Good Friday in Omaha, Nebraska

Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions, 2015

Journal of Contemporary Religion, 2018

In Mexico, Catholicism and national identity are deeply intertwined through what we call a process of articulation. Thus, not surprisingly, despite the recent impressive growth of Protestantism in the nation, most people still believe that being Mexican and being Catholic are almost synonymous. Additionally, because the two identifications do not 'cross each other' (as the metaphor of intersectionality posits) but, instead, enter a very complex process of articulation in which each modifies the other, there is a particular way in which many Mexicans experience and perform their Catholicism, in the same vein that there is a particular way in which Catholics experience and perform their Mexicanness. Simultaneously, because neither nationality nor religion is narrated and/or performed in isolation to other forms of identification (e.g. race, ethnicity, region, gender) other possible identifications are also articulated or co-inform (in different ways) nationality and religion in the identitarian encounters that occur on the border. In the way people build their identifications around religion, narratives, practices, habits, affect, and emotions are continuously interrelated. We show that having an altar outside one's house or making the sign of the cross on one's body is both (depending on the unfolding of the social interactions and their patterns of relations) a non-linguistic discourse and a habit. We also show that their mere presence (in the case of altars) or performance (in the case of the sign of the cross) affect the people around the site or the performance, triggering complex emotions. That altar and sign of the cross can potentially be all these things simultaneously highlights their importance as 'affective conductors'-stressing their significance as central objects in the intensification of relations that give new capacities to the entities involved in the patterns of relationship at play in the identitarian encounter at stake.

Journal of festive studies, 2023

Arguably, the celebration of life and death known as Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) has become one of the most recognizable non-Anglo holidays in the United States of America and is quickly gaining popularity around the world. In the second edition of the book Day of the Dead in the USA: The Migration and Transformation of a Cultural Phenomenon, Regina Marchi (professor of media studies at Rutgers University) explains that the holiday's rise in popularity is largely due to media representation. She notes that Hollywood blockbusters, such as the Book of Life (2014) and Coco (2017), as well as the James Bond film Spectre (2015), have brought a greater awareness to the celebration. Interestingly enough, my first exposure to Dia de los Muertos thirty years ago was through a scene in the classic Chicano film Bound by Honor (1993), also known as Blood In Blood Out. The book is divided into eight topical chapters, an introduction, a conclusion, notes, references, an index, a glossary, and a methodological appendix. It presents several interesting arguments, but the book's crucial point is to explore "the political, social, and economic dynamics of Day of the Dead celebrations in the United States" for the purpose of "illustrating the complicated intersections of cultural identity, political economy, media, consumer culture, and globalization" (p. 5). In chapter 1, Marchi provides a necessary corrective on the ethnic scope of the holiday, especially as it relates broadly to Indigenous cultures of Mesoamerica and South America, and dispels the notion that this is a uniquely Mexican tradition. Chapter 2 takes a closer look at how the holiday developed in Mexico as a hybridization of Indigenous and European traditions and challenges some aspects believed to be of Aztec origin. This sets the stage for chapter 3, where Marchi's study offers a novel interpretation, namely that the holiday's current form "would not exist if not for the Chicano movement" (p. 7). This argument is perhaps the strongest one in the book and will be discussed further below. By employing the use of various analytical frameworks, for example, "invented tradition" and "imagined community," Marchi adeptly elucidates the complicated history of the holiday over the last fifty years. In chapter 4, the reader learns how the holiday morphed from its folkloric roots of honoring and remembering dead loves ones into a means of conveying pan-ethnic solidarity in a foreign and often hostile land, the Unites States. As chapter 5 points out, that cultural shift was made possible by the innovations that Chicana/o/x artists and activists introduced through their efforts to convey sociocultural and political messages in public places. This change turned the strictly spiritual tradition into a secular one that, nonetheless, retained its authenticity in the process. The remaining chapters, 6, 7, and 8, explore the role that media played in popularizing the holiday, the increased exposure of the celebration among non-Indigenous populations, and the eventual commodification of the once private spiritual tradition.

2023

¡Viva Cristo Rey! is an oral history of the Roman Catholic Mexican and Mexican-American community that came to inhabit a flood plain in the “flats” of Lower East Austin after its displacement from downtown Austin over a century ago. Situating this community within the larger contexts of the history of Austin and the persecution of “Mexicans” throughout Texas and the Southern United States, the nearly 100 interviews of this work highlight the resiliency of a community that finds great hope and strength in its faith. Largely written by persons now marginalized by Cristo Rey Roman Catholic Church, this work concludes with a reflection on the past ten years since the “unnecessary schism” that resulted in 2012 as a consequence of the Roman Catholic Church’s treatment of its clergy and laity at that time, which, in turn, resulted in the birth of Holy Family Catholic Church, Austin’s only truly inclusive Catholic community.

