Hunted

Predation and Pentecostalism in Guatemala

Kevin Lewis O'Neill

• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9780226624792
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion

"It's not a process, " one pastor insisted, "rehabilitation is a miracle." In the face of addiction and few state resources, Pentecostal pastors in Guatemala City are fighting what they understand to be a major crisis. Yet the treatment centers they operate produce this miracle of rehabilitation through extraordinary means: captivity. These men of faith snatch drug users off the streets, often at the request of family members, and then lock them up inside their centers for months, sometimes years. Hunted is based on more than ten years of fieldwork among these centers and the drug users that populate them. Over time, as Kevin Lewis O'Neill engaged both those in treatment and those who surveilled them, he grew increasingly concerned that he, too, had become a hunter, albeit one snatching up information. This thoughtful, intense book will reframe the arc of redemption we so often associate with drug rehabilitation, painting instead a seemingly endless cycle of hunt, capture, and release.

Index

abolitionism, xviii, 76–78, 186n6, 186n7

abuse, xviii, 11, 65, 69, 79, 100, 108, 169n36, 180n14. See also substance abuse

addiction. See substance abuse

Adorno, Theodor, 185n1

aesthetics, 8, 15, 77, 121, 170n1, 171n2, 172n9, 172n10

affect: as atmosphere, 172n9; as captivity, 122, 162n22, 187n9; of the hunt, 15, 157n2, 163n4, 164n13; as performance, 18, 51. See also affective labor; compassion; empathy; sympathy

affective labor, 165n14, 167n25, 187n11

Agamben, Giorgio, xvii, 160n13, 166n21, 170n40, 189n20

age, 7, 8, 12, 17–18, 20, 93, 108, 117, 140, 189n20

Ahmad, Tania, 189n18

alcohol, 59, 115, 118, 125–27, 140; dependency, 18, 20, 31, 42, 54, 56, 63, 99, 147, 182n19; and the hunt, 5, 33, 36–39, 169n38; and rehab centers, xv, 7, 14, 38, 43–44, 50, 59, 62, 83, 96, 109–12, 123, 160n14. See also substance abuse; withdrawal

Alejandro. See Alejandro’s aunt; Alejandro’s ex-wife; Bible; burial; huntsmen; identification cards; National Police; performance; sincerity; tied up; United States

Alejandro’s aunt, 21, 56, 69, 96, 98, 101, 105, 126, 128, 132–33, 141

Alejandro’s ex-wife, 21, 56, 96–97, 100–101, 105, 109

Althaus-Reid, Marcella Maria, 168n30

Althusser, Louis, 163n8

Alvarado, Héctor (Escape for Your Life), 86–89

Ameeriar, Lalaie, 188n17

Anderson, Gary, 168n30, 174n16

animals, xiii, xvi–xvii, 160n...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Note
• Preface
• The Hunt
• Captivity
• Escape
• Return
• Hunted, a Conclusion
• Epilogue
• Acknowledgments
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index