Title: La Mara de Cristo: Homies and Hermanos in the Barrio
1La Mara de Cristo Homies and Hermanos in the
Barrio
Photo Piet den Blanken
- Robert Brenneman, Saint Michaels College
2Punchline
- The challenge, from the perspective of the worn
out gang member, is how to construct a
believable, durable identity as an ex-gang member
- Evangelical-Pentecostal congregations, with their
deeply emotional, public, and frequent worship
services their dense social ties and their
moral capital, provide the most attractive and
available option for meeting this challenge.
3Contemporary Violence in Central America
(Observador Centroamericano de la violencia,
OCAVI)
4The Gangs of Central America From pandilla to
mara
- Youth street gangs date to at least 1970s
- Latino gang members from L.A. arrived in San
Salvador in 1992 - Grew quickly, co-opted, networked local gangs
- Institutional vacuum of post-war economies
5Los mareros The perfect scapegoat
- Mara Dieciocho (M-18)
- Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13)
- Vatos Locos
- White Fence
6Membership Estimates
Salvadoran Police Estimates quoted in USAID
2006 Aguilar 2008 PNUD 2009
7Hasta la morgue!
- Tightening of membership rules
- Neftalí The only way out of here is in your
pine-box suit. - Attempt to exercise social control
- Response to social cleansing
8Evangelicalism in Central America
- Experiential focus emphasis on healing
- Strict piety, sectarian community
- Address each other as hermanos
- Expected to avoid 5 Ps
9Research Project Explain Gang Conversions from a
Sociological Perspective
10Research Project Explain Gang Conversions from a
Sociological Perspective
11Research Questions
- Why do gang members convert?
- How does religious conversion work
sociologically? - What can gang conversions teach us about religion
in Central American?
12Methods
- Interviews with practitioners in youth violence
and reintegration (N28) - Interviews with ex-gang members (N63) Sex 59
men, 4 women - Nationality
- 33 Hondurans
- 22 Guatemalans
- 8 Salvadorans
13Three common exit pathways
- Become a reservist (pandillero calmado)
- Emigrate
- Convert and/or join an evangelical church
14Religion of Interviewees
15Findings Why convert?
- Evangelical reputation as refuge from the
street. - Congregations cultivate this reputation.
- Gangs allow for evangelical exemption
16The evangelical exemption
- Vera (non-convert) Really, the only way to get
out is to get involved in the church one hundred
percent. But the gang keeps watch over you day
and night to see if youre actually completing
it.
17The evangelical exemption
- Do you know of anyone who was ever caught
breaking the rules after joining the church? - Gustavo (convert) (Pause.) Yes. Owl (El Buhu).
He went to church and kept the rules, dressed
right and everything except he liked to smoke
marijuana. He used to go with his girlfriend to
the Assembly of God church. One night the gang
pulled him out of church and shot him outside. - You mean they pulled him out right in the middle
of the service? - Yes. They saw him. He smoked a joint right
outside before going into the church. Look, the
gang takes religion very seriously and they dont
it like when people mix the church and the gang.
18Findings Why convert?
- Evangelicals offer tools for identity
reconstruction - Pastors and members provide accountability
(e.g. social policing). - Pastors provide work references.
- Congregations provide job leads and (sometimes)
financial stop-gap. - Evangelicals provide alternative masculinity
and religious career options.
19Why not convert?
- High cost of conversion in the barrio.
- Eliminates access to macho pastimes
- Threat of elimination if conversion does not
stick - Loss of access to resources from underground
economy (no freelancing)
20Is conversion merely a matter of rational
choice?
- Sometimesbut not always.
- Some ex-gang members described their conversion
in strategic terms. - Others described themselves as surprised,
virtually helpless converts. - In these cases, emotion was reported as a key
element of the conversion experience.
21Ex-member of M-18
22Findings How does conversion work?
- Congregations provide rituals for dealing with
shame - Repressed shame (Gilligan 1996) was a key theme
in the accounts of joining the gang. - Public conversion provides safe space for
expressing remorse, discharging shame (Scheff
1990). - Emotional conversions provide a clue to self
and others of authenticity of new identity.
23Findings How does conversion work?
- Evangelical congregations are greedy
institutions - Practice time-hoarding via multiple evening
services and prayer groups. - Maintain clear in-group/out-group boundaries
familiar to the gang member.
24Conclusion What Gang Conversions Teach Us about
Gangs
- Transnational gangs seek to raise barriers to
leaving by requiring deserters to provide
evidence of lifestyle change - Many gang leaders appear to respect high
religiosity of evangelicals
25Conclusion What Gang Conversions Teach Us about
Religion
- Evangelicals rarely talk about afterlife.
- Central American evangelicals do confront social
problems but with spiritual-social resources. - Conversion events provide emotional lever for
rupturing hyper-machismo through spoiling of
macho identity.
26Evangelical Gang Ministry Social Movement?
- Not aimed at social change
- Does not seek collective action
- Social structural critique not widespread
27Practical insights How to reduce gang violence
- Violence among young males arises out of the
concrete experience of humiliation. - Gang youth seek belonging and respect.
- Violence reduction must provide alternative
pathways to respect for young males (alternative
masculinities).
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29Mil gracias! Photo credits The photograph on
slide 1, Jeugdbendes by Piet den Blanken. Used
with Permission. All others belong to author.