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Homegirls: Language and Cultural Practice Among Latina Youth Gangs
In this ground-breaking new book on the Nortena and Surena (North/South) youth gang dynamic, cultural anthropologist and linguist Norma Mendoza-Denton looks at the daily lives of young Latinas and their innovative use of speech, bodily practices, and symbolic exchanges that signal their gang affiliations and ideologies. Her engrossing ethnographic and sociolinguistic study reveals the connection of language behavior and other symbolic practices among Latina gang girls in California, and their connections to larger social processes of nationalism, racial/ethnic consciousness, and gender identity.
An engrossing account of the Norte and Sur girl gangs - the largest Latino gangs in California
Traces how elements of speech, bodily practices, and symbolic exchanges are used to signal social affiliation and come together to form youth gang styles
Explores the relationship between language and the body: one of the most striking aspects of the tattoos, make-up, and clothing of the gang members
Unlike other studies - which focus on violence, fighting and drugs - Mendoza-Denton delves into the commonly-overlooked cultural and linguistic aspects of youth gangs
An engrossing account of the Norte and Sur girl gangs - the largest Latino gangs in California
Traces how elements of speech, bodily practices, and symbolic exchanges are used to signal social affiliation and come together to form youth gang styles
Explores the relationship between language and the body: one of the most striking aspects of the tattoos, make-up, and clothing of the gang members
Unlike other studies - which focus on violence, fighting and drugs - Mendoza-Denton delves into the commonly-overlooked cultural and linguistic aspects of youth gangs
368 pages, Paperback
First published January 9, 2007
24 people are currently reading
320 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
October 13, 2008
Loved this book. It is a very accessible read, so you should certainly read it if you're interested in the subject matter, regardless of your training. There were a couple of things that made this a particularly wonderful book for me: 1) the way she includes herself in the narrative and 2) the normalization of her "subjects." These are not unrelated, obviously.
In "Beginning Fieldwork," the author tells about the girls she's working with dressing and making her up and then dropping into her home grocery store. She mentions, "I was dying for [the security guard:] to ask me for my ID card." Her account has an integrity to it that shows through in statements like this that so clearly position her - and make her more vulnerable than most of us would feel comfortable with. As an anthropologist, writing vulnerability into her own character seems incredibly important, given the power that she has in presentation. It means you have a clear understanding of the lens through which the young women are being seen and interpreted. All this, I should say, without ever making the book about her, which it most certainly isn't.
The normalization of her subjects is equally exciting. It is, it seems to me, one of the most important goals of anthropology, and it requires acknowledging the position of the audience. We are - my words, not her's - voyeurs and the subjects are exotic. Normally in anthropology, we the audience are kept safely, superiorly, away from them the subjects. But in her interactions, we can participate. We can communicate. And, in fact, the author challenges us to do so. In a description of eyeliner in "Muy Macha," she suggests, "Try this at home." No matter whether woman or man, the audience is brought into the conversation and allowed to participate without ever challenging the safe spaces or boundaries of the group being discussed. It breaks down the walls of the AUDIENCE but leaves the protective measures of the subjects in tact.
When I write, this is what I want to do.
I realize I haven't talked about the subject of the book. It's interesting. Fascinating. But I've read lots of interesting subjects, I'm more excited about the awesome ways that she approaches it. There's a lot more to talk about, but maybe you can write it here when you've read it!
In "Beginning Fieldwork," the author tells about the girls she's working with dressing and making her up and then dropping into her home grocery store. She mentions, "I was dying for [the security guard:] to ask me for my ID card." Her account has an integrity to it that shows through in statements like this that so clearly position her - and make her more vulnerable than most of us would feel comfortable with. As an anthropologist, writing vulnerability into her own character seems incredibly important, given the power that she has in presentation. It means you have a clear understanding of the lens through which the young women are being seen and interpreted. All this, I should say, without ever making the book about her, which it most certainly isn't.
The normalization of her subjects is equally exciting. It is, it seems to me, one of the most important goals of anthropology, and it requires acknowledging the position of the audience. We are - my words, not her's - voyeurs and the subjects are exotic. Normally in anthropology, we the audience are kept safely, superiorly, away from them the subjects. But in her interactions, we can participate. We can communicate. And, in fact, the author challenges us to do so. In a description of eyeliner in "Muy Macha," she suggests, "Try this at home." No matter whether woman or man, the audience is brought into the conversation and allowed to participate without ever challenging the safe spaces or boundaries of the group being discussed. It breaks down the walls of the AUDIENCE but leaves the protective measures of the subjects in tact.
When I write, this is what I want to do.
I realize I haven't talked about the subject of the book. It's interesting. Fascinating. But I've read lots of interesting subjects, I'm more excited about the awesome ways that she approaches it. There's a lot more to talk about, but maybe you can write it here when you've read it!
