The religious field in Latin America: continuities, transformations and conflicts

This proposal is based on a need we have observed in the social sciences public and on the fact that this concern receives comparatively little attention compared to other emerging phenomena in contemporary times.

It is also based on the possibilities of engaging with this concern through the work of a growing network of Latin American researchers who investigate different religious phenomena in different countries of the region and have produced remarkable empirical and theoretical contributions.

Finally, this proposal is based on the fact that this production allows and demands a capitalization capable of accounting for an obscured aspect of contemporary social transformations and a task of capturing that change that fully embraces the demands of a critical dialogue with the colonial categories of knowledge in a broad sense.

GENERAL PURPOSE:

Which groups predominate and why? How does the situation of the religious field relate to the political process unfolding in the region? The overall objective of this course is to provide participants with empirical and theoretical tools to understand the current state of the religious field in the region. In this sense, we are interested in the transformations that can be observed in comparison with the past (the growth of evangelical groups, the transformations of Catholicism, the search for and legitimization of Amerindian and Afro-American religious traditions, the spread of the New Age movement). We are also interested in the fluid nature of the relationship between religion and the public sphere in two senses: the transformation and permeability of the boundaries of secularization, and the fact that what we call secularization is a process that renews religions. 

 

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES:

• That students have an updated and critical theoretical and analytical arsenal regarding the problems of the definition of religion, secularization, religious groups and their dynamics.
• That students can learn about the landscape of religious diversity in Latin America, taking into account different types of religious groups and conflicts between these groups and between these groups and the state.
• Students should understand the specific nature of the conflicts that shape the public agenda and how religious motivations contribute to their formation. This involves understanding both the influence of religion on society at large and the transformations of religious groups in response to broader social, economic, and political shifts.
• That students can understand the main aspects of the growth of evangelical groups, the transformations of Catholicism, the visibility of the alternatives of the native peoples and the expansion of the phenomena linked to the constellation of the new age.

• The Social Sciences Facing the Challenge of Religion. Secularization from the 19th to the 21st Century: From Enlightenment to Reversibility. Secularism in Latin America and Religious Struggles for Public Space.
• Popular religiosity. A cultural logic beyond superstition and tradition.
• Latin American Catholic theologies since the Second Vatican Council.
• Catholics and public spaces in the time of Francis I.
• Evangelicals. Protestantism, fundamentalism, and Pentecostalism. Expansion, diversification, and relationships with power. Reactions to the gender agenda. Myths and certainties.
• The New Age and contemporary common sense: the individual, the market, and religion. Autonomy, hybridizations, tradition, and innovation. The reconfiguration of the religious field.
• The Amerindian emergence in the 21st century.
• The study and understanding of Afro-American religions with emphasis on the variants present in the Southern Cone.
• Religion and mass culture: sacralization and secularization in mass culture. Evangelizing projects, porosities, and shifting boundaries.

