Religion, Poverty, and Development: Exploring Pentecostalism in Brazil’s Urban Peripheries

Louis Mancini-Pecnard has been awarded the Royal Geographical Society’s Latin American Research Group 2025 Undergraduate Dissertation Prize for his research on the intersections of religion, poverty, and development in Brazil’s urban peripheries. His dissertation explores how Pentecostalism – now the fastest-growing religious movement in Brazil’s peripheries – shapes how impoverished communities perceive poverty and pursue empowerment, offering fresh perspectives on how development is experienced and reimagined from the ground up.

Louis’s inspiration for the project came from a deeply personal connection. “The choice to explore religion through a development lens was inspired by one of the people I hold dearest to my heart: Márcia,” he explains. “She has cared for me since the day I was born, accompanied me through every stage of my life, and inspired me with her strength, resilience, and faith.” Observing how Márcia’s spirituality and church community supported her in facing life’s challenges led Louis to consider how religion could influence broader questions of development, belonging and hope.

During his fieldwork in Cidade Estrutural, one of Brasília’s most marginalised areas, Louis found that religion was far more deeply woven into people’s understandings of poverty and development than he had anticipated. “I was struck by the spiritual concepts that emerged from our discussions on poverty, including notions of ‘spiritual suffering’, the ‘spirit of misery’, and the lack of communion between ‘brothers’ and ‘sisters’,” he recalls. “Participants also linked development to processes of ‘spiritual rescue’, ‘spiritual healing’, and ‘spiritual transformation’ through faith, the Bible, and encounters with God.”

Louis employed a reflexive, participatory methodology to co-produce data with participants, ensuring their voices shaped the findings. This, he says, “generated particularly rich data, as the conversation was guided by participants’ own definitions and perspectives.”

Reflecting on his time at UCL Geography, Louis says, “The most incredible thing about studying Geography at UCL is how it continually pushes us to deepen, challenge, and transform the ways we think about the world and its most pressing issues.”

Now pursuing a Master’s in Environment and Development at LSE, Louis hopes to build on his research to "contribute to policies and programmes that drive transformational socio-economic change in the lives of people experiencing poverty and vulnerability, particularly in climate-sensitive contexts."

For future students, his advice is simple: "Reflect on what excites you about Geography, who and what inspires you, and the areas where you want to leave your mark, and I’m sure you’ll discover a topic that could be absolutely sensational!"