Academic Outputs
- 2017 Undergrads Research Fellowship program, Boston College, $ 1,845
- 2016 Undergrads Research Fellowship program, Boston College, $ 12,100
- 2015 Undergrads Research Fellowship program, Boston College, $ 4,500
- 2015 Institute for the Liberal Arts, Conference on Religion in Latin America, $17,050
- 2015 John Templeton Foundation, “The transformation of lived religion in urban Latin America: a study of contemporary Latin Americans’ experience of the transcendent”, $ 511,000 P.I.
Publications
2020 Publications
Verónica Roldán, Rolando Pérez
El protestantismo vivido: un estudio comparativo desde América Latina y el sur de Europa / Lived Protestantism: a comparative study in Latin America and southern Europe
https://www.seer.ufrgs.br/sociologias/article/view/15174522-99908/56427
El dossier que aquí presentamos trata del tema de la religión vivida (lived religion), y muestra resultados de investigaciones realizadas en tres ciudades latinoamericanas (Córdoba, Lima y Montevideo) y en una ciudad en el sur de Europa (Bilbao) y se coloca en el área de estudios sociológicos sobre la experiencia religiosa, la vida cotidiana, los procesos de autonomía y desinstitucionalización de la vivencia religiosa. Las lecturas y reflexiones abordadas en los textos presentados giran en torno a las implicancias de la religiosidad vivida en el protestantismo contemporáneo, las mismas que nos acercan a mirar las interacciones, narrativas y prácticas de los y las creyentes ligados al protestantismo evangélico en diálogo con los temas y dinámicas de la modernidad. Estos trabajos hacen una contribución valiosa al campo de los estudios sociológicos sobre la religión vivida, poniendo énfasis en el modo como lo/as creyentes seleccionan, adaptan, reinterpretan y hacen reapropiaciones de las prácticas y narrativas religiosas en la vida cotidiana, en un contexto de pluralización del campo religioso.
The dossier introduced here deals with the subject of lived religion and presents results of researches carried out in three Latin American cities (Córdoba, Lima and Montevideo) and one city of southern Europe (Bilbao). It falls into the area of sociological studies on religious experience, daily life, the processes of autonomy and deinstitutionalization of religious experience. The reflections addressed in the articles concern the implications of lived religiosity within contemporary Protestantism, the same ones that lead us to looking at the interactions, narratives and practices of believers linked to evangelical Protestantism in dialogue with the themes and dynamics of modernity. These works make a valuable contribution to the field of sociological studies on lived religion, emphasizing the way in which believers select, adapt, reinterpret, and re-appropriate religious practices and narratives in everyday life, in a context of pluralization of the religious field.
Hugo Hernan Rabbia
Otredad, diversidad religiosa y prejuicios en las interacciones cotidianas de evangélicos/as de Córdoba, Argentina/ Otherness, religious diversity and prejudices in daily interactions of evangelicals in Córdoba, Argentina /Otredad, diversidad religiosa y prejuicios en las interacciones cotidianas de evangélicos/as de Córdoba, Argentina
https://www.seer.ufrgs.br/sociologias/article/view/15174522-98898/56428
El trabajo explora cómo personas evangélicas de Córdoba, Argentina, perciben su posición social, interacciones de contacto intergrupal, y los modos en que buscan gestionar la otredad, en un contexto de creciente visibilidad de la diversidad religiosa y no religiosa. A partir de narrativas autobiográficas de 23 entrevistados se describen diversas interacciones sociales con “otros” religiosos y no religiosos en espacios laborales, de militancia, educativos, y sociales. Resulta extendida la percepción de estereotipos negativos hacia evangélicos/as, a la vez que emergen diversas narrativas personales de prejuicios (aislamiento, hostigamiento o animosidad) de la que han sido objetos. Las estrategias para gestionar esas interacciones dependen de cada espacio social y cada persona, y pueden implicar la compartimentalización, la participación resignificada, o incluso la evitación de la diversidad religiosa, entre otras.
