Special Event: An Evening with Author Avelardo Valdez at the Guadalupe
The Guadalupe Latino Bookstore & Gift Shop will present Narratives of Gang Life in San Antonio, an evening with author Avelardo Valdez to celebrate his new book Homeboys Forever: The Lifetime Consequences of Gang Membership (June 2026) on Friday, August 28, 2026, at 6:30 p.m. This public event will feature a reading and an engaging discussion between Valdez and moderator Juan Tejeda of Aztlán Libre Press about the author’s 20-year study of gang involvement among men from the Westside of San Antonio. Books will be available on-site for purchase at this free event.
Avelardo Valdez is Professor Emeritus in the Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work and the department of sociology at the University of Southern California. He is the author of Mexican American Girls and Gang Violence: Beyond Risk and co-editor of Puro Conjunto: An Album in Words and Pictures.
ABOUT THE BOOK
Violence, addiction, imprisonment . . . we don’t have to look hard to see the negative consequences of gang involvement. But what does it look like to spend a life — from adolescence to adulthood — in gangs?
Sociologist Avelardo Valdez and his research team have been following the lives of Mexican American men in San Antonio, Texas, over a remarkable twenty years, watching and listening as they navigate adolescent delinquency and gang involvement, advance into a life of crime, and — sometimes — attempt to break from gang life and build lives in conventional society.
Mr. Valdez was kind enough to speak with ArtScene SA about his new book.
ArtScene SA: What is your connection to the Westside of San Antonio and the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center?
Avelardo Valdez: I have been conducting research on theb lives of Mexican Americans on the Westside since my appointment as a faculty member at UTSA in 1979. My early research on the Westside focused on housing segregation, small businesses, intermarriage, and immigration.
I was a board member of the GCAC from 1981 until 1995. Serving on the board prompted my interest in conjunto music, which resulted in several journal articles on the topic and a co-edited book (with Juan Tejeda) published by The University of Texas Press.
My insights into Mexican Americans are also influenced by the fact that my extended family on both my mother’s and father’s sides reside primarily in San Antonio.
What was the inspiration behind the Homeboys Forever book project?
The inspiration for this book was my overall interest in how, despite having the benefit of living in the U.S. for several generations, Mexican Americans continue to experience disparate social, economic, and health disparities. The goal of this book is for readers to look beyond individual fault or deficiencies when discussions of crime and drugs arise in our communities and realize that these problems are rooted in the systematic inequalities and discrimination that shape structural vulnerabilities. These factors, for many, lead to a lifetime of demonization, stressful interpersonal relationships, social isolation, and infinite personal consequences.
Who is your ideal audience for the book?
The audience for this book includes public policy advocates and members of the public interested in criminology, criminal justice, incarceration, education, and health issues affecting disadvantaged minority populations in the U.S. My hope is that non-academics who read this book will acquire new insights, a greater understanding, and empathy for the struggles of disadvantaged populations. As well, the book will appeal to undergraduate and graduate students across a range of disciplines, especially sociology, Latino studies, criminology, and life course studies.
Which books do you feel pair well with Homeboys Forever? Why these books?
There are many well-respected books on Mexican American and Latino gangs. But if you ask what pairs well with this book, I suggest the following non-gang publications: The Injustice Never Leaves You: Anti-Mexican Violence in Texas by Monica Muñoz Martinez and Forget the Alamo: The Rise and Fall of an American Myth by Bryan Burrough, Chris Tomlinson, and Jason Stanford.
Since one of my book’s objectives is to understand how a significant portion of Mexican Americans remain locked into lives of poverty, marginalization, and hopelessness despite living in this country for generations, the books I am recommending provide the historical precursors that influenced Mexican-Anglo relations in the Southwest and other parts of the U.S., and ultimately influenced the lives and experiences of the men in this study.
EVENT DETAILS
WHO: Avelardo Valdez (author) and Juan Tejeda (moderator)
WHAT: The Guadalupe Latino Bookstore & Gift Shop presents Narratives of Gang Life in San Antonio, an evening with author Avelardo Valdez about his new book Homeboys Forever: The Lifetime Consequences of Gang Membership.
WHEN: Friday, August 28, 2026, at 6:30 p.m.
WHERE: Guadalupe Latino Bookstore
1300 Guadalupe St., San Antonio, TX 78207
- Free and open to the public
- Book for sale
- Author book signing
- Light refreshments provided
