My research agenda focuses on practices; what people do when they do religion (including lighting candles, getting tattoos, doing yoga, wearing garments, church attendance, etc). I pay attention to the concrete historical and cultural context, to the practitioner鈥檚 material and embodied engagement, exploring how a religious person relates to divinity.听
How do people connect with religion?
Religious things happen when there is an ongoing relationship between the person and the supra-human. Exploring religion from the perspective of practices, I am not necessarily talking about a reality that conforms to churches鈥� mandates, nor to the variables sociologists have been using to measure religious practice (church attendance). Instead, I study what people do to connect with the supra-human.
I try to bridge Latin American with U.S. and European scholarship, not only engaging with academic productions from the North and the South, but also publishing and participating in conferences in both English and Spanish; and developing academic collaborations with colleagues in different countries in the Americas and Europe.
Catholicism & Argentina State Terrorism - Pictures of Religion and State Violence
I was 18 years old when Argentina recovered its democracy and the first news appeared about missing people. It was the time of the Dirty War in the country. Many people from the Church were accused of supporting perpetrators of human rights violations and it was proved that some bishops denied help to the victims. I started to work in a small left-wing political party at C贸rdoba鈥檚 National University, where I studied journalism. Most of my fellow students were left-wing people who were critics of what had happened in the country and did not understand how, after all, I could remain Catholic. For me, it was my faith that made me concerned about social justice. What seemed particularly odd for others was that this marked the start of my calling as a Jesuit.
I explored the relation between Catholicism and Marxism in the Sixties, the time of the beginning of the political violence in Argentina鈥檚 contemporary history.听听The Montoneros were the most important guerrilla movement in Argentina鈥檚 history. Two main differences from traditional Marxist guerrillas were that Montoneros never asked for collective property, and they claimed to be building Jesus鈥� justice on earth. I used a mixed methods approach to researching the intellectual roots of this group. First, I did content analysis of all 30 issues of the journal Cristianismo y Revoluci贸n (CyR published between 1966-1971). I also conducted interviews with the second director of the journal, Cassiana Ahumada. She was the wife of the first director, Juan Garc铆a Elorrio, who was killed in 1970. I also performed ten interviews with people who were active in the church in those years. Two of them were young Christian men who founded Montoneros and took part in military actions.
Books
2003 Cristianismo y Revoluci贸n. Los or铆genes intelectuales de la guerrilla argentina. C贸rdoba, Editorial de la Universidad Cat贸lica de C贸rdoba (EDUCC)
础谤迟颈肠濒别蝉听
- 2013 鈥楥hristianity and Revolution. Catholicism and guerillas warfare in Argentina鈥檚 Seventies鈥� in The Journal of Religion and Violence, Vol, 1, # 1, p. 42-59.
- 2009 鈥楲os cat贸licos en el Cordobazo鈥�, Rese帽as de ense帽anza de la historia, (Argentina) octubre # 7, p. 273-277.
- 2007 鈥楨l Concilio Vaticano II y su Impacto en Am茅rica Latina: a 40 A帽os de un cambio en los paradigmas en el catolicismo鈥�, Revista Mexicana de Ciencias Pol铆ticas y Sociales, XLIX, 199, enero-abril: 81-104.
- 2005 - Revista virtual de estudios literarios y culturales centroamericanos, # 10 enero 鈥� junio听
- 2004 鈥�20 a帽os de democracia: La iglesia en C贸rdoba鈥� en Studia Politicae, C贸rdoba (Argentina) #02 verano, p 147-178.
