Full Description
In contexts of insecurity and inequality across the world, criminal groups have developed into powerful, state-like organizations. Marginalized citizens in search of protection and support may look to criminal leaders, gangs and mafias rather than to politicians and state agencies. Providing residents with forms of social welfare, security and resolutions for dispute, these criminal organizations have taken on the functions and symbols of the state. But criminals' positions of power are not only rooted in their social provisioning role, or even in the use of fear and force. Most Wanted illustrates how popular culture is producing the socio-political authority of bosses, gangs and cartels through discussions of Italian, Japanese and Russian mafias, and of criminal groups in Brazil, Ghana, Jamaica, and the United States. The essays collected here analyze different forms of visual, material and performative culture, including street art, film, video games, dance parties, popular music and various everyday objects.
Contents
Acknowledgements 1. Introduction: Criminal Authority and the Politics of Aesthetics Martijn Oosterbaan and Rivke Jaffe 2. Brave Noir World Jean Comaroff and John Comaroff Most Wanted: Saints & spirits The "Holy Death" Protective tattoos and territorial tags: photos of criminalized men in Guatemala Baron Kriminel: A "Kriminel" spirit 3. Aesthetic Disruption Jason Pine 4. Iconization of Donmanship and Popular Culture as Site of Struggle Tracian Meikle 5. Power and Parties: The Aesthetic Regime of Funk Proibidão Sterre Gilsing Most Wanted: Iconized gangs Social bandits Gangsters in politics Servants of the town A second skin A "gender fluid" don 6. Authority and the Aesthetic Power of "Mafia Raj" in North India Lucia Michelutti 7. Convivial Occasions: Mafia Cultural Production and the Mafia-State Intreccio Jane Schneider and Peter Schneider 8. The Life of Death and Pleasure in the Haitian Baz Chelsey Kivland Most Wanted: worldwide fascination "Playing" gangster "Gangster" hashtags 9. Online Scamming and Popular Culture in an Accra Zongo Aernout Alkemade 10. Sagacité: A Brief History of Criminality in Côte d'Ivoire Sasha Newell 11. Curating the Popular Culture of Illegality Roberto Luis Martins
