Gang Leader for a Day by Sudhir Venkatesh?
pointman
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Gang Leader for a Day: A Rogue Sociologist Takes to the Streetsby Sudhir VenkateshHas anyone read this yet? Seems pretty interesting.http://www.powells.com/biblio?show=hardc...20the%20Streets
Publisher Comments:The story of the young sociologist who studied a Chicago crack-dealing gang from the inside captured the world's attention when it was first described in Freakonomics, Gang Leader for a Day is the fascinating full story of how Sudhir Venkatesh managed to gain entre into the gang, what he learned, and how his method revolutionized the academic establishment. When Venkatesh walked into an abandoned building in one of Chicago's most notorious housing projects, he was looking for people to take a multiple-choice survey on urban poverty.A first-year grad student hoping to impress his professors with his boldness, he never imagined that as a result of the assignment he would befriend a gang leader named JT and spend the better part of a decade inside the projects under JT's protection, documenting what he saw there. Over the next seven years, Venkatesh got to know the neighborhood dealers, crackheads, squatters, prostitutes, pimps, activists, cops, organizers, and officials. From his privileged position of unprecedented access, he observed JT and the rest of the gang as they operated their crack-selling business, conducted PR within their community, and rose up or fell within the ranks of the gang's complex organizational structure.In Hollywood-speak, Gang Leader for a Day is The Wire meets Harvard University. It's a brazen, page turning, and fundamentally honest view into the morally ambiguous, highly intricate, often corrupt struggle to survive in what is tantamount to an urban war zone. It is also the story of a complicated friendship between Sudhir and JT ??? two young and ambitious men a universe apart.Review:"Honest and entertaining, Columbia University professor Venkatesh vividly recounts his seven years following and befriending a Chicago crack-dealing gang in a fascinating look into the complex world of the Windy City's urban poor. As introduced in Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner's bestseller, Freakonomics, Venkatesh became involved with the Black Kings ??? and their charismatic leader J.T. ??? as a first-year doctoral student at the University of Chicago. Sent to the projects with a multiple-choice test on poverty as his calling card, Venkatesh was, to his surprise, invited in to see how the drug dealers functioned in real life, from their corporate structure to the corporal punishment meted out to traitors and snitches. Venkatesh's narrative breaks down common misperceptions (such as all gang members are uneducated and cash rich, when the opposite is often true), the native of India also addresses his shame and subsequent emotional conflicts over collecting research on illegal activities and serving as the Black Kings' primary decision-maker for a day ??? hardly the actions of a detached sociological observer. But overinvolved or not, this graduate student turned gang-running rogue sociologist has an intimate and compelling tale to tell." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)Review:"Venkatesh's research provides groundbreaking insights into the corporate-like hierarchy of drug dealers." San Francisco ChronicleReview:"Although riveting, Mr. Venkatesh's venture into rogue sociology counts as something of a period piece." New York TimesReview:"Venkatesh writes of his harrowing, exhilarating fieldwork with the great pride and insatiable curiosity of a seasoned news reporter. A dark, revealing expose." Kirkus ReviewsReview:"Gang Leader for a Day is not another voyeuristic look into the supposedly tawdry, disorganized life of the black poor. Venkatesh entered the Chicago gang world at the height of the crack epidemic and what he found was a tightly organized community, held together by friendship and compassion as well as force. I couldn't stop reading, and ended up loving this brave, reckless young scholar, as well as the gang leader J.T., who has to be one of the greatest characters ever to emerge from something that could be called sociological research." Barbara EhrenreichReview:"Gang Leader for a Day is an absolutely incredible book. Sudhir Venkatesh's memoir of his years observing life in Chicago's inner city is a book unlike any other I have read, equal parts comedy and tragedy. How is it that a naive suburban kid ends up running a crack gang (if only for a day) on his way to becoming one of the world's leading scholars? You have to read it to find out, but heed this warning: don't pick up the book unless you have a few hours to spare because I promise you will not be able to put it down once you start." Steven D. Levitt, co-author, FreakonomicsReview:"This extraordinary book features the fascinating research of a brilliant young sociologist. Sudhir Venkatesh spent several years closely interacting with crack-selling gang members and struggling poor residents in a large and very dangerous public housing project in Chicago. His riveting portrait of day-to-day life in this poor community, including the challenges confronting parents in a drug-infested and violent social environment, is disturbing. But, Gang Leader for a Day is rich with original information and insights on poor families, drug dealers and even the police. It will leave an indelible impression on readers." William Julius Wilson, Harvard University Lewis P. and Linda L. Geyser ProfessorReview:"Whether you enjoy fiction, history, or biography you'll be drawn to Venkatesh's gripping retelling of his experiences in the Robert Taylor Homes. Gang Leader for a Day poignantly reminds us that there continue to be separate and unequal Americas that ultimately impact us all." Congressman Jesse L. Jackson, Jr. (D-IL)Synopsis:First introduced in Freakonomics, here is the full story of Sudhir Venkatesh, the sociology graduate student who infiltrated one of Chicago's most notorious gangs.
