Secure the Soul: Christian Piety and Gang Prevention in Guatemala

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Univ of California Press, Jan 16, 2015 - Social Science - 304 pages
“I’m not perfect,” Mateo confessed. “Nobody is. But I try.” Secure the Soul shuttles between the life of Mateo, a born-again ex-gang member in Guatemala and the gang prevention programs that work so hard to keep him alive. Along the way, this poignantly written ethnography uncovers the Christian underpinnings of Central American security. In the streets of Guatemala City—amid angry lynch mobs, overcrowded prisons, and paramilitary death squads—millions of dollars empower church missions, faith-based programs, and seemingly secular security projects to prevent gang violence through the practice of Christian piety. With Guatemala increasingly defined by both God and gangs, Secure the Soul details an emerging strategy of geopolitical significance: regional security by way of good Christian living.
 

Contents

Insecurities
33
Hamsters
58
Reality
65
Pangs
89
A Calling
96
Service
120
Left Behind
127
Captivity
151
Forsaken
158
Acknowledgments
195
Notes on Research
201
Reference List
247
Index
277
Copyright

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About the author (2015)

Kevin Lewis O'Neill is Associate Professor in the Department for the Study of Religion and the Centre for Diaspora and Transnational Studies, University of Toronto. He is the author of City of God: Christian Citizenship in Postwar Guatemala.

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