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The research on the guerillas put me at the verge of the Seventies. For my Ph.D. dissertation, I focused on the Catholic Church and its actions facing state terror in Argentina鈥檚 鈥楧irty War鈥�.听Most authors take for granted the fact that the Church was a collaborator with the Argentine military in the government mass killings. But a careful analysis of the sources (other researches, documents, and testimonies) shows there were many different attitudes among Catholics towards state terrorism. Some of them were accomplices; others remained silent, while still others were champions of human rights. However, the Argentinean church was not an impediment to human rights violations as it was in Chile or Brazil.听The situation was much more complex than a fight between conservative and progressive Catholics, though it was a clash of different religious conceptions. I explored how ordinary Catholics faced state terror - how they defined their positions for or against it, and how faith played a role in that decision.听I conducted a case study, which allowed me to analyze in depth different Catholic positions in the very same case. I analyzed the kidnapping of 5 seminarians and an American priest (all members of the La Salette congregation) in the city of C贸rdoba, who were tortured by soldiers who believe they were engaging in a 鈥渃atholic mission鈥� fighting communism. I conducted open-ended qualitative interviews with four of them as well as 19 other interviews in C贸rdoba, Buenos Aires, La Habana and Boston. I worked with archives in C贸rdoba, Buenos Aries, and Boston College.听
Books
- 2015 The Catholic Church and Argentina's Dirty War, Oxford University Press, NY.
- 2014 D贸nde estaba Dios? Los cat贸licos y el terrorismo de estado, Ediciones B, Buenos Aires.Book Chapters2022 鈥楥atholicism and State Terror in Argentina鈥� in Sara Brown and Stephen Smith, The Routledge Handbook of Religion, Genocide, and Mass Atrocity, Routledge, London.
- 2016 鈥楾ransformations in Catholicism under Political Violence: C贸rdoba, Argentina, 1960-1980鈥� in Alex Wilde (Ed.) Religion and Violence in Latin America, Notre Dame.
- 2015 鈥楲as transformaciones del catolicismo en situaciones de violencia pol铆tica: C贸rdoba, Argentina, 1960-1980鈥� in Alexander Wilde (Ed.) Las Iglesias ante la violencia en Am茅rica Latina. Los derechos humanos en el pasado y el presente, FLACSO Mexico.
- 2013 鈥榁iolencia pol铆tica y terrorismo de Estado en cifras. Argentina, 1969-1983鈥� in Silvia Romero (ed.) Historias recientes de C贸rdoba. Pol铆tica y derechos humanos en la segunda鈥╩itad del siglo XX, C贸rdoba, Editorial Filosof铆a y Humanidades- UNC, 2013. Argentina.
- 2010 鈥楲os cat贸licos cordobeses frente a la represi贸n: El Caso La Salette鈥� en Catolicismo y pol铆tica en C贸rdoba. Siglos XIX y XX Coordinadoras Gardenia Vidal y Jessica Blanco, Ferreyra Editores, C贸rdoba, Argentina.
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Articles
- 2018 鈥淐atholic legitimization up for grabs: The political pluralization of Argentinean Catholicism in the 1960s鈥� (First author with Fortunato Mallimaci) Journal of Contemporary Religion, v. 33, i. 3, p. 427-445.
- 2014 Violencia pol铆tica y catolicismo en Argentina. El secuestro de los Misioneros de La Salette, Revista Sendas, Guatemala. A帽o 2, Vol. 2.
- 2012 鈥楽ecularizaci贸n y derechos humanos: Actores cat贸licos entre la dictadura argentina (1976) y la administraci贸n Carter (1977-1979)鈥�, Latin American Research Review, Vol., 47; n.3, p. 62-82.
- 2012 鈥楥atholicism(s), State Terrorism and Secularization in Argentina鈥�, Bulletin of Latin American Research Review, Vol. 31, n.3, pp. 366-380.
- 2011 鈥楨l terrorismo de estado y el catolicismo en Argentina: el caso de los Misioneros de La Salette鈥�, Jahrbuch f眉r Geschichte Lateinamerikas/Anuario de Historia de Am茅rica Latina, vol. 48
Due to the findings in my research on religion and political violence in Argentina, I decided to focus my attention on the reactions of religious institutions and persons towards secularization in the wider context of modernity, that is the phenomenon of 鈥榮ecularization鈥�. This was part of the theoretical outcome of my investigation: Catholics react toward political violence according to the way in which they cope with the secularization process in a historical context.I want to pose some questions to the secularization theories to shed light on Latin-American processes. To build up those questions, I privileged the qualitative paradigm of research. The critical analysis allows me to shed light on the state-of-art; the historical approximation is fundamental to contextualize the social schemes and elucidate the hegemonic disputes where actors are inserted; and the in-depth interviews allow me to hear the voice of the regular believers and to learn about the way in which they deal with the sacred and the secular in their daily lives.
