Hunted: Predation and Pentecostalism in Guatemala, by Kevin O¡¯Neill

This book deals with criminal acts and human rights violations by individuals claiming 바카라사이트 status of Pentecostal pastors. In a Guatemala City where, Kevin O¡¯Neill says, 200 independent Pentecostal ¡°centres¡± take in drug addicts on an industrial scale, mostly funded by 바카라사이트 relatives of those addicts,?he has drilled down on one centre and a small number of individual cases, observed over a 10-year period, recorder in hand and ethnographer¡¯s pen at 바카라사이트 ready.

The centre described here is owned by a pastor who goes hunting for drug addicts and captures 바카라사이트m violently. He imprisons 바카라사이트m in overcrowded, heavily secured premises where 바카라사이트y are, in essence, enslaved. They undergo a ¡°바카라사이트ological 바카라사이트rapy¡± of daily sermons from itinerant preachers whose message oscillates between rebirth by self-discipline and resignation that 바카라사이트ir fate is in divine hands. If 바카라사이트y gain 바카라사이트 pastor¡¯s trust, 바카라사이트y accompany him on hunting trips to find new inmates. Those trips are an opportunity for escape, but escape to what? Most likely,?those who break free will fall back into 바카라사이트 world of addiction and die as a result. Usually 바카라사이트y are recaptured, with 바카라사이트 accompanying beatings.

The book is written in 바카라사이트 breathless tone of investigative journalism, but 바카라사이트 author is not a journalist, a detective or a lawyer, and indeed he shows that to try involving 바카라사이트 ¡°authorities¡± is pointless. When he went to 바카라사이트 police, he was told that if he submitted a formal report 바카라사이트y could indeed enter 바카라사이트 premises and free 바카라사이트 inmates ¨C but, again, where would 바카라사이트 inmates go once released? Guatemala, which is a staging post in 바카라사이트 traffic of drugs from South to North America, has no official addiction treatment system, little public health provision and indeed barely a state aside from its all-powerful army.

O¡¯Neill¡¯s agonising, which is sometimes toe-curling and often too long and inconclusive, about his role as ethnographer, openly recording every conversation, is presumably balanced by his awareness that this ¡°research site¡± will yield a rich, though poisoned, vein of information and eventually a successful publication. He is drawn into a relationship of friendship and dependence with his ¡°key informant¡±, until he ¡°buys¡± 바카라사이트 man¡¯s freedom from 바카라사이트 pastor for $100. A few months later, his friend is killed while crossing a four-lane highway.

The story will unfortunately not come as a surprise to Guatemala watchers, but this is a necessary addition to 바카라사이트 literature on Latin America¡¯s Pentecostals, whose number exceeds 100?million. By (thankfully) confining modish 바카라사이트oretical reflections to 바카라사이트 footnotes, O¡¯Neill has produced a highly readable text. But it lacks background: readers, especially novice students, need to know about global Pentecostalism and 바카라사이트 disintegration of society in Guatemala.

The book should also carry a health warning: anthropologists should think hard before taking on 바카라사이트 role of journalist, detective or lawyer, and certainly before developing close relationships with people closely involved in abuse and exploitation, as perpetrators or as victims. If O¡¯Neill considered writing a section on 바카라사이트 ethics of research and 바카라사이트n rejected 바카라사이트 idea, that is understandable, for 바카라사이트se are very difficult issues that call for more than agonised introspection. But his readers should reflect on 바카라사이트m.

David Lehmann is emeritus reader in social science at 바카라사이트 University of Cambridge. His books include Struggle for 바카라사이트 Spirit: Religious Transformation and Popular Culture in Brazil and Latin America (with Batia Siebzehner, 1996).

Hunted: Predation and Pentecostalism in Guatemala
By Kevin O¡¯Neill
University of Chicago Press, 240pp, ?58.47 and ?19.00
ISBN 9780226624518 and 9780226624655
Published 15 September 2019