DOI: https://doi.org/10.25058/20112742.n34.12

Mauricio Manchado
Universidad Nacional de Rosario, Argentina
dr.mauriciomanchado@gmail.com

Abstract:

This article aims mainly to inquire on the mechanisms of adaptation and resistance deployed by penitentiary officers charged with the custody of church-pavilions in jails across southern Santa Fe province (Argentina), by examining their perceptions, appraisals, and actions in interactive processes with those who dwell on the so-called “church-pavilions”. Likewise, we aim to depict the self-perceptions made by guards about their roles in such a prison scheme, in order to understand their identitarian settings. These resistances emerge as differentiation practices based on a negative characterization of alterity (convicts-little brothers), and in the weaving of relations and reciprocities that the Pentecostal-evangelical religious device was able to build in prison. To that end, we will perform an analysis of empirical data from field work, based on participating observation and in-depth interviews with penitentiary officers and prisoners from three jails in Santa Fe South.

Keywords: jail, religión, resistances, identity, governmentality.