From South Central to Southside: Gang Transnationalism, Masculinity, and Disorganized Violence in Belize City

When he visited in 2011, sociologist Adam Baird wondered what the Bloods and Crips were doing in Southside Belize City. He soon discovered that migrant Belizean members of colors gangs from South Central Los Angeles were deported there in the 1980s. Once established “back home,” membership in the Bloods and Crips was seen as an aspirational pathway to manhood for the urban underclass.

From South Central to Southside charts the genesis and evolution of a transnational gang culture. Baird prov...