Brothers Who Could Kill with Words
Brothers Who Could Kill with Words
Language, Literacy, and the Quest for Education in Gang Memoirs
DOI:10.14325/mississippi/9781617032813.003.0005
This chapter discusses how themes of pedagogy are developed in the street gang memoirs. It explains that lack of education acts as a narrative springboard to highlight unequal social interactions in the U.S. by showing that working-class non-white youths are always sidelined or often receive a substandard education. It also describes how the authors of the street gang memoirs argue that providing complete literacy to youths will help them avoid the horrors of street gang violence.
Keywords: street gang violence, literacy, substandard education, pedagogy