The paper explores how evangelicals from Córdoba, Argentina, perceive their social position, intergroup contact interactions, and the ways they seek to manage otherness, in a context of increasing visibility of religious and non-religious diversity. Based on autobiographical narratives by 23 respondents, we describe different social interactions with religious and non-religious “others” in work, militancy, educational, and social contexts. The perception of negative stereotypes towards evangelicals is extended, as several personal narratives of prejudices (isolation, harassment or animosity) toward them emerged. The strategies to manage these interactions depend on each social context and each person, and may involve compartmentalization, re-signified participation, or even the avoidance of religious diversity, among others.
El trabajo explora cómo personas evangélicas de Córdoba, Argentina, perciben su posición social, interacciones de contacto intergrupal, y los modos en que buscan gestionar la otredad, en un contexto de creciente visibilidad de la diversidad religiosa y no religiosa. A partir de narrativas autobiográficas de 23 entrevistados se describen diversas interacciones sociales con “otros” religiosos y no religiosos en espacios laborales, de militancia, educativos, y sociales. Resulta extendida la percepción de estereotipos negativos hacia evangélicos/as, a la vez que emergen diversas narrativas personales de prejuicios (aislamiento, hostigamiento o animosidad) de la que han sido objetos. Las estrategias para gestionar esas interacciones dependen de cada espacio social y cada persona, y pueden implicar la compartimentalización, la participación resignificada, o incluso la evitación de la diversidad religiosa, entre otras.
Catalina Romero, Rolando Pérez, Véronique Gauthier Lecaros
Autonomías e identidades racionalizadas entre creyentes desde la religiosidad evangélica vivida: el caso limeño/ Autonomies and rationalized identities in the lived evangelical religiosity of believers: the Lima’s case.
https://www.seer.ufrgs.br/sociologias/article/view/15174522-96505/56429
Este artículo aborda el modo como los creyentes evangélicos limeños construyen sus prácticas de espiritualidad vivida en un contexto de movilidad, pluralización y desregulación del campo religioso peruano. Nos interesa observar el modo como los creyentes vinculados al protestantismo urbano limeño, ciudad tradicionalmente marcada por la institucionalidad católica y una religiosidad evangélica circunscrita al espacio del templo, desarrollan nuevas vivencias autónomas de la fe e interactúan con otros espacios religiosos y seculares. En ese sentido, nos interesa analizar los nuevos espacios culturales y territorios religiosos desde los cuales el creyente evangélico vive su espiritualidad cotidiana, construye nuevos sentidos y descubre nuevas formas de vivir y de expresar su identidad religiosa, así como su adscripción a la institución religiosa. Este caso nos permite analizar el modo como el contexto de la pluralización del campo religioso y el escenario de la secularización construyen nuevos perfiles para el creyente evangélico que empieza a abrazar determinadas formas de autonomía.
This article addresses the way in which evangelical believers of Lima, in Peru, build their practices of lived spirituality in a context of mobility, pluralization and deregulation of the Peruvian religious field. We are interested in observing the way in which believers linked to Lima urban Protestantism, a city traditionally marked by Catholic institutions and by an evangelical religiosity circumscribed to the space of the churches, develop new autonomous experiences of the faith and interact with other religious and secular spaces. In that sense, we are interested in analyzing the new cultural spaces and religious territories from which the evangelical believer lives his/her daily spirituality, builds new senses and discovers new ways of living and expressing his/her religious identity and ascription to the religious institution. This case allows us to analyze the way in which the context of pluralization of the religious field and the scenario of secularization build new profiles for the evangelical believer, who begins to embrace certain forms of autonomy.
Nestor Da Costa, Valentina Pereira Arena, Camila Brusoni
Testimonios de salvación: historias de conversión y cambio de vida entre creyentes evangélicos de Montevideo/ Testimonies of salvation: stories of conversion and change of life among evangelical believers in Montevideo.
https://www.seer.ufrgs.br/sociologias/article/view/15174522-95478/56430
En este trabajo se pretende mostrar e intentar categorizar los distintos testimonios de vida brindados por creyentes evangélicos conversos. En la ciudad de Montevideo se entrevistaron, a través del enfoque teórico-metodológico de la religiosidad vivida (lived religion), a 11 personas que en algún punto de su vida se convirtieron al evangelismo y que – en algún momento de la entrevista – compartieron estas historias de conversión y de-conversión, en general atravesadas por puntos de inflexión, cambios de vida y de un “antes y después” del cristianismo. Se busca también ver el potencial del acto de dar testimonio de este cambio de vida, no sólo como una herramienta para captar posibles conversos sino también como un medio por el cual se refuerzan las nuevas identidades religiosas a nivel personal y grupal en sus vidas cotidianas. Como principales resultados, se destacan, por un lado, el encontrar en las narrativas de los sujetos dos motivos principales por los cuales se produce la conversión o revinculación, así como otros elementos destacados por formar parte del proceso de reforzamiento del vínculo con su Iglesia y sus nuevas identidades religiosas. Por el otro, se encuentra que el acto de dar testimonio funciona efectivamente como un recurso positivo de validación para los creyentes.
