Lived Religion in Latin America

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gustavo S.J. Morello
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
American People ◽  
Modern Culture ◽  
The North ◽  
The People ◽  
Religion And Modernity ◽  
Technological Developments ◽  
Religious Cultures

This book is about religion and modernity, how religion interacts with modern culture, and how modernity influences religion. “Modernity” signifies not only technological developments, but also the dynamics of capitalism, the differentiation of social functions, specialization of spheres of knowledge, and expansion of human rights. By religion is meant the cultural practices people use to connect with a suprahuman power that they experience as influencing their lives. The thesis presented is that in Latin America there is an interaction between modernity and religion, but the result has not been religion’s diminishment (secularization), but its transformation. Exploring religion as ordinary Latin Americans practice it, the research presented in this book discovered that there is more religion than secularists expect, but of a different kind than religious leaders would wish. The difficulty in assessing religiosity as it exists in Latin America is due in part to the continuing use of categories that were not designed for religious cultures outside the North Atlantic world. Those categories point us toward a different kind of dynamics, which in fact obscure Latin American religious dynamics. If we look at religion from the perspective of Latin America and of the people who practice it there, we will find a different definition and different conceptual tools for understanding the religious experience of Latin American people, and these new tools help us to look at religion in a different way.

An Inter-American Episode

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey Lawrence
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Pablo Neruda ◽  
Jose Marti ◽  
The South ◽  
American Reader ◽  
The North ◽  
Literary Theories ◽  
The Us

This chapter focuses on a paradigmatic misencounter between an American experiencer and a Latin American reader. Examining an implicit debate about the sources of Walt Whitman’s poetry and vision of the Americas, I argue that Waldo Frank, one of the twentieth century’s main literary ambassadors from the US to Latin America, positioned Whitman as the representative US writer whose antibookish experiential aesthetics could serve as a model for “American” writers both in the North and in the South. I show how Frank’s framework provided a foil for Borges’s idiosyncratic view that Whitman’s poetry about America derived entirely from his readings of European and US writers. Although much of the best scholarship on Whitman’s reception in Latin America has concentrated on poets like José Martí and Pablo Neruda, who adapted Whitman’s naturalism, I contend that Borges’s iconoclastic portrait of Whitman as a reader profoundly influenced a range of anti-experiential literary theories and practices in Latin America.

Latin America: contrasting motivations for regional projects

2009 ◽  
Vol 35 (S1) ◽  
pp. 169-188 ◽  
Author(s):  
DIANA TUSSIE
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Regional Integration ◽  
Economies Of Scale ◽  
Coalition Building ◽  
The North ◽  
External Pressures ◽  
Market Liberalisation ◽  
Market Relations ◽  
Regional Projects

AbstractThe breakdown of the North-South, East-West governing principles, and the removal of superpower overlay have led to an increasingly decentralised system setting the stage for the so called new geography of trade and the reconfiguration of political – diplomatic strategies. Such strategies now include contestation, articulation, competitive liberalisation, ample inter-state coalition building such as the G-20, G-33, G-90 in the Doha Round and the proliferation of regional and wider ranging preferential arrangements. Regionalism is both policy and project. Agreements vary widely in motivation, form, coverage and content. It is very often the case that, as in multilateral institutions, one major actor sets the agenda at the regional level with the view not only of constructing and retaining power at that level but also of setting global precedents. New balancing or bandwagoning efforts vis-à-vis the local strong power are set in motion with fresh implications for the emerging global architecture. Regional alignments are thus constantly shaping and reshaping market relations. Intra-Latin American agreements (those not including the majors, the US and the EU) were motivated by the search for wider markets building up economies of scale amongst similar countries. Such agreements mostly focused on market liberalisation through diverse schedules of tariff reduction. The result has been the emergence of shallow regional agreements. Nonetheless, most have not been fully implemented, but they show a long term trend towards potential convergence, especially if the Community of South American Nations moves on. External pressures have also spurred agreements as defensive mechanisms. So we witness impulses to regionalism complementing and at times competing with older patterns and trends. This contribution focuses on the different avenues that Latin America is undertaking in terms of regional projects. It will assess the dynamics of intra- regional integration and the inter-action effects with varieties of North-South integration.

