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Over the last thirty years in northern Central America, young people seeking an alternative to the exploitation of corporate globalization and the predation of neoliberal governmentality have established a sprawling network of "gangs," or underground communities dedicated to survival by illicit means. While many scholars have highlighted the transnational continuity of these groups across national boundaries, the social and symbolic forms that link them are also shaped and made meaningful within the singularities of context. In Honduras, where US covert operations of the 1980s consolidated narcotrafficking cartels as a source of funding for the Contra war, understanding the proliferation of gang communities has also required understanding the historical imbrication of state and criminal power. In this talk Jon Carter will look back to the mid 2000s when gang tattooing in Honduras reached a peak, and young people across the country covered their bodies and faces in intricate t ....

Francisco Morazáho , United States , Amelia Frank Vitale , Jon Carter , Appalachian State University , Wenner Gren Foundation For Anthropological Research , Claassen Research Enhancement Award , Princeton University , Columbia University , Appstate Department Of Anthropology , Central America , Gothic Sovereignty , Criminal Baroque , Wenner Gren Foundation , Anthropological Research , Appstate Department ,