A Latin American Critical Sociology Perspective on Religion

2021 ◽  
pp. 21-39
Author(s):  
Gustavo S.J. Morello
Keyword(s):  
Latin American ◽  
Alternative Explanation ◽  
Theoretical Perspective ◽  
Popular Religion ◽  
Sociology Of Religion ◽  
Lived Religion ◽  
Critical Sociology ◽  
Cultural Experience ◽  
Secularization Theory ◽  
Religious Landscape

Studying the interaction of modernity and religion has been at the heart of the sociology of religion. This chapter explores one of the most important explanations of this tension: secularization theory. Even when criticized, this theoretical perspective is present in debates and embedded in different methodologies in use to study religion. This chapter presents an alternative explanation of the Latin American religious landscape, inspired by the American-born religious-economy paradigm. Then the chapter considers the popular-religion approach, a model inspired by the Latin American cultural experience, which focuses on people’s practices. Finally, the chapter proposes a lived-religion approach to studying Latin American religiosity.

Introduction

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Gustavo S.J. Morello
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Lived Religion ◽  
Latin Americans ◽  
Religious Landscape ◽  
The Way

This introductory chapter presents, as an example of the complexity of contemporary religiosity in Latin America, the lived religion of a woman from Cordoba, Argentina, named Norma—the way in which this regular woman connects with a suprahuman power using different religious venues, in spite of the fact that she identifies as Catholic. Her story shows some of the problems we have in understanding the Latin American religious landscape if we employ theoretical tools that are not appropriate. In order to solve this problem, the chapter explains the methodology used in the book to explore Latin Americans’ lived religion, and the author’s position. The chapter finishes with a description of the book ahead.

From Sociology of Latin American Religions to a Latin American Sociology of Religion

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olga Odgers-Ortiz
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Critical Analysis ◽  
Popular Religion ◽  
Sociology Of Religion ◽  
Global Level ◽  
American Sociology ◽  
Multiple Modernities ◽  
New Methodologies ◽  
Number Of Publications

Recent decades have seen important developments in Latin American writings in the sociology of religion field. Not only has there been exponential growth in the number of publications on religious phenomena in the region, but the field itself has also shifted from sociology about Latin American religion to a Latin American sociology of religion. This field takes contemporary Latin American forms of religiosity as an empirical referent, then goes even further to propose interpretive frameworks and new methodologies that contribute to the understanding of religious phenomena at a global level. This chapter introduces four prominent Latin American sociologists of religion: Roberto Blancarte’s work on laicity; the critical analysis of Cristián Parker on popular religions within multiple modernities; Hugo José Suárez’s conceptualization of “para-ecclesiastical agents,” a key concept for understanding religious collective practice in Latin America; and Eloisa Martin’s proposal of the heuristic potential of analyzing practices of sacralization for understanding popular religion in Latin America.

Charismatic, Pentecostal, and Evangelical Movements in Europe, the US, and Brazil

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Detlef Pollack ◽  
Gergely Rosta
Keyword(s):  
Latin American ◽  
Social Deprivation ◽  
Religious Change ◽  
Evangelical Protestantism ◽  
Secularization Theory ◽  
Explanatory Factors ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
Healing Rituals ◽  
The Us ◽  
Latin American Countries

The growth of Evangelical Protestantism and Pentecostalism is widely regarded as a potent argument against the validity of secularization theory. To explain this growth, Chapter 12 draws on theoretical approaches to analysing new social movements, which allows an expansion of the repertoire of explanations concerning religious change and a testing of alternatives to the models provided by secularization theory. To explain the worldwide growth and relative resilience of the Evangelical and Pentecostal movements, the chapter identifies a number of conditions and explanatory factors: cultural and social confirmation, religious syncretism, social deprivation, and the widespread magical worldview and broadly accepted spiritistic beliefs in Latin American countries that are conducive to the acceptance of Pentecostal experiences and healing rituals.

scholarly journals Pueblos originários y educación: De la colonialidad a las experiências decoloniales en Brasil y Chile

