Photo: Piet den Blanken
La Mara de Cristo: Homies and
Hermanos in the Barrio
Robert Brenneman, Saint Michael’s College
Punchline
• The challenge, from
the perspective of
the “worn out” gang
member, is how to
construct a
believable, durable
identity as an exgang 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.
Robert Brenneman, Saint Michael’s College
Contemporary Violence in Central
America (Observador Centroamericano de la violencia, OCAVI)
Robert Brenneman, Saint Michael’s College
The Gangs of Central America: From
pandilla to mara
1. Youth street gangs date to at least 1970s
2. Latino gang members from L.A. arrived in
San Salvador in 1992
3. Grew quickly, co-opted, networked local
gangs
4. Institutional vacuum of post-war economies
Robert Brenneman, Saint Michael’s College
Los mareros: The perfect scapegoat
• Mara Dieciocho
(M-18)
• Mara Salvatrucha
(MS-13)
• Vatos Locos
• White Fence
Robert Brenneman, Saint Michael’s College
¡Hasta 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”
Robert Brenneman, Saint Michael’s College
Evangelicalism in Central
America
1.
Experiential focus;
emphasis on healing
2. Strict piety, sectarian
community
1. Address each other as
“hermanos”
2. Expected to avoid “5
P’s”
Robert Brenneman, Saint Michael’s College
Research Project: Explain Gang
Conversions from a Sociological
Perspective
Robert Brenneman, Saint Michael’s College
Research Project: Explain Gang
Conversions from a Sociological
Perspective
Robert Brenneman, Saint Michael’s College
Research Questions
1. Why do gang members convert?
2. How does religious conversion “work”
sociologically?
3. What can gang conversions teach
us about religion in Central
American?
Robert Brenneman, Saint Michael’s College
Methods
• Interviews with practitioners in youth
violence and reintegration (N=28)
• Interviews with ex-gang members (N=63)
Sex: 59 men, 4 women
• Nationality:
– 33 Hondurans
– 22 Guatemalans
– 8 Salvadorans
Robert Brenneman, Saint Michael’s College
Three common exit pathways
1. Become a “reservist” (pandillero calmado)
2. Emigrate
3. Convert and/or join an evangelical church
Robert Brenneman, Saint Michael’s College
Religion of Interviewees
Robert Brenneman, Saint Michael’s College
Findings: Why convert?
1. Evangelical
reputation as
“refuge” from the
street.
1.
2.
Congregations cultivate
this reputation.
Gangs allow for
“evangelical exemption”
Robert Brenneman, Saint Michael’s College
The 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 you’re actually completing
it.”
Robert Brenneman, Saint Michael’s College
Findings: Why convert?
2. Evangelicals offer tools for identity
reconstruction
1.
2.
3.
4.
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.
Robert Brenneman, Saint Michael’s College
Findings: How does conversion “work”?
1. Congregations provide rituals for
dealing with shame
1. Repressed shame (Gilligan 1996) was a key
theme in the accounts of joining the gang.
2. Public conversion provides “safe space” for
expressing remorse, “discharging shame” (Scheff
1990).
3. Emotional conversions provide a “clue” to self
and others of authenticity of new identity.
Robert Brenneman, Saint Michael’s College
Findings: How does conversion “work”?
2. Evangelical congregations are “greedy
institutions”
1. Practice “time-hoarding” via multiple
evening services and prayer groups.
2. Maintain clear in-group/out-group
boundaries familiar to the gang member.
Robert Brenneman, Saint Michael’s College
Conclusion: What Gang Conversions
Teach Us about Gangs
1. Transnational gangs seek to raise
barriers to leaving by requiring
deserters to provide evidence of
lifestyle change
2. Many gang leaders appear to respect
high religiosity of evangelicals
Robert Brenneman, Saint Michael’s College
Conclusion: What Gang Conversions
Teach Us about Religion
1. Evangelicals rarely talk about afterlife.
2. Central American evangelicals do confront
social problems but with spiritual-social
resources.
3. Conversion events provide emotional lever
for rupturing hyper-machismo through
“spoiling” of macho identity.
Robert Brenneman, Saint Michael’s College
Evangelical Gang Ministry =
Social Movement?
• Not aimed at social
change
• Does not seek
collective action
• Social structural
critique not
widespread
Robert Brenneman, Saint Michael’s College
Practical insights: How to
reduce gang violence
1. Violence among young males arises out
of the concrete experience of
humiliation.
2. Gang youth seek belonging and
“respect.”
3. Violence reduction must provide
alternative pathways to respect for
young males (alternative masculinities).
Robert Brenneman, Saint Michael’s College
Robert Brenneman, Saint Michael’s College
¡Mil gracias!
Photo credits:
The photograph on slide 1, Jeugdbendes by Piet den Blanken. Used with Permission.
All others belong to author.
Robert Brenneman, Saint Michael’s College