In this paper we seek to show and classify the different testimonies of life offered by converted evangelical believers. In the city of Montevideo, taking the theoretical-methodological approach of lived religion, we interviewed eleven people who at some point in their lives became evangelical and who shared with us these stories of deconversion and conversion, generally crossed by points of inflection, changes of life and the “before and after” of Christianity. The investigation also sought to grasp the potential of the act of giving testimony of this change of life not only as a tool to attract possible converts but also as a means to strengthen the new religious identities (at both personal and group levels) in their daily lives. Findings suggest, on the one hand, two main reasons pointed in the narratives of the subjects, for the conversion or reconnection, as well as other elements highlighted for being part of the process of strengthening the link with their Church and their new religious identities. On the other hand, the act of witnessing is found to serve effectively as a positive resource of validation for believers.
Miren Iziar Basterretxea, Lidia Rodríguez, Luzio Uriarte
Evangélicos en Bilbao: ser creyente en minoría/ Evangelicals in Bilbao: being a minority believer.
https://www.seer.ufrgs.br/sociologias/article/view/15174522-98751/56431
El País Vasco, de tradición fuertemente católica, ha experimentado en los últimos años un proceso de “descreencia” que lo sitúa como uno de los territorios más distanciados de la religión de España. A ello se suma el hecho de que la distancia respecto a la religión es, además, combativa, es decir: no solamente casi el 50% de la población se declara como “no creyente”, sino que su actitud hacia la Iglesia Católica es claramente de rechazo. En este contexto, el resto de las religiones, cuyos porcentajes (siendo aún muy bajos) van en aumento, se sitúan en una posición de minoría no únicamente numérica, sino social. En el presente trabajo nos acercaremos a conocer hasta qué punto, en un contexto con una secularización tan acusada, esta posición de minoría afecta tanto a las creencias como a la forma de vivirlas de las personas protestantes en general y, específicamente, de las evangélicas. Realizado en Bilbao a partir de entrevistas en profundidad a evangélicos, tanto latinoamericanos como autóctonos, los primeros resultados apuntan a la autonomía interpretativa, a una valoración ambigüa de la diversidad y a la privatización de la vivencia religiosa como características más relevantes.
The Basque Country, which has a strong Catholic tradition, has experienced in recent years a process of “disbelief" that places it as one of the territories most distanced from religion in Spain. Added to this is the fact that such distance regarding religion is also combative, that is, not only almost 50% of the population declares themselves as “non-believers” but their attitude towards the Catholic church is clearly of rejection. In this context, the rest of the religions, whose percentages, being still very low, are increasing, are placed in a position of minority not only numerical but also social. In this paper we seek to understand to what extent, in a context of pronounced secularization, this minority position affects both the beliefs and the way of living of Protestant people in general and, specifically, evangelicals. Conducted by means of in-depth interviews with Evangelicals, both Latin American and indigenous, in Bilbao, the first results point to interpretive autonomy, an ambiguous assessment of diversity and the privatization of religious experience as the most relevant characteristics.
Lecaros, Véronique.
“L’existence de Dieu, une évidence en Amérique Latine”. Theologica Xaveriana 189 (2019): 1-31.
L’auteure interroge dans cet article le lien entre croyance en Dieu et enchantement en contexte latino-américain et principalement liménien. Les concepts élaborés dans des régions sécularisées par Congar, Kasper, Taylor, Vattimo, Casanova, Berger, entre autres, doivent être repensés pour analyser cette zone qui s’ouvre depuis peu et simultanément à la modernité et postmodernité. L’auteure analyse la situation à partir de données proportionnées par des enquêtes et à partir d’une étude récente qualitative sur la religion vécue (2015-2017). Elle conclut: L’existence de Dieu est une “croyance forte” pour les liméniens mais le contenu de la croyance en Dieu est “faible”, variable selon les circonstances.
The author analyzes the relationship between belief in God and enchantment in the Peruvian and, in general, in the Latin-American context. Concepts elaborated in secularized regions by Congar, Kasper, Taylor, Vattimo, Casanova and Berger, among others, must be redefined to be applied in countries which enter nowadays simultaneously in modernity and post-modernity. The author studies the situation using data from various polls and from a recent qualitative investigation on lived religion (2015-2017). She concludes: God’s existence is a “strong belief” for Limenians but the content of belief in God is “weak”, and it changes easily according to circumstances.
2019 Publications
Rabbia, H; Morello, G; Da Costa, N; Romero, C (2019) La religión como experiencia cotidiana: creencias, prácticas y narrativas espirituales en Sudamérica, EDUCC, UCU, PUCP, Córdoba- Montevideo - Lima.
https://www.ucc.edu.ar/agenda/la-religion-como-experiencia-cotidiana/
El libro introduce algunas de las principales conclusiones del proyecto “Transformation of lived religion in Latin America urban settings”, dirigido por el Dr. Gustavo Morello sj (Boston College). A través de sus páginas se busca describir cómo viven en la vida cotidiana la religión las personas de Lima, Montevideo, Córdoba, a la vez que se incluye un capítulo sobre las experiencias de religión vivida en Brasil.
Se trata de una propuesta de “sociología pública”, con un estilo de redacción que apuesta a un público amplio, no necesariamente especializado. El trabajo intenta dar voz a algunos de los participantes del estudio, a partir de reconstruir sus historias de vida como producciones narrativas y gráficas. En virtud de estas narrativas, se desarrollan 12 capítulos breves de reflexión, que buscan trazar un panorama descriptivo y de interrogantes para futuras problematizaciones, en torno a los siguientes ejes: la autonomía de las personas creyentes, los procesos de afiliación/desafiliación y conversión/desconversión religiosa, las particularidades de los creyentes sin religión y ateos, los encuentros interreligiosos, las imágenes de Dios y su impacto en las experiencias cotidianas de las personas, el uso de las nuevas tecnologías de la información y la comunicación en las vivencias religiosas, la materialidad de lo trascendente (tanto en el uso de objetos que cargan fuertes significados espirituales, como en la corporalidad asociada a las prácticas religiosas y espirituales), religión y migraciones, religión vivida desde una perspectiva de género, y opiniones sobre el rol público de las religiones en las sociedades contemporáneas.
Los capítulos cuentan con la autoría de Gustavo Morello (EE.UU); Néstor Da Costa, Valentina Pereira, y Camila Brusoni (de Uruguay); Hugo H. Rabbia, Franco Olmos Rebellato, Lucas Gatica y David Avilés Aguirre (de Argentina); Catalina Romero, Veronique Lecaros, y Rolando Pérez (Perú), y Silvia Fernandes (Brasil).
Da Costa, N; Pereira Arena, V and Brusoni, C (2019) Individuos e instituciones: Una Mirada desde la religiosidad vivida, in Sociedad y Religión Nº51, VOL XXIX (2019), PP. 61-92
http://www.ceil-conicet.gov.ar/ojs/index.php/sociedadyreligion/article/download/232/371?sfns=mo
El presente artículo recoge un avance de investigación internacional titulada Religión Vivida en América Latina, restringida para este trabajo solo al caso del Uruguay. Se trata de una investigación cualitativa que pone el énfasis en comprender cómo se vive la religiosidad en América Latina desde la perspectiva de las personas y no de las instituciones o líderes religiosos. Se realizaron 160 entrevistas a 80 personas focalizando, a los efectos de esta publicación, el trabajo en la tensión entre el individuo y las instituciones. Los vínculos, la autonomía de los individuos, los distanciamientos y la forma de ser interpretados por las personas, se expresan en función de cómo los viven los católicos, los evangélicos, los participantes de religiones afroamericanas, los creyentes sin afiliación y ateos.