• Algranti, J. (2013). The belief industry: sociology of religious commoditiesBiblos Publishing House.
• Almeida, R. (2021). God above all: Evangelicals and the election of Bolsonaro. In: De la Torre, R. and Semán, P. (Eds) Religions and public spaces in Latin America. Buenos Aires: CLACSO; Mexico: CALAS, pp. 185–201.
• Alonso, A (2008) Latin America and the Caribbean: Religious Territories and Challenges for Dialogue
• Alvizuri, V. (2017) Indianism, politics and religion in Bolivia (2006-2016), Caravelle.  
• Ameigeiras, A. (2010). Popular religious beliefs in Argentine society: some reflections on the significance of belief in God, the diversity of beliefs and religious identities. Society and Religion, 20(32-33), 31-41. 
• Argyriadis, K. (2005). Religion of indigenous people, religion of scientists: construction of Cuban identity and Santería. contempt, (17), 85-106. 
• Argyriadis, K., Capone, S., de la Torre, R. and Mary. A. (2012). Conversely, the transnationalization of African and Latin American religions. Mexico City: CIESAS.
• Bastian, JP (2006). From historical Protestantisms to Latin American Pentecostalisms: Analysis of a religious mutation. Journal of Social Sciences (Cl), (16), 38-54.
• Bourdieu, P. (2000). The dissolution of the religious. Things said. Barcelona: Gedisa, pp. 102-107.
• Caicedo, Alhena (2015). The radical alterity that heals. Neoshamanisms and yagé practices in Colombia. Bogotá: Universidad de Los Andes
• Campos Machado, MD (2021). Christian neoconservatism in contemporary Brazil. In: De la Torre, R. and Semán, P. (Eds) Religions and public spaces in Latin America. Buenos Aires: CLACSO; Mexico: CALAS, pp. 437–456.
• Capone, S. (2016). Re-Africanization in Afro-Brazilian Religions: Rethinking Religious Syncretism. The Brill Handbook of Contemporary Religions in Brazil, 473-88.
• Carozzi, MJ (1999). Autonomy as a religion: the new era. Otherness, 18 (9), p. 19-38.
• De la Torre, R. (2013). Indo and African American religiosities and circuits of new age spirituality. In de La Torre, R., Gutiérrez Zúñiga, C. and Juárez Huet, N. (eds.) Latin American variations and appropriations of the new age. Mexico: CIESAS, pp. 27-46.
• De la Torre, R. (2018). Videogracia and the recompositions of contemporary religiosity in Latin America. legit, 11(1), 19-33.
• De la Torre, R. and Semán, P. (Eds) (2021) Religions and public spaces in Latin AmericaBuenos Aires: CLACSO; Mexico: CALAS. Introduction: Religions and Public Spaces in Latin America, pp. 11-51.
• De la Torre, R. and Semán, P. (Eds) (2021) Religions and public spaces in Latin AmericaBuenos Aires: CLACSO; Mexico: CALAS. Introduction: Religions and Public Spaces in Latin America.
• Frigerio, A. (2002). The expansion of Afro-Brazilian religions in Argentina: conflicting representations of culture, race and nation in a context of regional integration. Archives of social sciences of religions, no. 117, p. 127-150.
• Frigerio, A. Roldán, V. (2018) Francis, the Pope of Latin America, Biblos.  
• Mansilla, MA, and Mosqueira, M. (dir.). (2020). Sociology of Pentecostalism in Latin AmericaSantiago, Chile: RIL Editores, Universidad Arturo Prat. Introduction. Sociology of Pentecostalism in Latin America: 50 years of research, pp. 25-70.
• Oro, AP and Camurça, MA (2018). The secularization of public space: meanders and mediations in the face of the scheme of separation between secular and religious. Anthropological horizons, 24 (52), p. 7-20.
• Parker, C. (1996). Another logic in Latin America: popular religion and capitalist modernizationSantiago: Fondo de Cultura Económica. 
• Pérez Guadalupe, J (2018) Evangelical politicians or political Evangelicals? The new models of political conquest of the Evangelicals. In Pérez Guadalupe, J. and Grundberger, S. (Eds.). Evangelicals and power in Latin AmericaKonrad Adenauer Foundation, pp. 11-106 [can be given as selection 11-59] 
• Ricard, P. Aparecida. A brief and critical version of the DEI Concluding Document, Ecumenical Department of Investigations. 
• Segato, R (2007). The nation and its others. Race, ethnicity and religious diversity in times of identity politics. Buenos Aires: Prometeo.
• Semán, P. (2001). Cosmological, holistic and relational: a current of contemporary popular religiosity. Social Sciences and Religion/Ciências Sociais E Religião, 3(3), 45-74
• Semán, P. (2006). Bajo continuo: decentralized explorations of popular and mass cultureGorla Publishing House
• Semán, P., García Bossio, MP (2021). Evangelicals and politicians in Argentina and Brazil: transformations and conservative choices. Cultural studies. 
• Toniol, R. (2015). Nova Era e health: balance and theoretical perspectives. Brazilian Journal of Bibliographic Information in Social Sciences (BIB), 2
• Varguez Pasos, L. (2008) "The Charismatic Renewal movement in the Holy Spirit and the Magisterium of the Catholic Church. From suspicion to acceptance" Society and Religion vol. XX, n.30/31:7-30. Buenos Aires.

The basic requirements for taking a seminar are:

• Availability of at least 4 hours per week to dedicate to the seminar course.
• Internet access.
• Reasonable handling of communication and computer tools.
• Language proficiency in the language in which the course will be taught. The official languages ​​are Spanish and Portuguese.

The seminars last 10 weeks, plus the completion of a final project. 48 hours of work with the instructor and 90 hours of total dedication will be credited.

A course consists of 10 classes, each accompanied by required readings, supplementary readings, discussion forums, and learning activities proposed by the teaching team, as well as partial submissions and a final project. The course is delivered online and asynchronously. Some instructors may propose synchronous activities. In these cases, the time and date will be agreed upon in advance between the teaching team and the students to ensure everyone's participation. To pass the seminar, students must participate in at least 80% of the discussion forums and activities proposed by the instructors, complete all scheduled partial submissions, and pass the final project.

The possible payment methods are credit card, bank transfer and bank deposit.