Pentecostal ministry with over 600 chapters, Flores was able to demonstrates that organizations such as these facilitates help gang members recover by allowing them to remake or reinvent themselves as family men and as members of their