July 10, 2012
Norma Mendoza-Denton’s Homegirls: Language and Cultural Practice Among Latina Youth Gangs is a study in socio cultural linguistics. This ethnography details the workings of a subculture of Latina females who were involved in gang life in the mid-1990’s. Mendoza makes clear in her introduction that her book is an attempt to make this world accessible to a variety of readers, though the language of the book delves at times into the specialized fields of linguistics, anthropology, and criminology. None the less, her book remains easy to read and understand, and an enjoyable study in linguistic and cultural practices of a certain ethnic group. Interestingly, during the course of her illustration, Mendoza-Denton attempts to show how language can represent more than the spoken or written word; language in her view represents the “life-world picture of the people with whom we work” (p. 3, Norma Mendoza-Denton). Thus we as an audience must understand that language becomes an intricate system of signs that can include make-up, music, hairstyles, consumer items, and a host of other symbols that make up the cultural and personal identity of a person. Already at this point in the book, I was fascinated to learn that language can constitute such a broad area. Indeed, as the book progresses, Mendoza-Denton will make use of not only speech, but many complex symbolic signals and exchanges that connect her participants to the larger cultural practices of binary identities, gender, and national relationships.
Mendoza-Denton focuses particularly on the Norte and Sur gangs, which are the largest Latino gangs in California. She doesn’t linger on violence and drugs, as an audience for this book might expect, but instead focuses on the signs and symbols of Latino gangs, and how those signs mediate the cultural interaction of her study members. That she respects the participants in her ethnography is clear from the note she writes directly to them in her introduction, in which she praises them for the lives they have made for themselves in the ten years since the ethnography was first written. She notes, “you have defied the expectations of researchers, some of whom predicted that any kind of gang involvement for girls would likely lead to troubled lives” (7, Mendoza-Denton). Indeed, she clearly admires some aspects of the participants’ characters, and that in itself made this book a relief, and even fun, to read.
Mendoza-Denton focuses particularly on the Norte and Sur gangs, which are the largest Latino gangs in California. She doesn’t linger on violence and drugs, as an audience for this book might expect, but instead focuses on the signs and symbols of Latino gangs, and how those signs mediate the cultural interaction of her study members. That she respects the participants in her ethnography is clear from the note she writes directly to them in her introduction, in which she praises them for the lives they have made for themselves in the ten years since the ethnography was first written. She notes, “you have defied the expectations of researchers, some of whom predicted that any kind of gang involvement for girls would likely lead to troubled lives” (7, Mendoza-Denton). Indeed, she clearly admires some aspects of the participants’ characters, and that in itself made this book a relief, and even fun, to read.
April 13, 2023
My first full anthropology text and a good and interesting read. For Linguistic Anthropology at JCCC, spring 2023
September 25, 2015
Wish there was less foul language. Enjoyed looking into the sociocultural aspects that were shared in the book. It was a bit heavy on the linguistic side of anthropology, which I am not very knowledgeable about, and so a lot of pages I had to 'trudge through'. A good read for an anthropologist, sociologist, academic... but do not think I can recommend to anyone else.
March 20, 2014
Well done research. The ending, I think, is tedious if you are not a linguist. The writer displayed a great deal of empathy and understanding throughout the book. I learned a lot about how to conduct good ethnographic research.
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April 10, 2008Great book and a definite inspiration for my own work!
June 2, 2009
So far, it's great. Ethnographies and language studies can be really dry unless they're deftly handled. This is engaging and very well written.
August 3, 2017
3.5 stars
i found this really interesting since and it was easy to read (not like other linguistics books).
i found this really interesting since and it was easy to read (not like other linguistics books).
August 31, 2018
I read this senior year of college and definitely liked it but fudged the last three-four chapters cause it was the end of my senior year lay off I’ll get back to it.
October 15, 2021
The author explores the lives of Northern California's Latina youth and gang members. In this ethnographic study in the 90's, published in 2010, the author emphasizes sociolinguistic studies and patterns in differing groups/gangs of Latina gang members and associated members. This book was vastly different than my normal reads because I've never studied sociolinguistic studies. I found it very interesting and needed to further our depth of knowledge on Latina youth gangs and cultural practices.
June 16, 2020
Accessible and engaging introduction to sociolinguistics and linguistic/cultural anthropology via case study. Homegirls is an ethnographic study of Latina gang-affiliated high schoolers and the way they use language and social practice to construct identities—Norte vs. Sur, cool, tough, dominant, fearsome. Great starting point for non-linguists with an interest in the field or the topic.
May 24, 2021
I think it is difficult for me to rate/review nonfiction books like this, but I just really enjoyed reading this one for class so I wanted to share. Read for LIN 163 on Language, Gender, and Society. The book is a close study of girl gangs in a language view, and was a really fascinating read. It gets pretty lingusitic-y technical by the last few chapters, but as a whole I would recommend to anyone, even not interested in this field.
November 16, 2025
At first, I was scared to read this book, LMAO. It seemed like a ling report that was just going to be wayyy too long for me. HOWEVER, this was amazing !!! It was so interesting and honestly, read more like a story than a linguistics paper. It was very interesting to learn about this community, which I had not previously known much about ! Hopefully I was able to fully understand everything I needed to from the linguistics report, I do feel like I was able to grasp the main idea...
December 6, 2019
Sometimes Mendoza takes too long to explain certain things/terms that she could simply reference to, especially when showing her results. Other than being very long, very interesting!
November 2, 2020
One of the only books I read for a uni class that I would genuinely recommend to others. No linguistic proficiency required!
December 31, 2023
Rating: 4.25
Read for ANTH 208
Read for ANTH 208
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews