Abstract

ZILLI, Luís Felipe. The “world of crime” and the “law of the slum”: symbolic aspects of gang violence at the metropolitan region of Belo Horizonte. Etnográfica [online]. 2015, vol.19, n.3, pp.463-487. ISSN 0873-6561.

This article aims to discuss the symbolic dimensions that underlie the practice of violence between groups of young offenders in slums and poor neighborhoods of the suburbs of the metropolitan region of Belo Horizonte (MRBH), capital of the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. Through the native categories of “world of crime” and “law of the slum (favela)”, strongly present in the narrative of adolescents and young gang members, we intend to better understand the moral and normative universe that sustains the episodes of violence and armed conflicts between such groups. In this text, such analysis draws on extensive qualitative material, obtained between the years 2010 and 2011, from 40 in-depth interviews with young people who had intense trajectory of involvement with criminal dynamics as drug trafficking and murders, committed as members of armed criminal groups operating in the MRBH slums.

Keywords : violence; crime; gangs; slums; youth violence; armed groups.

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