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Examining graffiti on the urban environment in detail, one can understand the attitudes, behavior and social processes of certain parts of society. Graffiti can provide valuable information on these segments of society that are not often in public view in the urban environment. In our society there are subcultures that have gone against the relative worth that the dominant culture has laid out and have been overshadowed by the practices of popular culture.

By understanding and interpreting graffiti you can unveil unseen facts about these subcultures. There are several types of graffiti, each associated with a different type of culture, serving a distinct function. For instance, gang graffiti in Los Angeles serves as an important text to better understand the social and cultural meaning of these marginalized groups. Interpreting graffiti through the use of photos show how gangs from different ethnic backgrounds claim space, communicate thoughts and feelings, and express group and individual identity.

In the past, graffiti has been studied by sociologists, psychologists, anthropologists, linguistics, and even geographers. In 1977, Peretti examined and interpreted graffiti in order to understand adolescent personality, Reisner in 1971 to understand ancient cultures, and sexual attitudes and artistic style by Romotsky and Romotsky in 1975. In 1980 Bruner and Kelso dedicated their work to the examining and understanding of gang's behavior and communication, and in 1999 Alonso tried to explain the territorial matter. From these findings we can assume that graffiti is rich in information and can be simply explained as a manifestation through which a variety of subcultures communicate thoughts and feelings and express group and individual identity.

Prior to WWII, graffiti was first encountered in Mexican and Chicano communities from Los Angeles, and began to increase in the early 1970s. Nowadays, graffiti is observed especially in the inner cities of the African American 'hoods' and 'barrios' in the Hispanic communities. The use symbols, names, numbers etc serves as a way to deliver messages, to dictate rules and express group identity.

According to Alonso's work in 1975, African American gangs use more symbolism to express identity, territoriality and supremacy and they call it 'hit-ups'. What is more, Romotsky and Romotsky in 1975, referred to the Hispanics style of writing as 'placas'. They often use this elaborate style of large letters and colors to write the name of the gang. The lettering style and iconography problematizes any attempts of interpretation by an outsider.

There are very few studies specific to gang writing. These styles formed by indigenous youth from the inner cities, have been used in the mural tradition of Mexico. The mostly used is the old English style, loop letters, box, pointed and square letters. The life from barrios and gang culture can be best interpreted through these mural paintings which represent an attempt to preserve Chicano gang culture.

Unlike Hispanics' mural work, African American gang graffiti is less stylized,本论文由英语论文网提供整理，提供论文代写，英语论文代写，代写论文，代写英语论文，代写留学生论文，代写英文论文，留学生论文代写相关核心关键词搜索。