2020 ◽  
Vol 28 ◽  
pp. 163
Author(s):  
Juan Guillermo Mansilla ◽  
José Rubens Lima Jardilino
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Indigenous Education ◽  
Theoretical Perspective ◽  
Return Of Results ◽  
Documentary Analysis ◽  
Abstract Knowledge ◽  
History Of ◽  
Written Sources

This article on the education of indigenous peoples in Latin America is a synthesis of an approximation of studies on the history of Education of indigenous peoples (schooling), taking Brazil and Chile as a case study. It represents an effort of reflection of two researchers of the History of Latin American Education Society (SHELA), who have been studying Indigenous Education or Indigenous School Education in Chile and Brazil, from the theoretical perspective of “coloniality and decoloniality” of indigenous peoples in Latin America. The research is based on a comprehensive-interpretative paradigm, whose method is linked to the type of qualitative historiographic descriptive research considering primary and secondary written sources, complemented with visual data (photographs). The documentary analysis was made from material based on primary written sources, secondary and unobtrusive personal documents. The study included three distinct phases in the process of producing results: 1) a critical review of the data of our previous research, in addition to the bibliographic review of research results regarding the presence of the school in other indigenous cultures of the Americas; 2) capturing and processing of new data; and 3) validation and return of results with the research participants. Content analysis was carried out in order to reveal nuclei of central abstract knowledge, endowed with meaning and significance from the perspective of the producers of the discourse, as well as knowledge expressed concretely in the texts, including their latent contents.

Do my eyes deceive me?: “Acts of Sight” in Naomi Iizuka’s Polaroid Stories, Concerning Strange Devices From the Distant West, War of the Worlds, and Good Kids

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Carrie Winship
Keyword(s):  
Theoretical Perspective ◽  
Visual Media ◽  
Concrete Element ◽  
Cultural Experience ◽  
University Of Missouri ◽  
Theoretical Perspectives ◽  
Linguistic Strategies ◽  
Constant State ◽  
Material Bodies ◽  
The University

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] Do My Eyes Deceive Me?: Acts of Sight in Naomi Iizuka's Polaroid Stories, Concerning Strange Devices from the Distant West, War of the Worlds, and Good Kids explores the postdramatic and open aesthetic of contemporary playwright, Naomi Iizuka. Through critical and close reading, I identify and analyze Naomi Iizuka's repeated staging of "acts of sight" as a dramaturgical device in four of her plays and examine these stagings within the context of Iizuka's broader interest in writing plays that dismantle essentialist concepts of identity and authenticity. I define “acts of sight” as moments in Iizuka's narratives that call attention to the process of witness in her dramatic textsâ€"through the reference and use of visual media, direct discussion or theatricalization of sight as a physiological and cultural experience, or a number of discursive and linguistic strategies that focus on the editorializing nature of vision, observation, and sight. The plays explored in this study utilize “acts of sight” which explicitly and visually demonstrate a postmodern theoretical perspective that rejects concepts of being (where entities are defined by their static categorizations) and argue instead for concepts of becoming (where material bodies are in a constant state of flux and movement). Through the stagings of these “acts of sight,” Naomi Iizuka invites audiences to deconstruct commonly accepted concepts of identity, which are rooted in essentialist philosophies, as her formal techniques challenge assumptions of identity as a fixed, binary, or concrete element of one’s life. I argue that this particular dramaturgical device makes each of these plays worthy of consideration as embodied theoretical perspectives and texts that demonstrate Iizuka’s significance as an architect of anti-essentialist theory and artistry.

Historical and Ideological Lineages of Dissenting Protestantism in Latin America

2019 ◽  
pp. 315-337
Author(s):  
Stephen Dove
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Rapid Growth ◽  
Religious Pluralism ◽  
Early Twenty ◽  
Late Twentieth ◽  
Small Footprint ◽  
Religious Landscape

Latin America is a region where traditional dissenting institutions and denominations have a relatively small footprint, and yet the ideas of dissenting Protestantism play an important, and expanding, role on the religious landscape. Since the beginning of the nineteenth century, Latin America has transitioned from a region with a de jure Catholic monopoly to one marked by religious pluralism and the disestablishment of religion. In the late-twentieth and early-twenty-first centuries, this transition has been especially marked by the rapid growth of Pentecostalism. This chapter analyses the role of dissenting Protestantism during these two centuries of transition and demonstrates how ideas and missionaries from historical dissenting churches combined with local influences to create a unique version of dissent among Latin American Protestants and Pentecostals.

