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At the first glance Jesus and the Gang: Youth Violence and Christianity in Urban Honduras appears to be an exciting read. The cover of this nicely packaged book colourfully depicts a bullet hole in a shattered glass. The table of content promises an in-depth look into the world of gang-related youth violence in the working-class neighbourhood in El Progreso, Honduras (a country of about 8 million people in Central America). The author aims to understand a demographic of key concern in many other Central American countries and that has become associated with a moral panic: young males that are ‘jobless, violent, and without the support of traditional institutions such as family and school’ (p. 5). The author’s main focus, however, is the communal response and remedies to youth violence in the absence of viable, humane and non-suppressive governmental social programmes and intervention strategies. Following a participant-observation method of research and a narrative style, he provides the communal view of the nature, extent and solutions to the problem of gang-related youth violence in Colonia Belén, a working-class neighbourhood in El Progreso. Emphasizing the youth view of the problem in particular, the author provides an in-depth discussion of three main practices that youth employ in order to manage a violent environment. First, appropriating the community’s ‘geographic and metaphoric spaces’, i.e. physical and emotional identification with a particular locale (p. 6). Second, occupying their time with socially approved pursuits (education, church attendance, etc.). Third, providing narratives of interpersonal connections and inter-gang rivalries that aim to make sense of their violent social environment and encounters. The author does a good job of embedding these local views and practices in a larger political culture and economic practices that are often corrupt and unjust.
The volume contains six chapters. Chapter 1 is the introductory chapter. In Chapter 2 the author introduces readers to some of the key physical, socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of the place where the research takes place. Chapter 3 focuses on the interpersonal relationship of members of a particular gang in order to understand the ‘experiential and embodied nature of street relationships’ (p. 25). By discussing the gang’s particular tattoos and graffiti, the author also wants to emphasize the strong connection of the gang to its physical space. He characterizes this identification as ‘A seamless identity … between the gang … and the neighbourhood’ (p. 25). In Chapter 4 the author discusses the appeal of local Catholic churches as one of the youth’s few options for institutional support. The author highlights the conciliatory role these churches play between the youth and their fearful communities, and also between rival gang members. As such, the churches are said to reduce fear, hatred and violence in the community. Chapter 5 emphasizes the auxiliary role of the local churches as sanctuaries, i.e. places of temporary solace and escape from a violent environment. It also emphasizes the role of Pentecostalism in converting youth from their violent ways. In the concluding chapter the author recapitulates his main theme: local practices that aim to manage and reduce youth violence. He finishes the book with a warning: the vulnerability of such local remedies in the face of growing national or structural corruption, poverty and institutional brutality.
There are several key problems with this book. First, at points certain theoretical difficulties are skipped over by the use of either a flowery language and/or quoting other authors who are equally vague. Chapter 2, in particular, suffers greatly from this weakness. The author’s dramatic use of language and equally unclear citations to describe well-known facts of gang life (e.g. a gang’s identification with a specific locale that is often thought of as dangerous by others) seems more like an overcompensation for the platitude of the ideas mentioned. The second main difficulty is the one that all qualitative research suffers from: generalizablity to other places (even within one country). The third problem of the book is that it does not say anything new to someone familiar with the field of gang research. All the theoretical points have been well covered by many others before. Most recent examples are Cunningham et al.’s Youth at Risk in Latin America and the Caribbean: Understanding the Causes, Realizing the Potential (2008); GJ Jones and D Rodgers’ Youth Violence in Latin America: Gangs and Juvenile Justice in Perspective (2009); and Gabriela Polit Dueñas and María Helena Rueda’s Meaning of Violence in Contemporary Latin America (2011).
That said, I believe that the book would be of particular interest to several groups of readers. First, those interested in the participant-observation method of research. From this point of view the volume is exemplary. Teachers and practitioners of the method would immensely benefit from this book. Second, those interested generally in South and Central American countries and Honduras particularly. Third, beginners to the field of gang studies. I would particularly recommend the book to undergraduate and graduate level students who are interested in qualitative methods in gang research. It is well written, well organized and rich in empirical observations and theoretical interpretations.