Wounded City Violent Turf Wars in a Chicago Barrio [Paperback]

In 2009, Chicago spent millions of dollars to create programs to prevent gang violence in some of its most disadvantaged neighborhoods. Yet in spite of the programs, violence has grown worse in some of the very neighborhoods that the violence prevention programs were intented to help. While public officials and social scientists often attribute the violence - and the failure of the programs - to a lack of community in poor neighborhoods, closer study reveals another source of community division: local politics.

Through an ethnographic case study of Chicago's Little Village neighborhood,Wounded Citydispells the popular belief that a lack of community is the primary source of violence, arguing that competition for political power and state resources often undermine efforts to reduce gang violence. Robert Vargas argues that the state, through the way it governs, can contribute to distrust and division among community members, thereby undermining social cohesion. The strategic actions taken by police officers, politicians, nonprofit organizations, and gangs to collaborate or compete for power and resources can vary block by block, triggering violence on some blocks while successfully preventing it on others.

A rich blend of urban politics, sociology, and criminology,Wounded Cityoffers a cautionary tale for elected officials, state agencies, and community based organizations involved with poor neighborhoods.

1) Introduction

POLITICAL TURF
2) Battles for Political Turf in Little Village
3) Burbs and Violent Blocks
4) Transforming Violent Streets on the West Side

STREET TURF
5) Silence and the Art of Arson
6) Locking Up Social Order

CONCLUSION
7) Toward a Relational Understanding of Urban Violence
8) Appendix A: Navigating Turf Wars
9) Appendix B: Methods

Wounded City is one of the most important books about urban violence that has been published in a long time. In a style that is ls*