“The angel of losers”: an anthropological look about criminal trajectories, moralities, and spiritual experiences with Saint La Muerte in a slum of Córdoba (Argentina)

Abstract

In this article I will analyze the case of two resi-dents of the Villa La Tela neighborhood, whose spiritual experiences with San La Muerte regulate the ways in which they build moral values and establish complex relationships with relatives and neighbors. We will see how this is linked to living in a peripheral and impoverished area of the city, socially stigmatized. I will show how their moral trajectories —that are associated with evil and crime— are articulated with that of San La Muerte, with whom they establish reciprocal relationships of trust, respect, love and favors. This allows us to reflect on the fluctuating and porous boundaries between good and evil as moral categories with which people give meaning to the world.