Morello, G (2019) “The Symbolic Efficacy of Pope Francis’ Religious Capital and the Agency of the Poor”. Sociology
https://doi.org/10.1177/0038038519853109
Abstract: This article explores the paradox between Pope Francis’s success as a critic of global markets and the limitations of his religious capital in his home country of Argentina. While for some observers it might be obvious that the pope can influence people’s thinking about social and political matters, the findings of this article highlight the role of ‘non-specialist’, ordinary believers in setting limits to Francis’s religious power. Using Bourdieusian theory and a ‘lived religion’ methodological approach, I explore the agency of ordinary believers in the religious field. By studying the limits regular believers established to the efficacy of Pope Francis’s religious capital, we better understand how the agency of non-specialists operates in the religious field. This research is based on a non-random sample of semi-structured, in-depth interviews of 42 lower socioeconomic status interviewees, self-identified as Catholics, Evangelicals, Others and Non-Affiliated; conducted in Córdoba, Argentina from November 2015 to December 2016.
Morello, G (2019) “The Pope, the Poor, and the Location of Religion in Argentina's Public Sphere." Latin American Perspectives.
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0094582X19879410
Absract: Pope Francis’s public statements about and criticisms of the global economic system and local politics present an opportunity to explore how ordinary people react to the presence of a religious voice in the public sphere. Data on people’s perceptions of the pope’s interventions collected from semistructured nonrandom interviews with 41 low-income Argentines of various religious orientations reveal that they identified and regulated the boundaries of religion in the public sphere with different criteria from those that secularists would expect. Respondents assumed that religion and politics shared the space of power and therefore accepted the pope as a political actor. However, they considered it legitimate for him to intervene only when he stood for the poor, promoted human brotherhood, and exemplified God’s love. Religion was welcome where modernity had failed.
Morello, G (2019) “Why Study Religion from a Latin American Sociological Perspective? An Introduction to Religions Issue, 'Religion in Latin America, and among Latinos Abroad.'" Religions 10, no. 6:399.
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/10/6/399/htm
Absract: This article introduces the Religions issue on Latin American religiosity exploring sociological perspectives on the Latin American religious situation, from a Latin American perspective. The Secularization Theory proposes “the more modernity, the less religion”, but in Latin America we see both, modernity and religiosity. The Religious Economy model, on the other hand, affirms “the more pluralization, the more religion”, but in Latin America there is not so much pluralization, and it is not easy to switch from one religion to other. Finally, the article presents a Latin American model, the “popular religiosity” one. The problem with it, is that it is mostly ‘Catholic,’ and so does not account for the growing religious diversity in the region. It also emphasizes the “popular” aspect, excluding middle socioeconomic status individuals and elites, assuming they practice “real” religion. This introduction presents a critical approach as a way to recover, describe, and understand Latin American religious practices. This methodology might be a path to creating sociological categories to understand religion beyond the north Atlantic world.
2018 Publications
Publication in “Social Imaginaries” 4.2 (2018) 87-106, Morello Latin America’s Religious Imaginary https://socialimaginaries.wordpress.com/2018-vol-four-issue-two/ Abstract: This paper explores how the unfulfilled promises of modernity, both of security and prosperity, affect the Latin American religious imaginary. I study the idea of a ‘religious social imaginary’ not only as a theoretical construct, but also as an interpretative tool to analyze empirical data. This imaginary is composed of an image of the divine in relationship with humanity, a set of cultural practices that shape these interactions, and the expression of a moral order that mirrors this construction of divinity. I use a nonrandom sample of 12 in-depth, semi-structured life history and object elicitation interviews with poor Latin Americans from Córdoba, Argentina, Montevideo, Uruguay, and Lima, Peru. Latin Americans of low income and limited educational backgrounds are the best informants for this study because they are, paradoxically, both the people modernity left behind as well as the popular image of a threat to modernity’s benefits for the rest of the population. I find that the participants construct an image of an accessible, intimate divinity that provides both companionship and protection, which manifests in other people as well as objects, and requires believers to embody these same caring characteristics. I propose that the construction of this contemporary Latin American religious imaginary is not only a response to the unique experience of modernity in the region, but also a tool of resistance against the hegemony inherent in modernity.
