James Diego Vigil

James Diego Vigil is professor of social ecology at the University of California, Irvine. He received his Ph.D. in anthropology from University of California, Los Angeles, and has held various teaching and administrative positions. As an urban anthropologist focusing on Mexican Americans, he has conducted research on ethnohistory, education, culture change and acculturation, and adolescent and youth issues, especially street gangs. This work has resulted in publications such as From Indians to Chicanos: The Dynamics of Mexican American Culture (third edition, 2012), Personas Mexicanas: Chicano Highschoolers in a Changing Los Angeles (1997), and Barrio Gangs (1988). His recent books include A Rainbow of Gangs: Street Cultures in the Mega-City (2002) and The Projects: Gang and Non-Gang Families in East Los Angeles (2007), which examine family life in a housing project. Gang Redux: A Balanced Anti-Gang Strategy (2010) has most recently been published.