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Publications
- 2019 鈥淐ambios religiosos y dina虂micas demogra虂ficas: ma虂s alla虂 de la Teori虂a de la Secularizacio虂n. El caso del catolicismo en la ciudad de Co虂rdoba, Argentina鈥�. First author with Hugo H. Rabbia. Revista de Estudios Sociales 69: 14-27.听 鈥楥atolicismo y modernidad latinoamericana. Una lectura desde Boli虂var Echeverri虂a鈥� in Horacio Crespo, Andre虂s Kozel, Alexander Betancourt (eds.) 驴Tienen las ame虂ricas una historia comu虂n? Herbert E. Bolton, las fronteras y la 鈥淕ran Ame虂rica鈥� Cuernavaca, Me虂xico: Universidad Auto虂noma del Estado de Morelos. p. 531-579
- 2018 鈥楢rgentina鈥�, in Henri Gooren (ed.), Encyclopedia on Latin American Religion, Springer, Cham.
- 2017 鈥楾ransformation in Argentinean Catholicism, from the Second half of the Twentieth Century to Pope Francis, Jose Mapril, Ruy Blanes, Emerson Giumbelli, Erin Wilson (Ed.), Secularisms in a Postsecular Age? Religiosities and subjectivities in comparative perspective, Palgrave. 231-251
- 2017 鈥業t takes two to Tango鈥�: The religious and the secular in Argentinean political dance. 1860-1960. Juan Vaggione (Ed.) Boundaries of Religious Freedom: Regulating Religion in Diverse Societies, Springer. 51-71
- 2012 鈥楽ecularizaci贸n social y formaci贸n del clero en la C贸rdoba de los a帽os setenta鈥�, en Gabriela Caretta - Isabel Zacca (compiladoras) Derroteros en la construcci贸n de religiosidades. Sujetos, instituciones y poder en Sudam茅rica, siglos XVII al XX. CEPIHA-UNSTA-CONICET, Salta (Argentina), pp. 235-252.
- 2010 鈥楥iudadanos cat贸licos en la ciudad postsecular鈥� en Los jesuitas formadores de ciudadanos. La educaci贸n dentro y fuera de sus colegios, siglos XVI-XXI, Coordinada por Perla Chinchilla, Departamento de Publicaciones, Universidad Iberamericana, M茅xico, p. 245-260.
- 2010 鈥楥harles Taylor鈥檚 modernity in a Latin American Catholicism鈥� in Politics and the Religious Imagination, Editors: John Dyck, Paul Rowe, and Jens Zimmermann, Routledge, Routledge Studies in Religion and Politics, London and New York, p.143-159.
- 2009 鈥楨l barroco y la modernidad latinoamericana. Una lectura a la obra de Bol铆var Echeverr铆a鈥� en Sociedad, cultura y literatura, compilado por Carlos Arcos Cabrera, Flacso, Serie 50 a帽os, (2009) Ecuador, p.421-436. ISBN 978-9978-67-207-5.
- 2008 鈥楲os jesuitas, el barroco y la modernidad latinoamericana en el pensamiento de Bol铆var Echeverr铆a鈥� en Ilustraci贸n y emancipaci贸n en Am茅rica Latina. Materiales para la reflexi贸n 茅tico-pol铆tica en el segundo centenario, Editores: Gustavo Ortiz y Nelson Specchia, Educc, C贸rdoba, Argentina, p.107-157. ISBN 978-987-626-023-7.
- 2008 鈥楨l catolicismo latinoamericano y la crisis de la modernidad occidental鈥�, Temas (Cuba), 54, abril-junio: 105-113.
