Mexican American Religions

by Espinosa, Gaston; Garcia, Mario T.

• ISBN13: 9780822341192
• ISBN10: 0822341190
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-07-30
• Publisher: Duke Univ Pr

Summary

This collection presents a rich, multidisciplinary inquiry into the role of religion in the U.S. Mexican American community. Breaking new ground by analyzing the critical influence of religion on Mexican American literature, art, politics, and pop culture, the volume makes the case for the establishment of Mexican American religious studies as a distinct, recognized field of scholarly inquiry.The contributors include scholars of religion and Latin American and Chicano/a studies as well as of sociology, anthropology, and literary and performance studies. They delve into subjects including the origins of Mexican American religious studies, the scholar Mario Barrera's theory of internal colonialism theory, and César Chávez's faith-based activism. Contributors consider the Arizona-based utopian community Valle de Paz (Valley of Peace) founded by the preacher and activist Reies López Tijerina's in the 1950s, as well as the late 1960s activism of Católicos Por La Raza in Los Angeles. Other contributors consider how popular religious symbols and traditions such as Our Lady of Guadalupe, home altars, and Los Pastores dramas (nativity plays) function as vehicles for personal, social, and political empowerment. Still others explore how Chicana writers including Gloria Anzaldua, Mary Helen Ponce, Denise Chávez, and Sandra Cisneros, invoke religious symbols, rhetoric, and values to challenge the melting-pot metaphor of integration and create a new moral vision highlighting social injustice. Contributors examine the role that healing plays in Protestantism and popular Catholicism, looking specifically at the Latino Pentecostal movement and the practice of the curanderismo healing tradition in East Los Angeles. Turning to popular culture, they discuss Luis Valdez's 1991 video drama La Pastorela: "The Shepherds' Tale," the spirituality of Chicana art, and the religious overtones of the reverence for the slain Tejano music star Selena.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. ix
Introduction	p. 1
History and Interpretations of Mexican American Religions
History and Theory in the Study of Mexican American Religions	p. 17
Pious Colonialism: Assessing a Church Paradigm for Chicano Identity	p. 57
Mexican American Mystics and Prophets
Sacred Order, Sacred Space: Reies Lopez Tijerina and the Valle de Paz Community	p. 85
Holy Activist, Secular Saint: Religion and the Social Activism of Cesar Chavez	p. 106
Religion and the Chicano Movement: Catolicos Por La Raza	p. 125
Mexican American Popular Catholicism
Our Lady of Guadalupe and the Politics of Cultural Interpretation	p. 153
Voces de Fe: Mexican American Altaristas in Texas	p. 180
Los Pastores and the Gendered Politics of Location	p. 206
Mexican American Religions and Literature
The Religious Vision of Gloria Anzaldua: Borderlands/La Frontera as a Shamanic Space	p. 223
Voice and Vision in Chicana Religious Practice: The Literary Re-elaborations of Mary Helen Ponce, Denise Chavez, and Sandra Cisneros	p. 242
Mexican American Religions and Healing
Brown Moses: Francisco Olazabal and Mexican American Pentecostal Healing in the Borderlands	p. 263
Borderlands Bodies and Souls: Mexican Religious Healing Practices in East L.A.	p. 296
Mexican American Religions and Pop Culture
Luis Valdez's La Pastorela: "The Shepherds' Play": Tradition, Hybridity, and Transformation	p. 325
Hybrid Spiritualities and Chicana Altar-Based Art: The Work of Amalia Mesa-Bains	p. 338
Mexican Madonna: Selena and the Politics of Cultural Redemption	p. 359
Conclusion: Reflections on Mexican American Religions and Culture	p. 381
Bibliography	p. 387
Contributors	p. 429
Index	p. 433
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