Tráfico de drogas, acumulação social da violência nas favelas, neopentecostalismo e a expressão de fé pelos “traficantes evangélicos”

Abstract

The objective of this work is to understand, from a socio-anthropological perspective, the expression of faith by drug dealers in favelas, especially those in Rio de Janeiro, within a neo-Pentecostal grammar. For this, the methodological analysis involves a bibliographic research of ethnographic research carried out in favelas to understand the idea of ​​criminal subjection, which concerns the social construction of the “bandit” and, in the religious field, an analysis of the neo-Pentecostal discourse under the theology of prosperity which acts to measure the blessings of supporters for financial prosperity. It is argued that both drug trafficking and adherence to evangelical churches are possibilities that allow an alternative amid the feeling of social vulnerability in the daily life of favelas. This process is part of a broad context of social accumulation of violence, notably in Rio de Janeiro, based on a historical process of conflicts and structural inequalities. The dialogue between traffickers and evangelicals has reconfigured relationships in the peripheries due to the need to establish safety nets. Recent academic research shows that the transit between these two worlds, although contradictory, is made possible, among other factors, by the individualistic view and the ethos of war on the enemy that both would share.