2017 Publications
Journal Visioni Lantinoamericane
https://www.openstarts.units.it/handle/10077/18466
Introduction. Lived religion in Latin America and Europe. Roman Catholics and their practices
Gustavo Morello
Abstract: Scholars in Latin America tend to agree that the religious landscape of the region is undergoing transformation. Yet, there are on-going discussions about the causes, depth, and direction of this change. There is evidence that the Catholic Church no longer holds a religious monopoly, but not much research on how Roman Catholicism is practiced today has been carried out. The Author introduces a series of papers that presents a broader qualitative, comparative study that investigates the lived religion of Latin Americans in a wider cultural context which accounts for the influences of Spain and Italy in South America.
Being a Roman Catholic in a context of religious diversity. An exploration of lived religion among Catholics in Córdoba, Argentina
Hugo H. Rabbia ; Lucas Gatica
Abstract: From a lived religion approach, the Authors explore how Catholics and ex-Catholics from Córdoba, Argentina, conceive “being Catholics”, and how they react to the plurality of religious options in their everyday lives. The conceptions are diverse and contested. Inter-religious practices are multiple, but when diversity is present within their own homes (inter-religious families) they prefer to avoid speaking of religion.
Lived Roman Catholicism in Lima
Catalina Romero; Rolando Pérez; Veronique Lecaros
Abstract: Lima is a city where religions flourish in a context of religious transformation. The Authors approached lived Catholicism from a qualitative perspective considering urban diversity and different lifestyles. Differences in lived religion were found in three local domains of everyday life: 1) the family, which paves the way for school and sacred spaces; 2) the parish, where individuals seek to live their religion; 3) civil society, including the workplace and social organizations.
Individuos, instituciones y espacios de fe. El caso de los católicos en Uruguay
Valentina Pereira Arena; Camila Brusoni
Abstract: The Authors discuss the relationship that Catholic believers maintain with the religious institution through their own notions of spaces where faith and transcendence are lived. For both Catholics who are far from the institution and those who still have a link with it, the spaces for living religion are manifold and varied.
Journal Estudos de Religião
https://www.metodista.br/revistas/revistas-ims/index.php/ER/issue/view/460
Explorando los “sin religión de pertenencia” en Córdoba, Argentina
Hugo H. Rabbia
Abstract: In recent decades, the number of people who identify themselves as "without religion” or “nones” has been increasing in Argentina. It is a social segment hardly explored, that has been studied more by its differentiation with religious people than by its own particularities. This paper explores the heterogeneity that encompasses the "nonreligious", from autobiographical narratives and object’s elicitation interviews to 18 people from Córdoba, Argentina. We describe their narratives on spirituality and religiosity, conceptions of transcendence, and beliefs and daily spiritual and (non) religious practices. The study discusses the categories available to characterize the segment, and proposes a typology of social positions that distinguishes believers disaffiliated, atheists, indifferent and spiritual seekers.
Creencia e increencia desde las vivencias cotidianas. Una mirada desde Uruguay
Néstor Da Costa
Abstract: In recent years the international bibliography, has been developing attempts to understand and characterize those people who define themselves as believers without affiliation to any religious institution, as well as by those who define themselves as unbelievers, in English usually “nones”. Several quantitative studies have reported this phenomenon in our region that shows clear disparities between the different countries of Latin America. This article focuses on exploring the characteristics of these two groups based on a qualitative research that focuses on the way in which individuals live their relationship with transcendence or with non belief in the city of Montevideo, Uruguay.
Quiénes son los ‘sin religión’ en Lima.
Catalina Romero, Veronique Lecaros
Abstract: In this article we ask about the 'nones' (non-religious) living in Lima, starting from the research data produced by our inquiry on transformations in lived religion in Latin American cities. The phenomenon of the 'none' becomes visible through surveys that ask for religious belonging, revealing the changes that occur in this space, where they join the atheists and agnostics, the unaffiliated, who can be believers without belonging to a religion, a population that is growing significantly. We present briefly those without religion, with common features that appear among people interviewed. Then, we address the case of atheists and agnostics. And finally, we treat the non-religious and disaffiliated from institutionalized communities, being believers with diverse religious practices.
