"Keep a Blade or Become a Christian": Religious Identity and Managing Violence

• In Event: Structural Inequalities and Gangs

Abstract

In this paper we examine how self-identified Christians use their religious identity as a means for distancing themselves from criminalized street or gang identities, and consequently as a resource for limiting their exposure to violence. We present the findings of two ethnographic projects set in Fresno, California – one focusing on a Pentecostal church (Ark of Light) in a neighborhood with high rates of gang violence, and the other following the experiences of parolees leaving California’s prison system – to illustrate how religious identity becomes instrumental for navigating violent environments. In the community surrounding Ark of Light, claiming a Christian identity involves simultaneously turning away from street life and embracing religious practices in a process that re-articulate one’s identity and relationship to the neighborhood. Similarly, claiming a disciplined Christian identity in the prison offered the parolees an opportunity to remove themselves from the pervasive racial violence that plagued the system. Building on a growing body of research that focuses on criminal desistence and the role of religion in recovering from gang life, we argue that the process of embracing a Christian identity—and successfully being recognized as Christian by others—becomes a strategy for avoiding both neighborhood and prison violence.

Authors

• Melissa Guzman, University of California, Santa Barbara

• Patrick Lopez-Aguado, Santa Clara University