Christianity, Social Change, and Globalization in the Americas

by Peterson, Anna Lisa; Vasquez, Manuel A.; Williams, Philip J.

• ISBN13: 9780813529325
• ISBN10: 0813529328
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-07-01
• Publisher: Rutgers Univ Pr

Summary

This volume resulted from a collaborative research project into responses of Protestant and Catholic religious communities in the Americas to the challenges of globalization. Contributors from the fields of religion, anthropology, political science, and sociology draw on fieldwork in Peru, El Salvador, and the United States to show the interplay of economic globalization, migration, and growing religious pluralism in Latin America. Organized around three central themes-family, youth, and community; democratization, citizenship, and political participation; and immigration and transnationalism-the book argues that, at the local level, religion helps people, especially women and youths, solidify their identities and confront the challenges of the modern world. Religious communities are seen as both peaceful venues for people to articulate their needs, and forums for building participatory democracies in the Americas. Finally, the contributors examine how religion enfranchises poor women, youths, and people displaced by war or economic change and, at the same time, drives social movements that seek to strengthen family and community bonds disrupted by migration and political violence.

Table of Contents

Preface	vii
Acknowledgments	xi
Introduction. Christianity and Social Change in the Shadow of Globalization	1	(24)
Anna Peterson
Manuel Vasquez
Philip Williams
Part I Women, Family, and Community
``The Only Way I Can Walk'': Women, Christianity, and Everyday Life in El Salvador	25	(20)
Anna Peterson
Religion and Family: Catholic Experiences in Peru	45	(18)
Rosa Castro Aguilar
Popular Religion and the (Re)Construction of Community in Yungay	63	(24)
Philip Williams
Part II Civil Society, Citizenship, and Democratization
Believers and Neighbors: ``Huaycan Is One and No One Shall Divide It''	87	(18)
Hortensia Munoz
Faith and Citizenship: Local Catholic Experiences in Peruvian Communities	105	(18)
Rosa Castro Aguilar
Rebuilding Community in the Wake of War: Churches and Civil Society in Morazan	123	(24)
Ileana Gomez
Part III Religion, Transnationalism, and Globalization
Rethinking Transnationalism: National Identities among Peruvian Catholics in New Jersey	147	(18)
Larissa Ruiz Baia
Youth Gangs and Religion among Salvadorans in Washington and El Salvador	165	(23)
Ileana Gomez
Manuel Vasquez
``Upwards, Never Down'': The Catholic Charismatic Renewal in Transnational Perspective	188	(22)
Anna Peterson
Manuel Vasquez
The Global and the Local	210	(19)
Anna Peterson
Manuel Vasquez
Philip Williams
Appendix	229	(12)
References	241	(14)
Contributors	255	(2)
Index	257