Comments
That said, I just started reading Venkatesh's "American Project" which is the ORIGINAL book he wrote on this research. This new book basically repackages "American Project" from a memoir p.o.v. Nothing wrong with the latter but for those interested in the nitty gritty about his ethnography of a Chicago projects and the crack economy surrounding it, I'd recommend "American Project" first.
venkatesh is the i think the chair of the Columbia sociology dept. His work is lauded but what it means to "infiltrade the ranks" of chicago gangs can certainly be debated for its glorification and academic tall tale telling.
i'm sure it's an interesting read regardless but the critical discussion around these books on crime, deviance, etc. are always slightly sickening up top in the ivory tower. trust me on this.
with that said, i'd probably read it.
i can also vouch for Phillipe Bourgeois' "IN Search of Respect" which chronicles the crack trade in spanish harlem in the late 80's.
Ahhh the memoir.
America's hot new literary selling tactic.
Think I will have to check out American Project if I check out either of the two.
"There was plenty of popcorn, ribs, bad domestic beer, and fried pork rinds with hot sauce on hand. The pork rinds, apparently the favorite of the American thug, ran out so quickly that one of the low-ranking gang members in attendance was dispatched to acquire several more bags."
http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/09/what-do-real-thugs-think-of-the-wire/?hp
sound so condescending it's disgusting.
I don't know whether this guy is just treating his audience as if they are clueless or if he is really clueless himself. Either way, after reading his stuff on gangs and inner cities all the way through it turns out he does have real points and is starting with the premise of social injustices and systematic exclusion of blacks and latinos.
But if he was really there to make a social statement I wish he would do it without sensationalizing it and treating his special old window into 'the gang world' like it was a zoo with wild animals.
Yeah - this is the problem in moving between the academic and pop journalism worlds (believe me on this!).
I think Ventakesh's work is pretty solid from what I can see so far; it's definitely within the traditions of the Chicago school of urban sociology and though I don't consider myself a direct student in that line, I do like aspects of it, especially the use of ethnography and other qualitative methods (I'm not a stat guy).
I've never read this myself but I hear good things about it from colleagues:
http://www.amazon.com/Body-Soul-Notebooks-Apprentice-Boxer/dp/0195168356
It's Luic Waqunat's study of amateur boxing culture in Chicago.
That's why I'm asking about the book. Serious potential for this to be nothing but a ghetto safari. I couldn't read the entire post on that site either. It started going into Season 5 of the Wire and I haven't caught up yet.
Why bloggers need editors.
It's essentially the dissertation of a (white male) sociology student at The University of Pennsylvania who moved to South Philly to chronicle Black life from 1969-1971. He chose not to tell people of his intentions to study them while jotting his observations and experiences down on organized note cards at night. What's fascinating about this book is how he ends up finds himself to be such a member of the community, despite being one of the only colorless residents in the neighborhood. It's also written in a beautiful, poetic style that's much more like documentary than any sort of academic work, and includes illustrations and diagrams like how the men used to walk close to buildings on the street and bow around front stoops. The time period is great, too, because he recounts hearing cars blaring The Moments, and all the good stuff.
Black Street Life in America
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I think that certain urban sociologists associated with Los Angeles, well pretty much solely Mike Davis (?), also pull hugely from stats and ethnographic studies, without also pandering and posing, and while also taking the task at hand, translating or explaining an urban experience to those that are horrified by it, very seriously. Not to make Chicago and L.A. about Venkatesh vs. Davis, I just can't think of any others off the top.
