Inside Out Outside In: In Search of ‘Gangs’, Finding Outside-In Groups and the Dual Parallax of Spaces and Positions

Richard McHugh

Inside Out Outside In: In Search of ‘Gangs’, Finding Outside-In Groups and the Dual Parallax of Spaces and Positions

Richard McHugh

Abstract

Through a Zizekian framework, this article explores a doubled precarity as experienced by individuals involved in groups described as ‘gangs’. This dual precarity being the inability to parallel mainstream discourses of security, and abstracted precarity of mirrored images of ‘mainstream’ groups. The paper outlines brittle relationships between these two poles and the stories relating to learning and be-coming within such groups. These precarious relationships resonate Zizek's proposal of the '... blind leading the blind, or, more precisely, the blind leading the blind ...' (Zizek, 2012: 89). This paper explores the precariaty / precariaty of learning to be within such groups and the value of the story of becomingpredominantly through the lens of a case study focusing on Participant 1 and supported through vignettes from encounters with other participants.

Keywords

Precarity, Mirrors, Positional Spaces, Insider-Outsider, Identity, Parallax; Zizek

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