Secure the Soul: Christian Piety and Gang Prevention in Guatemala

by Kevin Lewis O'Neill

Overview

“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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780520278486
Publisher:	University of California Press
Publication date:	01/16/2015
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	8.90(w) x 6.20(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

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.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations
Prologue

Introduction
Forgiveness
1. Insecurities
Hamsters
2. Reality
Pangs
3. A Calling
Service
4. Left Behind
Captivity
5. Forsaken
Adrift
Epilogue

Acknowledgments
Appendix: Notes on Research
Notes
Reference List
Index

Editorial Reviews

"O'Neill's field work . . . throughout the book, is impressive. . . . [Secure the Soul] opens up a range of important conversations."

Marginalia

"Extensively researched."

Books & Culture

"A deeply sensitive ethnography . . . a watershed moment not only for students of Guatemala, but also for Latin Americanists, scholars of Evangelical Christianity, and critics of the national security state."

Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology

"O'Neill's field work . . . throughout the book, is impressive.; [Secure the Soul] opens up a range of important conversations."

Marginalia - LA Review of Books - Jill DeTemple

"A deeply sensitive ethnography . . . a watershed moment not only for students of Guatemala, but also for Latin Americanists, scholars of Evangelical Christianity, and critics of the national security state."

Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology - Chris Garces