Life in Between: Youth Street Gangs and Marginality in Contemporary Sierra Leone

Speakers

• Dr Kieran Mitton, Reader in Conflict, Security and Development, King’s College London.
• Dr Ibrahim Abdullah, Associate Professor of History and African Studies, Fourah Bay College, Sierra Leone. 

 

Mitton and Abdullah present the findings of their three-year groundbreaking British Academy-funded study of Sierra Leone’s contemporary streets gangs, drawing on more than 500 in-depth interviews conducted across the country with members of the Black, Crips, and Bloods gangs, as well as with police, civil society groups, communities affected by gangs, and prisoners (through interviews conducted inside Sierra Leone’s prisons). The research set-out to understand how and why gangs have grown so rapidly in just 20 years, and consider what changes can be made to improve the situation of the marginalised urban youth who make up their members.

In this talk, the researchers will outline how they met the challenge of interviewing gangs – known locally as ‘cliques’ – and what their findings suggest about the origins, contemporary dynamics, and potential trajectory of Sierra Leone’s nascent gangland. They will expose problems with existing policing and criminal justice responses to cliques and present evidence of concerning links between gangs and electoral violence. 

Discussion will consider ways in which gangs and their young members can be forces for positive change in their communities, whilst also identifying potential developments – such as growth in the illicit drugs market – that could further deepen the gang challenge. The discussion will be framed by an overall consideration of how Sierra Leone’s experience may speak to similar challenges across African cities and beyond, as urbanisation continues to gather pace around the world.

 

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