Gang in translation: Official and vernacular representations of a “Roma” drug gang in Czechia

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F49777513%3A23330%2F22%3A43964164" target="_blank" >RIV/49777513:23330/22:43964164 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

<a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/17416590211017933" target="_blank" >https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/17416590211017933</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/17416590211017933" target="_blank" >10.1177/17416590211017933</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Gang in translation: Official and vernacular representations of a “Roma” drug gang in Czechia

Original language description

This study focuses on the social construction of gangs in Czechia. Although the country is not usually associated with the activities of street gangs, the adoption of gang representations is evident in this context, including the use of the gang label itself. In order to capture the gang glocalization process, I employ the concept of translation, whereby glocalization is conceptualized as a complex process of the transposition of symbols based on the constant assessment and negotiation of the formed equivalent in the new discursive context. This approach allows us to understand the similarities and differences between how gangs are labelled not only across various cultural contexts, but also within them, with a honed analytical focus on the discursive strategies of the actors being studied. The concept of glocalization as translation is illustrated using the example of the Novák collective operating in a marginalized urban area in Czechia. While official discourse characterized this collective as an international drug gang, this construction was entirely absent in the discourse employed by the residents of the area. This discrepancy explains the gang construct within Czech public discourse as an equivalent of organized and sophisticated crime which automatically excludes certain ethnic groups by definition.

Czech name

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Czech description

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Type

J_imp - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database

CEP classification

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OECD FORD branch

50404 - Anthropology, ethnology

Project

<a href="/en/project/GA19-13296S" target="_blank" >GA19-13296S: Construction of organized crime representations in the policies on organized crime in the Czech Republic between 1989 and 2016</a><br>

Continuities

P - Projekt vyzkumu a vyvoje financovany z verejnych zdroju (s odkazem do CEP)

Publication year

2022

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

Crime, Media, Culture

ISSN

1741-6590

e-ISSN

1741-6604

Volume of the periodical

18

Issue of the periodical within the volume

3

Country of publishing house

GB - UNITED KINGDOM

Number of pages

16

Pages from-to

337-352

UT code for WoS article

000652302100001

EID of the result in the Scopus database

2-s2.0-85106283199