The Second Life of Judaism: A History of Religious Community and Practice in Virtual Spaces

2019 ◽  
pp. 235-260
Author(s):  
Julian Voloj ◽  
Anthony Bak Buccitelli
Keyword(s):  
San Francisco ◽  
Second Life ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Virtual Space ◽  
Religious Community ◽  
Digital World ◽  
The People ◽  
History Of ◽  
Religious Cultures

This chapter talks about San Francisco-based company Linden Lab who launched Second Life (SL), which is described as an online digital world that is built, shaped, and owned by its participants. It discloses how SL was seen as the next big internet phenomenon and was the focus of attention by investors and media alike for a short period of time. It also explains SL's complex relationship with 'real life', which is defined both by the encoded parameters of the virtual space and by the social and cultural practices of the people who use the platform. The chapter discusses SL as a broad platform that encompassed many cultural constructions and developed a rich and diverse set of religious cultures. It recounts how dozens of Jewish sites across the grid emerged and were created both by individual users and by offline institutions that established SL presences.

EMERGING LATIN AMERICAN OIL SPILL REGULATION

1997 ◽  
Vol 1997 (1) ◽  
pp. 447-451
Author(s):  
Alicia Watts Hosmer ◽  
Ede J. Ijjasz ◽  
Gwen Fairweather
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Oil Spill ◽  
Trade Agreement ◽  
Radical Change ◽  
International Treaties ◽  
The North ◽  
Iso 14000 ◽  
Internal Pressures ◽  
Latin American Countries

ABSTRACT Environmental regulation in Latin America is currently undergoing radical change. In response to an increase in environmental awareness, internal pressures (including privatization of state-owned monopolies), and external standards (such as those of the North American Free Trade Agreement [NAFTA] Environmental Side Agreement and ISO 14000), a large number of Latin American countries have passed or will soon pass new environmental legislation. Although much of this legislation aims to develop or strengthen the general environmental frameworks of these countries, there are many emerging Latin American regulations and initiatives that deal specifically with oil spill prevention, preparedness, and response. As a first step toward understanding the impacts that these oil spill regulations and initiatives will have for individual Latin American countries and the region, this paper seeks to identify and explore the current forces driving the increase in oil spill regulation in Latin America; examine some new oil spill regulatory initiatives taking place in individual countries, including Venezuela, Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Argentina, and Bolivia; review relevant international treaties and regional initiatives; and discuss anticipated future trends for the region as a whole.

Time and Christianity in Early Latin America

2020 ◽  
pp. 22-38
Author(s):  
Matthew O'Hara
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Historical Memory ◽  
Spanish America ◽  
History Of Christianity ◽  
Colonial Era ◽  
American Christianity ◽  
Intellectual Traditions ◽  
History Of

The arrival of Christianity in the Americas and its long-term development throughout the colonial era were closely connected to questions of time—whether the human experience and manipulation of time, the crafting of historical memory, or the imagining of potential futures. Exploring classic and recent scholarship on the colonial era, this chapter considers some of the ways that the history of Christianity in early Latin America is also a history of time. This chapter focuses on the viceroyalty of New Spain—Central Mexico in particular—but also makes some references to scholarship from other parts of Spanish America. The centering of attention on time starts a productive dialogue within the historiography on early Latin American Christianity—a conversation that steps beyond a tired debate about the relative “Europeanness” or “indigeneity” of post-conquest cultures, focusing, instead, on unique ways of being that emerged out of the remarkable convergence of intellectual traditions and cultural practices in the colonial world.

A Populist Precursor: Guillermo Billinghurst

1977 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 251-273 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Blanchard
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Latin American ◽  
North American ◽  
Specific Area ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Geographical Region ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
The North ◽  
Popular Movements ◽  
Universal Nature

The term ‘populism’ has been used to describe many of the popular movements that have appeared in Latin America in recent decades. It is an ‘imprecise term’, to use the words of Professor Skidmore, and the large number of definitions available, indicates how imprecise the term, in fact, has become. Definitions of a universal nature are of limited use, for populism seems to vary according to geographical region: the North American populist differs from the Russian populist, who differs from the African populist, who differs from the Latin American populist, and so on. Even when dealing with the specific area of Latin America there is no consistency. Writers disagree on whether Latin American populists are Left- or Right- Wing, anti- or pro-status quo, reformists or opportunists, rigid or flexible with regard to ideology.

