Homegirls: Language and Cultural Practice Among Latina Youth Gangs

In this ground-breaking new book on the Norteña andSureña (North/South) youth gang dynamic, culturalanthropologist and linguist Norma Mendoza-Denton looks at the dailylives of young Latinas and their innovative use of speech, bodilypractices, and symbolic exchanges that signal their gangaffiliations and ideologies. Her engrossing ethnographic andsociolinguistic study reveals the connection of language behaviorand other symbolic practices among Latina gang girls in California,and their connections to larger social processes of nationalism,racial/ethnic consciousness, and gender identity.

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• An engrossing account of the Norte and Sur girl gangs - thelargest Latino gangs in California
  
• Traces how elements of speech, bodily practices, and symbolicexchanges are used to signal social affiliation and come togetherto form youth gang styles
  
• Explores the relationship between language and the body: one ofthe most striking aspects of the tattoos, make-up, and clothing ofthe gang members
  
• Unlike other studies – which focus on violence, fightingand drugs – Mendoza-Denton delves into thecommonly-overlooked cultural and linguistic aspects of youthgangs