- 2007 鈥楥harles Taylor鈥檚 鈥淚maginary鈥� and 鈥淏est Account鈥� in Latin America鈥�, Philosophy and Social Criticism, (Los Angeles 鈥� London) 33: 617-639.
- 2006 鈥楲a teolog铆a jesu铆tica y el esp铆ritu del Barroco. Una lectura de La modernidad de lo Barroco, de Bol铆var Echeverr铆a鈥�, Studia Politicae, C贸rdoba (Argentina) (Latindex 15167), 08 oto帽o, pp. 67-101.
Once dominated by Catholicism, today Latin Americans are migrating from one religion to another as they look for meaning beyond the empirical world. Yet, their quest is not taking place in the ways scholars and religious leaders expected.听To explore religious practices in Latin America, I directed the research project 鈥楾he Transformation of Lived-Religion in Urban Latin America: A Study of Contemporary Latin Americans鈥� Experience of the Transcendent鈥�, that was founded by the John Templeton Foundation ($511,000).听The focus, unlike other studies on secularization in the region, is on ordinary individuals鈥� relation to transcendence (not on institutions). Secularization concepts, with their North Atlantic bias, have failed to grasp ways, other than membership and affiliation, to explain changes and are not applicable to other cultural contexts.听Using qualitative techniques 鈥� semi-structured interviews about life-story events, object elicitation triggered by photographs and meaningful objects 鈥� researchers from Boston College, and universities in Lima, Peru; Cordoba, Argentina; and Montevideo, Uruguay created spiritual narratives from a sample of 240 individuals from 4 religious groups (Catholic, Evangelical Pentecostal, Other Traditions, 鈥榥ones鈥�) and 2 different socio-economic strata (lower and upper-middle class) in 3 cities (Lima, C贸rdoba and Montevideo). We conducted one interview with each subject, and a meeting for 鈥榦bject elicitation鈥� 3-6 weeks apart. The comparative nature of the project is pioneering, since it will be one of the first comparative qualitative studies on religiosity in Latin America.
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Books听
- 2021 Lived Religion in Latin America: An Enchanted Modernity, by Oxford University Press.
- 2020 Una Modernidad Encantada. Religi贸n vivida en Latinoam茅rica, Editorial de la Universidad Cat贸lica de C贸rdoba, C贸rdoba 鈥� Argentina.
- 2019 La religi贸n como experiencia cotidiana: creencias, pr谩cticas y narrativas espirituales en Sudam茅rica Co-Editor: Hugo Rabbia, Gustavo Morello, N茅stor Da Costa and Catalina Romero. EDUCC, Fondo Editorial de la PUC, UCU.听
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Articles
- 2023 "" Second co-author, with Ga毛lle Bargain-Darrigues. The Sociological Review, Vol 71, Issue 5, p. 1037-1057
- 2023 " Social Compass, v70 n1, p 127-148,听
- 2022 鈥淓ntre el opio del pueblo y la b煤squeda de la salvaci贸n. Aproximaciones a la 鈥渞eligiosidad vivida鈥� desde Am茅rica Latina鈥�, second co-author with Valentina Pereira Arenas, Revista de Estudios Sociales, 82 Octubre-Diciembre, p. 3-21
- 2021 Journal of Global Catholicism: Vol. 6: Iss. 1, Article 3. p.46-63. DOI: 10.32436/2475-6423.1104听
- 2021 , International Journal of Latin American Religions.
- 2021 鈥溾�� Journal of the American Academy of Religion. Second author. Da Costa, N茅stor; Morello, Gustavo; Rabbia, Hugo; Romero, Catalina. June 2021, Vol. 89, No. 2, pp. 562鈥�587听听
- 2021 The Pope, the Poor, and the Location of Religion in Argentina's Public Sphere. Latin American Perspectives, Issue 241, Vol. 48 No. 6, November 2021, 179鈥�193 DOI: 10.1177/0094582X19879410听
- 2019 "Why Study Religion from a Latin American Sociological Perspective? An Introduction to Religions Issue, 鈥淩eligion in Latin America, and among Latinos Abroad鈥�." Religions 10, no. 6: 399.