Assessing the Obstacles to Industrialisation: The Mexican Economy, 1830–1940

1992 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen H. Haber
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Industrial Development ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Industrial Revolution ◽  
Labour Productivity ◽  
The United States ◽  
Industrial Growth ◽  
Capital Costs ◽  
The North

After England began what came to be known as the First Industrial Revolution at the end of the eighteenth century, industrial technology quickly diffused throughout the nations of the North Atlantic. Within fifty years of the first rumblings of British industrialisation, the factory system had spread to Western Europe and the United States. Latin America, however, lagged behind. It was not until the twentieth century that manufacturing came to lead the economies of Latin America and that agrarian societies were transformed into industrial societies.This article seeks to understand this long lag in Latin American industrialisation through an analysis of the experience of Mexico during the period 1830–1940. The purpose of the paper is to look at the obstacles that prevented self-sustaining industrialisation from taking place in Mexico, as well as to assess the results of the industrialisation that did occur.The basic argument advanced is that two different types of constraints prevailed during different periods of Mexico's industrialisation. During the period from 1830 to 1880 the obstacles to industrialisation were largely external to firms: insecure property rights, low per capita income growth resulting from pre-capitalist agricultural organisation, and the lack of a national market (caused by inefficient transport, banditry and internal tariffs) all served as a brake on Mexico's industrial development. During the period 1880–1910 the obstacles to industrialisation were largely internal to firms. These factors included the inability to realise scale economies, high fixed capital costs and low labour productivity. During the period from 1910 to 1930 these internal constraints combined with new external constraints – including the Revolution of 1910–17, the political uncertainty of the post-revolutionary period and the onset of the Great Depression – which further slowed the rate of industrial growth.

scholarly journals THE POLITICAL AMBIGUITY OF LATIN AMERICAN POPULAR RELIGION

2015 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-33
Author(s):  
Néstor O. Míguez
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Social Order ◽  
Slave Trade ◽  
Popular Religion ◽  
The Political ◽  
Religious Experiences ◽  
The People ◽  
Popular Religiosity ◽  
The Masses

This article will present some historical cases, some ancient, some very recent, of how such ambiguity of the religious forces and popular religiosity has played in Latin America. Through this case we will analyze how and why in “the popular” the same cultural phenomena can play sometimes a very conservative role, and then, in others, turn into a menacing power to the traditional social order. On one hand, it is a way in which conservative hegemony has captured the potential and will of the masses and used it to domesticate its claims (opium of the people). But in other cases it has stimulated the dreams and hopes, and has provided unexpected vitality to the people in their search for justice and better living conditions. The traditional aboriginal (pre-conquest) religions and worldviews, as well as new religious experiences brought by the slave trade and migrations sometimes provided myths and images that reinforced the liberating thrust of religious forces.

The Impact of Free Trade Agreements on Internet Intermediary Liability in Latin America

2020 ◽  
pp. 171-189
Author(s):  
Juan Carlos Lara Gálvez ◽  
Alan M. Sears
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Free Trade ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Free Trade Agreements ◽  
Trade Agreement ◽  
Trade Agreements ◽  
The United States ◽  
The North ◽  
Intermediary Liability ◽  
The Impact

This chapter discusses the impact of free trade agreements (FTAs) on intermediary liability in Latin America, with special emphasis on the Digital Millennium Copyright Act’s (DMCA) provisions that have been included into every bilateral FTA the United States has entered into since 2002, thus promoting their inclusion in the national law of other countries. However, these provisions are controversial, and whether they drive the internet economy or create a more restrictive online space is a matter of debate. This chapter analyses the impact of such provisions in Latin American countries and the state of their implementation in national jurisdictions. In particular, this chapter reviews implementation and proposed implementation of the DMCA model in Chile, Costa Rica and other CAFTA bloc countries, Colombia, and Peru. It also discusses the failure of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement to create new intermediary liability rules and how the same language was ultimately included in the revision of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which became the US–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA).

The Sacred Art of Counter-Conquest

2020 ◽  
pp. 56-82
Author(s):  
Jennifer Scheper Hughes
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Colonial Power ◽  
Monumental Architecture ◽  
Sacred Art ◽  
Christian Religion ◽  
Christian Art ◽  
Religious Cultures ◽  
Material Religion ◽  
Art And Architecture

From works of monumental architecture to vernacular expressions of “folk” religion, objects of material religion secure and orient lived faith in Latin America. Sacred power in Latin America emanates from a particular web of connection between image, altar, and chapel. These material manifestations of the sacred reflect the pain and paradox of their colonial origins and thus must be contextualized and historicized in relation to the structures of colonial power and domination that define the context of their creation. This chapter traces the historical emergence of Latin American Christian material religious cultures in the circumstance of indigenous and African struggle and survival. A tremendous ritual, spiritual, and cultural labor was required to imbue adopted artistic forms, and the imposed Christian religion itself, with sacred meaning and power. This act of redemption was, by necessity, a labor of contraconquista, the sacred art of counter-conquest. Lay Catholic devotional labor functions to create continuity between monumental and vernacular works of Christian art and architecture, lending coherence to seemingly disparate forms.

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