Black Face With an Invisible White Mask: A Phenomenological Study of Self-Understanding Through Investigating Co-researchers’ Psychological Lived Experiences Before, During and After Gang Involvement

Research into gang members is dominated by behavioural and criminal perspectives with limited in-depth, meaningful understanding of the experience of gang members' sense of being. I set out to investigate five male African-Caribbean former gang members’ psychological lived experiences before, during and after gang involvement using the qualitative methodology of Heuristic Hermeneutic Phenomenological Inquiry (HHPI). I approached this study based on my experience as a teenager having been associated with gang members. I utilised the principles of triple hermeneutics as a way of understanding myself through the co-researchers’ experiences which are incorporated into the findings.
The analysis is divided into three phases; before, during and after gang involvement. The main themes of before gang involvement are: (1) Dysfunctional Lifeworld, which revealed the effect of domestic violence, an emotionally and frequently absent father, separation and relational racism; (2) Safe Place uncovered the only lived space which induced calmness and routine; and (3) Psychological Survival illuminated the fight and flight response to perceived threatening situations. In phase two, during gang involvement, the theme Psychological Survival illustrated the adversities experienced being within White mainstream society that consequently opened the pathway to life being within an alternative world, gang society. In the final phase, after gang involvement, the central theme is Functional Lifeworld, which highlighted post- traumatic growth, a positive psychological adjustment. Overall, the findings suggest a connection with the legacy of slavery and how it led me to consider the possibility of living with posttraumatic slavery disorder and intergenerational trauma (Reid et al., 2005). Based on the findings, I introduced the therapeutic model; Heuristic Existential Post-Slavery Therapy (HEPST) which contributed to the knowledge and clinical practice for counselling and psychotherapy. Due to the sensitivity of the study, it should be noted that by the end of the research, only one co-researcher remained in the study.