Episode 5: Contagion & Predation in Guatemala City
How do religious communities in Guatemala City understand and approach the process of healing from drug addiction? How should scholars and researchers approach the repressive tactics used by religious authorities to heal members from drug addiction? What is the difference between addiction and habit? How can drug addiction function as a mechanism to simultaneously fracture and heal social relationships? How can Guatemalan communities heal from the violence and trauma enacted on their societies by exploitative economic and political systems? Does the concept of predation underlie the categories of health & disease? Is there a relationship between the concepts of predation and contagion?
The Contagion Podcast addresses these important questions in the 5th episode as Kevin Lewis O'Neill discusses his 2019 monograph Hunted: Predation and Pentecostalism in Guatemala and its implications for the study of health and religion in the city. Isaiah Ellis leads the podcast's discussion along with Amanda Furiasse and Sher Afgan Tareen, co-directors of the Contagion, Religion, and Cities project, Harold Morales, the Director of the Center for the Study of Religion and the City, Kayla Wheeler, Daisy Vargas, Christina Rosetti, and Semora Council.