‘Do Talogo, Patsany!’:* Informal Territorial Youth Gangs of Elista

Abstract

Introduction. The article deals with street youth gangs in Elista, the capital of Kalmykia. In the process of their development, such organized criminal groups have transformed into a special subculture with its own hierarchies, spheres of influence, lifestyles, language, and practices. The author aims to show the development of this phenomenon as a subculture in the youth milieu, describing the norms of behavior, values, and life orientations of members of particular gangs operating in Elista. Data and methods. The main research sources are field materials collected by the author by way of interviewing members of such informal groups. The analysis involved the structural-functional method, participatory observation method, method of content-analysis and interviewing. Results. There is a history to the growth of modern informal groupings in the town: in fact, they proliferated during the period of restoration of the Kalmyk ASSR with its center in Elista. Under new conditions, within urban environment informal street gangs were formed on the principle of shared territories, which was in fact the most typical kind of such groupings in the country at large. For the younger generation, the street served as a space of masculine brotherly unity based on bodily practices, as well as on similar ideas, views, and concepts. In the period between 2000 and 2010, some of the informal units represented qualitatively new forms of organized criminal youth groupings; these were characterized by dominance practices, power relations, and age hierarchy. Although the youth (patsan) companies were not part of the criminal thieves’ subculture, they maintained to a degree this connection and found ways for organized criminal activity.