Estudios de recorridos religiosos: los desafiliados en contexto
Véronique Lecaros
Abstract: Our purpose is to study disaffiliation as a step in a religious process. The literature on affiliation, conversion and disaffiliation (deconversion) shows that religious changes do not happen at random. Henri Gooren develops a valuable pattern to match this process of changes which he calls "conversion careers". Nonetheless, he admits that he has at his disposal very few Latin-American life stories to confirm his theory. In this article, we analyze Gooren's theory and suggest a few changes based on some Limenian cases. We consider that Gooren's pattern can be applied in a denominational protestant context and is useful to interpret catholic ecclesial movements. Nonetheless, the conversion career does not take into account two important phenomena: on the one hand, the modern tendency to deinstitutionalization which implies autonomy from religious institutions without a clear break, I.E. without disaffiliation and on the other hand traditional cultural Catholicism which corresponds to religious practices in which the institution plays a secondary role.
Journal for the Critical Research on Religion
http://journals.sagepub.com/home/crr
An Enchanted Modernity: Making sense of Latin America’s religious landscape
Gustavo Morello SJ (Boston College),
Catalina Romero (Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú),
Hugo Rabbia (Universidad Católica de Córdoba – CONICET),
Néstor Da Costa (Universidad Católica del Uruguay)
Abstract: This is an interpretative, critical, and selective review of scholarly contributions that explore Latin America’s religious landscape. We present data, both qualitative and quantitative, from Latin America and analyze the explanations given to make sense of it. After assessing the literature that uses either secularization theory or the ‘religious economy’ approach, we study explanations that highlight a Latin American style of ‘popular religiosity.’ These three models, in different ways, put the emphasis on religious institutions—their vitality, commands, competition and authority. We propose, instead, a focus on the religious practices of regular believers. We speculate that embarking from that focus, the idea of an ‘enchanted modernity’ will help make sense of Latin America’s religious landscape. Nuanced elucidation of Latin America’s religious particularities will situate them in dialogue with other regions of the world, like Western Europe and the United States, while also acknowledging the fact that Latin America is experiencing a modernization process distinct from the North Atlantic one.
Conferences
2018 Conferences
Conference, “The pope and the Poor”, UCC, Argentina. Morello and Rabbia. Abstract: Mientras que el papa Francisco ha dejado en claro que el orden capitalista no lo termina de convencer, muchas voces seculares, tradicionalmente críticas de la intervención religiosa en la esfera pública, han manifestado su apoyo. Pero, ¿Cómo perciben los pobres esas intervenciones? Basado en una muestra de 41 entrevistas a personas de clase baja, esta ponencia explora cómo los pobres entienden el rol de la religión y los líderes religiosos en la esfera pública argentina, más allá de las normativas secularistas o teológicas. El objetivo es indagar las distinciones que los sujetos realizan a la hora de establecer ‘espacios propios’ para la intervención papal en la vida pública del país.
Conference, “Atheist and believers without religion”, UCU, Uruguay. Da Costa and Morello July.
Abstract: Entre las distintas maneras que hay de estudiar lo religioso, la sociología se enfoca en la influencia de las religiones en la vida en común y de cómo las transformaciones en la vida social afectan la religiosidad de las personas. Aquí presento una mirada sociológica de la situación religiosa en Sudamérica. ¿Cómo afecta la modernidad a la religiosidad de los sudamericanos?
Conference ‘Non-Religious and Secular Network’, London, July 5-6, 2018; Exploring non-religion in South America; Da Costa and Rabbia. Da Costa presented. https://nsrn.net/news/nsrn-conference-2018/ Abstract: the paper explores and compares qualitative data, from 60 in-depth interviews among self-identified “non-affiliated” people from three cities in Latin America: Cordoba, Argentina; Lima, Peru, and Montevideo, Uruguay. It is an intentional sub sample from a bigger project called “The Transformation of Lived Religion in Urban Latin America: A Study of Contemporary Latin-American’s experience of the Transcendent”.
