Wounded City: Violent Turf Wars in a Chicago Barrio

279 Pages·2016·2.522 MB·English

by  Robert Vargas

WOUNDED CITY

Wounded City
Violent Turf Wars in a Chicago Barrio
robert vargas
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Vargas, Robert, 1985– author.
Title: Wounded city : violent turf wars in a Chicago barrio / Robert Vargas.
Description: Oxford; New York, NY: Oxford University Press, [2016] |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2015032693| ISBN 9780190245900 (hardcover : alk. paper) |
ISBN 9780190245917 (pbk. : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Urban violence—Illinois—Chicago. | Inner
cities—Illinois—Chicago. | Gangs—Illinois—Chicago. | Ethnic
neighborhoods—Illinois—Chicago. | Police-community
relations—Illinois—Chicago.
Classification: LCC HN80.C5 V37 2016 | DDC 307.1/40977311—dc23 LC record
available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015032693
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Printed by WEBCOM, Inc.
This book is dedicated to Professor William A. Sampson for
sparking my intellectual curiosity with the workings of
power, politics, and race in Chicago.

CONTENTS
Acknowledgments ix
1. Introduction 3
PART ONE: POLITICAL TURF
2. Battles for Political Turf in Little Village 35
3. Burbs and Violent Blocks 65
4. Transforming Violent Streets on the Westside 93
PART TWO: STREET TURF
5. Silence and the Art of Arson 121
6. Locking Up Social Order 148
7. Conclusion: Toward a Relational Understanding
of Urban Violence 169
viii | CONTENTS
Appendix A: Ethnographic Uncoupling and the
Challenges of Relational Ethnography 185
Appendix B: Methods 199
Notes 213
References 229
Index 249
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The process of constructing a book necessarily involves insight,
support, and inspiration from a broad network of people. I hope
to do them justice by acknowledging their role in the produc-
tion of this manuscript.
At Northwestern I have been blessed by the support of the
sociology faculty. Northwestern Sociology is truly a special place
for graduate training. Working with Mary Pattillo and Gary Fine
made me the ethnographer I am today. Mary’s intense attention
to detail made me a better writer and more observant ethnogra-
pher. When I hit a wall at my field site, Gary challenged me to
step outside my comfort zone, which always led to deeper find-
ings. Carolyn Chen provided great support during my search
for a topic and offered valuable advice on how to organize my
loosely connected ideas and how to ask good research questions.
My participation in the Multi-Disciplinary Program in
Educational Sciences immersed me in rigorous methods training
that made me a better scholar. I am indebted to Tom Cook, David
Figlio, and Lincoln Quillian, whose statistics training helped
me think of new ways to approach my research questions. Other
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