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Jesus and the Gang: Youth Violence and Christianity in Urban Honduras
In urban Honduras, gun violence and assault form the pulsing backdrop of everyday life. This book examines the ways that young men and women in working-class neighborhoods of El Progreso, Honduras, understand and respond to gang and gun violence in their communities. Because residents rely on gangs and Catholic and Evangelical Protestant churches to mediate violence in their neighborhoods, these institutions form the fabric of society.
While only a small fraction of youths in a neighborhood are active members of a gang, most young men must learn the styles, ways of communicating, and local geography of gangs in order to survive. Due to the absence of gang prevention programs sponsored by the government or outside non-governmental organizations, Catholic and Pentecostal churches have developed their own ways to confront gang violence in their communities. Youths who participate in church organizations do so not only to alter and improve their communities but also to gain emotional and institutional support.
Offering firsthand accounts of these youths and how they make use of religious discourse, narrative practices, or the inscription of tattooed images and words on the body to navigate dangerous social settings, Jesus and the Gang is an unflinching look at how these young men turn away from perpetuating the cycle of violence and how Christianity serves a society where belonging is surviving.
This book will appeal to readers with an interest in Latin American studies, urban anthropology, and youth studies. With its focus on the lives of young men and women, it’s also a compelling read for anyone interested in the plight of urban youth trying to escape the gang life.
While only a small fraction of youths in a neighborhood are active members of a gang, most young men must learn the styles, ways of communicating, and local geography of gangs in order to survive. Due to the absence of gang prevention programs sponsored by the government or outside non-governmental organizations, Catholic and Pentecostal churches have developed their own ways to confront gang violence in their communities. Youths who participate in church organizations do so not only to alter and improve their communities but also to gain emotional and institutional support.
Offering firsthand accounts of these youths and how they make use of religious discourse, narrative practices, or the inscription of tattooed images and words on the body to navigate dangerous social settings, Jesus and the Gang is an unflinching look at how these young men turn away from perpetuating the cycle of violence and how Christianity serves a society where belonging is surviving.
This book will appeal to readers with an interest in Latin American studies, urban anthropology, and youth studies. With its focus on the lives of young men and women, it’s also a compelling read for anyone interested in the plight of urban youth trying to escape the gang life.
176 pages, Paperback
First published February 15, 2011
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October 1, 2021
This is a thorough and brilliant study on gangs and Christianity in Honduras. The author spent years embedded in a particular neighborhood in El Progreso (near San Pedro Sula) where he got to know many of the gang members very closely. This encouraged them to be more open in communicating their thoughts and letting the author take part in their discussions.
The book has 5 chapters:
Ch. 1 - This focuses on the general background to the neighborhood, to Honduran gangs, to the social dynamic, and some of the main figures who will appear.
Ch. 2 - This focuses on contested space in the neighborhood - how space is imagined and claimed by the Catholic church, the Pentecostal church, and the gang. One main focus of this chapter is a bridge where there were several murders. The author noted that this bridge isn't ACTUALLY more dangerous than any other part of the neighborhood when you look at the statistics, but how all three groups imagine the bridge as special in order to claim/contain a violent space. This also relates to the complete lack of public spaces in the city - there are no clubs or libraries or parks, so activity happens in the street. Consequently when violence is perceived as ruling the street, communities are atomized as people try to avoid public and look for hiding places.
Ch. 3 - This focuses on physicality and how tattoos, graffiti, and physical interactions mark gang belonging.
Ch. 4 - This focuses on the Catholic church's response to gangs and mareros who participate in the Catholic youth group. The Church uses a theology of accompaniment to try to include gang members and accompany them on a path to a more solidarian, communitarian fellowship. However, this is marked by two conflicts. The first is the conflict between the mareros and everyone else - as others don't necessarily want to COMPLETLEY identify with the mareros for fear of getting sucked into violence and targeted themselves. The second conflict is between the poor and the middle class - the latter have little empathy for the mareros and the structural issues that contribute to gangsterism.
Ch. 5 - This focuses on the Pentecostal church and its relationship to gangs. Here the theology is not accompaniment but rather break. Mareros are expected to drop all membership with the gang and commit themselves as individuals to Jesus and the church. This involves a degree of performance - mareros who publicly perform evangelicalism to signify their break. The author provides many examples of how this actually works in real life and how gang members do or do not respect the conversion of ex-mareros.
This is an excellent book and I highly recommend it.
The book has 5 chapters:
Ch. 1 - This focuses on the general background to the neighborhood, to Honduran gangs, to the social dynamic, and some of the main figures who will appear.
Ch. 2 - This focuses on contested space in the neighborhood - how space is imagined and claimed by the Catholic church, the Pentecostal church, and the gang. One main focus of this chapter is a bridge where there were several murders. The author noted that this bridge isn't ACTUALLY more dangerous than any other part of the neighborhood when you look at the statistics, but how all three groups imagine the bridge as special in order to claim/contain a violent space. This also relates to the complete lack of public spaces in the city - there are no clubs or libraries or parks, so activity happens in the street. Consequently when violence is perceived as ruling the street, communities are atomized as people try to avoid public and look for hiding places.
Ch. 3 - This focuses on physicality and how tattoos, graffiti, and physical interactions mark gang belonging.
Ch. 4 - This focuses on the Catholic church's response to gangs and mareros who participate in the Catholic youth group. The Church uses a theology of accompaniment to try to include gang members and accompany them on a path to a more solidarian, communitarian fellowship. However, this is marked by two conflicts. The first is the conflict between the mareros and everyone else - as others don't necessarily want to COMPLETLEY identify with the mareros for fear of getting sucked into violence and targeted themselves. The second conflict is between the poor and the middle class - the latter have little empathy for the mareros and the structural issues that contribute to gangsterism.
Ch. 5 - This focuses on the Pentecostal church and its relationship to gangs. Here the theology is not accompaniment but rather break. Mareros are expected to drop all membership with the gang and commit themselves as individuals to Jesus and the church. This involves a degree of performance - mareros who publicly perform evangelicalism to signify their break. The author provides many examples of how this actually works in real life and how gang members do or do not respect the conversion of ex-mareros.
This is an excellent book and I highly recommend it.
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review