Mass Offending Bodies: Youth gangs, violence and crowds in an African city (MOBS)

This project seeks to answer three interrelated questions about the emergence of mass gang violence and how it changes the postcolonial city. First, what social practices and imaginaries facilitate the transformation of gangs into crowds and back and why does this matter? 2. What are the performatory and aesthetic functions of this transformation and who are its primary audience? 3. How has the city adapted spatially to these kinds of violence and in what ways has the transformation of the city itself incentivised violent flash mobs? Focussing specifically on violent flash mobs in Lagos, Nigeria, the project draws on intellectual work around crowds and gangs, and uses spatial histories, visual records and interviews to explore how gangs evade, reconstruct and challenge the discipline of the city.