Resumen de Territorial implications of criminality and religiosity in Caracas’s barrios
In Caracas’s barrios, criminal and religious activities accompanied by flexible community dynamics influence residents’ social construction of their territory. This article presents how these activities continuously reshape conceptualizations: the public, private, community and spatial boundaries of barrios. By applying a qualitative approach to interpreting participants’ perspectives, the relationship between criminality and religiosity, and their link to territory are analysed. The study shows that criminal gangs privatize barrio public spaces, and that through Catholic processions those spaces become public again, thus demonstrating the temporality and flexibility of the public-private and territorial conceptions.