- 2019 鈥淭he Symbolic Efficacy of Pope Francis鈥� Religious Capital and the Agency of the Poor鈥�. Sociology, v53 (6), p. 1077-1993, Doi: 10.1177/0038038519853109
- 2018 鈥楲ived Religion in Latin America鈥� in Miriam Diez Bosch, Alberto Melloni, Josep Llu铆s Mic贸 Sanz, Perplexed Religions Barcelona, Blanquerna Observatory, p. 149-158.
- 2018 鈥淟atin America鈥檚 Contemporary Religious Imaginary鈥�. Social Imaginaries v4. n2 p. 87-106
- 2017 鈥淚ntroduction. Lived religion in Latin America and Europe. Roman Catholics and their practices鈥� in Visioni LatinoAmericane, y. IX, n. 17, Luglio
- 2017. P. 13-23.2017 "An Enchanted Modernity: Making sense of Latin America鈥檚 religious landscape" (First author with Catalina Romero, Hugo Rabbia and Nestor Da Costa) Critical Research on Religion, Vol 5, Issue 3, pp. 308 鈥� 326.
Tattoos have been a very interesting area of research, in part due to the popularity of tattoos among younger generations. First, tattoos exemplify my point that we cannot keep looking at contemporary religion as we have done so far. New generations have different ways of sacralizing realities and manifesting their inner life.听 Secondly, tattoos allow me to explore religion outside the mainstream practices (although not against religious traditions) and also to pay attention to a practice that academia has neglected (considering it as non-Western, marginal) even when there have been tattoos in the Western Christian tradition since the first century. Studying tattoos from a sociology of religion perspective is a way to explore religious practices as the outcome of a struggle, a negotiation among traditions, practitioners, and scholars. Tattoos allow me to explore the question 鈥淲ho has the power to define religion?鈥�
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Publications
2021 Fist author with Mikayla Sanchez, Diego Moreno, Jack Engelman, and Alexis Evangel; Religions 12: 517.听
2021 Social Compass. February, Vol 68, n 1, p. 61-80.听
惭谩濒补驳补
Loreto
In order to highlight, preserve and discuss Latin American scholars鈥� contributions to sociology of religion, together with Hugo Jos茅 Su谩rez, colleague from the Instituto de Investigaciones Sociales of Universidad Aut贸noma de Mexico, we launched a series of 鈥淪ociological Conversations鈥� where we interview for about an hour, one colleague from Latin America who has been working on religion, inquiring about the 鈥渃onditions of production of their knowledge鈥� in the area.听The seminar intends to explore the different contributions of sociologists of religion, particularly thinking about the conditions of the production of their knowledge, the trajectories, the influences, the main axes developed. The general question is what have researchers on the sociology of religion produced and under what conditions? Based on academic trajectories, we seek to explore associations and training centers, methodological and theoretical innovations, dialogues between regions; and disciplinary intersections, agendas undertaken and future perspectives.
The seminar format is an hour-long virtual interview. The invitation to participants contains the following guiding topics:
1. "Conditions...":
听听听听A. Training, mentors听B. Networks, jobs, colleagues. C. Why is this area of interest?
2. "...of production..."
听听听听A. What has been your main intellectual pursuit? B. Research projects C. Main books, works.
3. 鈥溾�� of knowledge鈥�
听听听听A. What are your main ideas about Latin American religiosity? B. What have you learned?
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Publications
2021
- , 31 de septiembre 2021.听
- , 12 de noviembre 2021.听
2022
- Universidad de Santiago de Chile - 25 de marzo del 2022.
- Pontificia Universidad Cat贸lica del Per煤. 20 de mayo del 2022.
- Universidad de Guadalajara.听 23 de septiembre del 2022.
- Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora. 4 de noviembre del 2022.
2023
- 22 de marzo del 2023, IID/URM Universidad de Paris 鈥� Diderot.听
- . 3 de mayo del 2023. UBA- CEIL
- FIU, 23 de setiembre del 2023听