I like Davis' writing (even though he's run into some trouble in more recent years about the verity of his sources but...) but his books are actually kind of different insofar as Davis isn't writing "from the inside" as an ethnographer so much as looking at L.A. through the lens of everything from urban planning, to road infrastructure, to water management, etc. "City of Quartz" is still an incredible read for anyone remotely interested in the history of Los Angeles.
Speaking of ethnographies, I just finished this one - really fascinating stuff:
http://www.amazon.com/Temporarily-Yours-Intimacy-Authenticity-Sexuality/dp/0226044580
"Temporarily Yours: Intimacy, Authenticity, and the Commerce of Sex" by Elizabeth Bernstein.
It's a study of street prostitution, primarily using San Francisco as her field site though she has later chapters that look at sex work in other countries, namely the Netherlands.
Is it the part when they send shorty to the store for more Pork Rinds?
GTFOOHWTB
do we really need some phd's version of an inner look at the chicago"projects/drug gangs?
I think I might hold donald goines/iceberg slim in much higher regard.
It looks super exploitive and gag/vomit worthy especially since dude is not from the hood.
hahah
and it will be required reading for his students
fuckery
So should we throw out all academic texts on the subjects and listen only to current rap records from the hood instead?
There is always a place for academics and journalism, a lot of these stories wouldn't be told, or as widely heard about, if not for them.
Its interesting to note the arguments against some of these modern studies/ethnographies in this thread. I think this type of book/paper/dissertation is exploitative by its very nature. I have a Master's in Anthropology and this subject came up many times. People feel such a need to proclaim a work as objective in the name of science, that they lose sight of their own subjectiveness. As such, everything written has been experienced by a person and will presented to an audience, context building is crucial. One can try to keep their descriptions as value neutral as possible, but the fact you are writing from your own experience makes work personal. These writings shouldn't lose value or be discredited because of this, but understood as having their own place in time through a certain persons perspective. So what makes these books better than reading "Pimp?" I don't think its necessarily a question of what's better or more authntic, but what the writings bring to the table. Unfortunetly not the right people are sitting at the table itself, and so nothing gets done and the cycle remains. This is a pessimist's point of view, but I can only hope that the people writing these books are actively persuing solutions, instad of sitting around in academic critical discussion circle jerks.
b/w
it's interesting to skew the reactions to this book with reactions to The Wire.
And then skew those with reactions to The Clipse!
I agree with dude about Iceberg Slim etc., being fiction that actually was 'educational' in a lot of ways in defining a time and a place in huge detail that can only be gathered from extended experience, the same way movies like 'American Me' and 'Blood In Blood Out' were educational but really also just good dramatic works. Sure it's sensationalizing destructive lifestyles but also it is not attempting to address anybody in particular.
The problem with Venkatesh is that he is clearly writing for those who have no type of experience with poverty, hood life, or any byproducts of such (even street rap), and it is not immediately clear what the purpose of his efforts are. It's like it can be used to point and laugh at people just as easily as create an understanding.
More than anything though, I feel this guy Venkatesh is aware of both his own being brown in America while having access to huge resources denied to other people of color because of his model minority status. It seems that this is probably what allows him and urges him to get into the lives of the urban poor, but what also makes him want so badly to cater to white elite academia.
I mean there are plenty people that ride the line of understanding two worlds. They just are not the ones making a career out of it.
Hey Professor,
I am statistically-inclined, so give me a holler if I can be of assistance. I'm always down to pick up a few extra lines on my curriculum vita by doing statistics and writing result sections. Give me a shout on the PMs if this is something that interests you. Happy tenure-track grindin'!!! And thanks, I will check out Venkatesh's first book about the Chicago gangs.
Peace,
Big Stacks from Kakalak
I'm thinking collabo. Your stats, my q.d. = bumrush the journal.
b/w
The Blackstone Rangers by Richard T Sale
Yo, let's do this mane!!! I'm versatile, I'm proficient with structural equation modeling, path analyses, multilevel modeling, hierarchical multiple regression, etc. I got skills, homie. Coming from a psych doctoral program, there was a strong emphasis on psychometrics. I know theory too, even some sociological literature, so I'm down.
Peace,
Big Stacks from Kakalak