Abstract
Belize, a former British colony, is geographically located in Central America; however, Belize closely identifies with the Caribbean. In the contemporary era, crime in the Caribbean appears to move seamlessly throughout the region, and this led Ivelaw Griffith (2024) to refer to the occurrence as “Problems without Passports.”Griffith’s (2024) position is premised on the notion that while crime moves freely throughout the Caribbean, solutions, legislations, and interventions to manage the host of criminal issues confronting the region are stymied by a lack of unity and difficulty in cooperation among Caribbean jurisdictions.
Authored by Adam Baird, From South Central to Southside: Gang Transnationalism, Masculinity, and Disorganized Violence in Belize City epitomizes “Problems without Passports” as Baird traces the pervasiveness of gangs in Belize to their easy movement from South Central Los Angeles to Southside Belize. From South Central to Southside contains an introduction, five chapters, and a conclusion, all of high quality, examining a range of developments and challenges to the issue of gangs in Belize by unpacking communal, socioeconomic, and political contexts that gave rise to and facilitated the spread of gangs in the jurisdiction.
This enthralling book emanated from Baird’s work as an analyst with the United Nations in Guatemala. On several academic sojourns to Belize, mostly self-funded, the author utilized local peoples and their knowledge to understand gangs in Southside Belize; and the outcome is this captivating book. Based on ethnography, Baird conducted interviews with a wide range of individuals, including, but not limited to, social workers, gang members, civil servants, community residents, parents, Belizean intellectuals, and local critical thinkers, and thus gives voice to the often-unheard layperson Belizean on the phenomenon under inquiry.
While authors rely on a methodological approach of their choice, in some instances the methodologies used are not the best fit for the nature and scope of the study. In this book, Baird’s methodological approach was ethnography, and the author of this review is of the view that this approach was best suited for the scholarship produced. There is no doubt that Baird immersed himself in the daily lives and occurrences of the major gang players in Belize and thus produced a manuscript that is both rich and thick in its contents. The manuscript is not fettered by conjecture but highlights the realities of gang life and gang culture in Southside Belize.
In Chapter One, the author traces the beginning of gangs and gang cultures in Belize City to the arrival of deported Bloods and Crips from South Central Los Angeles and links the gang culture to transnational masculinity and vulnerabilities suffered mainly by Black and Brown males in Southside Belize. Chapter Two examines the state’s response to gangs in Belize City, accounts for the state’s failure to control gangs, and attributes this failure to an incongruous clash of responses. Chapter Three debunks the notion of Belize as a drug transshipment point as the causal factor for increased gang activities, but points to gang fragmentation and subsequent disorganized violence as the precursor to the ever-increasing gang violence and murder rate in Belize.
In Chapter Four, Baird skillfully dissects the evolution of Belizean gangs away from the Bloods and Crips culture and attributes this movement to the process of “creolization” whereby Southside gangs now display local characteristics, while at the same time maintaining the hegemonic masculinity that they previously assimilated from the Bloods and Crips. In this chapter, the author also introduces feminine vulnerability to gangs as well as female roles within the respective gangs, a rarely discussed facet of gang activity in the Caribbean. Chapter Five highlights obstacles faced in responding to contemporary gangs in Southside Belize, while Chapter Six brings the book to a close by summarizing the key themes and findings of the book.
Baird’s central finding is that 1961 witnessed a large-scale migration of Belizeans to the United States due to the harsh aftereffects of Hurricane Hattie. He argues that this migration laid the foundation for gangs in Belize. Baird also submits that deportation of former Belizean Bloods and Crips gang members from South Central Los Angeles to Belize in the 1980s was the genesis of Belize’s contemporary gangs and gang culture. What is especially significant about this book is the author’s elucidation of gangs in Southside Belize not solely as willing participants in a pervasive activity, but as Black and Brown disenfranchised individuals who have limited choices in their life situation. Further, Baird cogitates that gang members in Southside Belize are those who constantly suffer exploitation, are vulnerable, and are located at the lowest stratum of the socio-economic system with little hope of being extracted from their position. Corruption and unfulfilled promises by the powerful elite (of a different skin hue) also perpetuate, facilitate, and sustain gang life in Southside Belize.
As an individual with a deep academic interest in gangs and gang culture, the author of this review read the book from a plethora of perspectives, which included reading as an academician, a reviewer, and a person with an interest in gangs, as well as someone who is keen on developing a Caribbean criminology. Instructively, in all capacities, the book was found to contain a clear and significant thesis centered around the translocation of gangs and gang culture from the United States to Belize.
Though several individuals interviewed by Baird appear to be “sketchy characters,” their stories were triangulated by others, albeit by individuals of a similar ilk. Despite this, the quality of the research as well as the sources used are of the highest quality. Further, the literary and other sources used to curate the book are of an impeccable nature. The book is well written and the contents are well organized, well-structured, and articulated in a manner that is easy to read and follow.
While there is much research on gangs in the Caribbean (see Adams et al. 2018; Felix-John and Williams 2013; Wallace 2020), this research primarily focuses on the effects of gangs on community life, gang truces, safety and security of community residents, and resistance to gang membership. What is especially different about Baird’s scholarship is his attempt to understand how gang cultures from the United States reached and were reproduced in Belize and what can be done to minimize their current effects, while at the same time devising practical interventions aimed at reducing gang activities in the jurisdiction.
While research on gangs in the Caribbean exists, scholarship that traces the evolution of gangs in the region tends to be overlooked, especially when it is examines this phenomenon through the lens of transnational masculinity and vulnerability. However, From South Central to Southside closes the existing lacuna, and this makes the book an enlightening read.