Conference Iberian-Latin American Political Psychology Congress, Valparaiso, Chile, October 12-14, 2018; Rabbia
Conference ‘Society for the Scientific Study of Religion’ Annual Meeting, Las Vegas, October 26-28, 2018; https://sssreligion.org/media/9830/sssrplusrra-2018-preliminary-program.pdf Morello presented “Francis symbolic power and the agency of the poor.” Abstract: This study states that exploring the limits established by regular believers to the efficacy of Pope Francis’ religious capital, we better understand how the agency of non-specialists operates in the religious field. In this presentation, I explore the paradox between Pope Francis’ remarkable success as a critic of global capitalism, and the limitations his religious leadership present in Argentina, his home country. While for some observer it might be obvious that the pope is powerful enough to influence people’s thinking about social and political matters, the findings of this paper highlight the role of “non-specialist” in setting limits of Francis’ religious power. Using Bourdieusian theory and a “lived religion” methodological approach, I explore the agency of the ordinary believer in the religious field. The research is based on a sample of semi-structured, in-depth interviews conducted in Córdoba, Argentina from November 2015 to December 2016. The subsample consists of 42 lower class interviewees, self-identified as Catholics, Evangelicals, Others, and Non-Affiliated.
Conference Jornadas de Alternativas Religiosas en América Latina, Santiago de Chile. November 14-17, 2018. Da Costa presented Uruguay, el país con más porcentaje de creyentes sin afiliación en América Latina. Una aproximación en perspectiva de "Religión Vivida" http://www.acsrm.org/septima-circular-xix-jornadas-2018-santiago-de-chile/ Abstrac: Un 24% de la población uruguaya se define a si misma como creyente en alguna forma de trascendencia en tanto que un 10% afirma ser ateos. Estas cifras son las más altas de América Latina. Esta presentación está orientada a explorar y caracterizar a dichos grupos sociales a partir de una investigación cualitativa que ha entrevistado a 80 personas en Montevideo explorando las formas de entender, aproximarse, significar y resignificar sus propias experiencias de búsqueda o negación de la trascendencia. Al mencionar la perspectiva de "Religión Vivida" se hace referencia un enfoque donde la aproximación al objeto de estudio es a través de la experiencia de las personas y no de las instituciones o líderes religiosos.
Confernece Jornadas de Alternativas Religiosas en América Latina, Santiago de Chile. November 14-17, 2018. Pereira Arena and Hugo Rabbia. Pereira Arena presented “Images of God among believers without a church and atheists from Cordoba and Montevideo”. http://www.acsrm.org/septima-circular-xix-jornadas-2018-santiago-de-chile/ Abstract: The present work explores the different images of God manifested by ‘believers without a church’ and atheists in the cities of Montevideo and Córdoba. For those who believe in God without belonging to a church or for those who do not believe in Him, there are certain configurations of how or what God is, or how his idea is rejected by the images that have been drawn about Him. We analyze images of God from the spiritual narratives of 49 people self-identify as without a religious affiliation (19 among people from Cordoba, 30, from Montevideo), from different social classes and ages. Data was obtained from in-depth interviews under the project “Transformation of lived religion in Latin America”, granted by J. Templeton Foundation. Results allow us to discuss different images of God, ultimate divinity or higher power, ideas that give more complexities to our perception of non-religious populations.
Confernece LASA, Barcelona, May 23-26, 2018; Pereira Arena and Brusoni presented: Individuals and faith spaces: the case of Uruguayan Catholics. Abstract: In this work we seek to put into discussion the relationship that Catholic believers maintain with the religious institution through their own notions of the spaces where transcendence is lived. Both in the case of Catholics that feel far from the institution and for those who still maintain a bond, the spaces for experiencing the religious are multiple and varied, and put the place of institutions in tension in their experiences of faith.
Morello, quoted in ‘America’, USA
Romero, Páginas, Peru. (2020, Marzo) Religiosidad vivida y pluralismo religioso en Lima, Paginas, p.40-48. Peru.
News Coverage, “La voz del Interior” Newspaper, Argentina. Morello
News Coverage, “No toquen nada” radio show, Uruguay. Da Costa and Morello
News Coverage, “Obsur”, Uruguay. Da Costa.
News coverage, La Nación Newspaper, Argentina. Morello
Public Seminar, Blog article, New York. Morello
News Coverage, “Vespertinas” TV show, Uruguay. Da Costa.
News Coverage, “Hoy Dia Cordoba” Newspaper, Argentina. Morello
Salt and Light Media, Blog article, Canada. Morello
Revue Choisir, Blog article, Switzerland. Rabbia
Presentation of the Project main outcomes at the Universidad Católica del Uruguay. (2017)