The GANGS project was made up of three subprojects, respectively on "Gangs", "Gangsters", and "Ganglands". Research was built around three primary case studies, Managua in Nicaragua, Cape Town in South Africa, and Marseille in France, and two secondary case studies, Naples in Italy and Algeciras in Spain. A core team of 6 researchers carried out a total of 59 months of qualitative research in these five cities, both individually and collaboratively, and a further 46 researchers also contributed to the project. Research adopted a “disjunctive” comparative approach, the aim of which was not to measure the extent to which phenomena in different contexts might be similar or different, but rather to set different instances of a given phenomenon alongside each other to see what might come out of an examination of their similarities and differences. The logic of this approach was to “ask questions from elsewhere” in different contexts, in order to stimulate doubts and open up new avenues for investigation. The ambition of the research was thus to raise conceptual questions, and generate insights that lent themselves to innovative theorization and practice. The "Gangs" subproject focused on the comparative analysis of gang dynamics in Nicaragua, South Africa, and France. It was divided into two phases: a first phase of joint ethnographic research by the GANGS project PI and Senior Researcher (SR) in Managua, Nicaragua and Cape Town, South Africa, in order to establish a common ethnographic baseline, on the basis of which they carried out a second phase of joint ethnographic research in Marseille, France. In this way, the subproject aimed to reverse the traditional North-South gaze characteristic of transnational gang research, as well as explore new, innovative forms of collaboration in ethnography, traditionally an individual enterprise. The "Gangsters" subproject focused on the comparison of individual gang member life histories. It involved 40 researchers who collected the life histories of 31 gang members with whom they had a prior relationship in 23 countries around the world. The "Ganglands" subproject drew on the research carried out by the PI and SR in Managua, Cape Town, and Marseille, the PD in Marseille, and the 3 GANGS project PhD students. The latter carried out individual and joint ethnographic research in respectively Marseille (France), Naples (Italy), and Algeciras (Spain), thereby constituting a "Mediterranean comparative arc" intersecting with the "North-South" Nicaragua-South Africa-France arc. GANGS project research results have been published as academic articles, books, blogs, podcasts, contributions to The Conversation, and a policy brief. GANGS project team members also presented the results of their research both individually and collectively in a wide range of contexts including seminars, conferences, and workshop, as well as at GANGS project-organised conferences and workshops in Switzerland, Denmark, Mexico, South Africa, France, Italy, and Belgium.