Conclusions

2021 ◽  
pp. 173-182
Author(s):  
Gustavo S.J. Morello
Keyword(s):  
Socioeconomic Status ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Religious Experience ◽  
Religious Practices ◽  
Lower Socioeconomic Status ◽  
Lower Socioeconomic ◽  
Religious Landscape

This chapter examines what we learn from the religious experience of these Latin American respondents of lower socioeconomic status: religion as a relationship, and Latin American modernity as a construction that leaves room for a religious, spiritual presence. The chapter presents what respondents’ religious practices tell us about religion in general, the idea of religion as a relation, and a portrait of the Latin American religious landscape as “enchanted modernity.”

International expansion for knowledge acquisition or knowledge acquisition for international expansion?

2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 177-200 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clarice Secches Kogut ◽  
Renato Dourado Cotta de Mello ◽  
Angela da Rocha
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Acquisition ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Multinational Enterprises ◽  
Longitudinal Design ◽  
Emerging Market ◽  
Theoretical Perspective ◽  
Multinational Firm ◽  
International Expansion ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Catch Up

Purpose Starting from the knowledge-based view as a theoretical perspective, this study aims to examine how an emerging market multinational enterprise (EMMNE) engages in reverse knowledge transfer (RKT) processes and how such processes are managed by headquarters. Therefore, this paper captures the perspective of top management concerning RKT and the processes used to create, transfer and integrate knowledge. Design/methodology/approach The study uses a longitudinal design based on the case method of investigation. The case selected for the study was a Brazilian company theoretically sampled for being a domestically, regionally and globally important, information-rich company that operates in an industry in which technology plays a crucial role. The company was also selected for having had asset-seeking motives in at least some of its foreign market entries and for having successfully absorbed foreign-acquired capabilities. Findings The study provides counterfactual evidence to the springboard perspective, considering timing and speed of the internationalization and catch-up processes and the size of acquisitions. The study also highlights differences to other emerging market multinational enterprises, concerning the internationalization trajectory and catch-up moves, and to traditional MNEs, regarding RKT challenges and practices. Research limitations/implications The main limitations of the study relate to the case study method, which does not allow for statistical generalization, although it does support analytical generalization. Originality/value The study contributes to the literature by shedding light on the process by which a Latin American multinational firm developed technological capabilities to compete globally, focusing on the symbiotic, self-nurturing relationship between internationalization processes and technology acquisition and integration processes. Moreover, the work provides novel theoretical insights regarding timing, location, size and execution of the RKT activities. Finally, the paper contributes to the understanding of the relational aspects of the RKT process by focusing on building human relationships as the major force behind knowledge integration and examining the resistance of the acquired companies from developed markets to adopt the parent company’s best practices, or to contribute to its integrated knowledge, when the parent company is an EMMNE.

Exploring Emerging Latin America: Implications for German Companies Using Spain as a Springboard Country

2017 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 993-1009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rohit Subhash Prabhudesai ◽  
Ch V V S N V Prasad ◽  
Boon Chuan Ang
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Emerging Economies ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Cultural Issues ◽  
Cultural Experience ◽  
Qualitative And Quantitative ◽  
Cultural Bridge ◽  
Latin American Countries ◽  
Direct Market

This article seeks to determine the means by which European companies can make use of Latin European countries as a springboard to emerging markets in Latin America. For the sake of this study, Germany and Spain were used as the European and springboard countries, respectively. Cultural issues experienced by German companies in Asia have made it imperative for them to explore alternative emerging economies, such as Latin American countries. However, Latin America represents an equally risky opportunity through direct market entry owing to the cultural gap across the two regions. Given the interactions between members of the European Union and the cultural similarities between Spain and Latin America, the hypothesis of former being a cultural bridge was tested. The qualitative and quantitative cultural parameters across Germany, Spain and Latin America were compared and results showed that Spanish cultural experience can bridge the German–Latin American cultural gap.

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