Religion and Society: Advances in Research, 2015

A double referent connoting both movement and immobility, the border region has been, for more than a century, the setting for those who come to stay, those who try to cross over into the United States, and, more recently, those who are deported from the US. Accordingly, the religious practices in this area flow along with the shifting populations and are transformed by them. From a socio-anthropological perspective, this article examines the main religious figures venerated in the city of Tijuana, located just south of the US-Mexico border, and the social contexts of their devotees, who have come from other parts of Mexico. This religious panorama does not display a homogeneous group of creeds, but rather reflects a variety of regional traditions in which religion is practiced and divine figures are revered.

Camino Real Estudios De Las Hispanidades Norteamericanas, 2011

The largest Hispanic celebration in the U.S., El Día de los Muertos has both Spanish and Indigenous American roots. Largely unknown in the US prior to the 1970s, it was adopted by Mexican American artists as an emblematic symbol of the Chicano Movement. It is now part of the educational curricula of many U.S. schools and universities and is one of the most popular annual exhibits in art galleries and museums. Receiving prominent media coverage because of its colorful rituals, the celebration in its new socio-political context honors the growing demographic of Latinos in the U.S. and encourages moral reflection on issues of political importance. Many Day of the Dead activities honor popular Latino icons (i.e. artist Frida Kahlo, labor union organizer César Chávez, salsa star Celia Cruz) and a significant number draw attention to sociopolitical causes of death affecting the Latino community (i.e. gang violence, war, labor exploitation). Through public altars, art installations, street processions and vigils commemorating the dead, participants contest the privatization of sadness and frustration experienced by sectors of U.S. society disproportionately affected by an unnecessary loss of life. At the same time, the celebration is a unique medium for teaching about Latino identities and histories. Based on ethnographic observation of more than 100 Day of the Dead events in the United States over a 10 year period, as well as interviews with 78 Chicano artists and other participants, this paper will discuss the emergence of the celebration in the US and the changes in meaning that have occurred as the festivities have migrated to new geographical and socio-political contexts. Keywords: Day of the Dead, Chicano Movement, Chicano art, Arte Chicano, Latinos in the United States, culture and politics, altar-making, ofrendas, invented traditions, imagined communities, cultural reappropriation. La fiesta hispánica más grande de los Estados Unidos, El Día de los Muertos tiene raíces indígenas y españolas. Básicamente desconocida en los EEUU hasta la década de los años setenta, la fiesta fue adoptada por artistas México-Americanos como un símbolo emblemático del movimiento chicano. Ahora forma parte del currículum educacional de muchas escuelas y universidades norteamericanas y es una de las exposiciones más populares en museos y galerías de arte. La celebración recibe amplia cobertura de los medios de comunicación dado a sus rituales coloridos y exóticos. La celebración en su nuevo contexto político y social hace honor a la creciente presencia latina en los EEUU y alienta la reflexión moral sobre cuestiones de importancia política. Muchas actividades del Día de los Muertos están dedicadas a iconos populares latinos (como por ejemplo Frida Kahlo, el sindicalista César Chávez, la cantante de salsa Celia Cruz) como también a recalcar causas de muerte y sufrimiento que afectan a la comunidad Latina (violencia de las pandillas, la guerra, explotación laboral). A través de la construcción de altares públicos, instalaciones artísticas, marchas, y vigilias honrando a los difuntos, los participantes enfrentan la privatización de la tristeza y la frustración experimentada por los sectores de la sociedad americana afectada desproporcionalmente por la muerte innecesaria. Al mismo tiempo, la celebración es un medio único para enseñar sobre la historia e identidad latina. Basado en la observación etnográfica de más de 100 eventos de Día de los Muertos en los EEUU a través de una década, como también entrevistas a 78 artistas chicanos y otros participantes, esta monografía discute la llegada de la celebración a los EEUU y los cambios de significado que han ocurrido al cambiar las festividades su geografía y contexto socio político. Palabras clave: El Día de los Muertos, El Movimiento Chicano, arte chicano, Latinos en los EEUU, cultura y política, creación del altar, ofrendas, tradiciones inventadas, comunidades imaginarias, reapropiación cultural.

American Catholic Studies, 2017

Journal of Theological Studies, 2007

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Religious Studies Review, 2010

2010

In December, 1969, at the end of a weekend conference, a group of Mexican American activist students painted a statue of Mary brown, causing an uproar among some priests and faithful. This reaction did not, however, cause the Church to pull back on its commitment to social justice. Indeed, some bishops, priests, and laity took strong positions and acted on issues related to farmworkers and Chicano youth projects in the face of opposition within the Church and among the public. This paper utilizes oral history interviews, newspaper accounts, and documents in archives of the Oblate School of Theology In late December of 1969, the Mexican American Youth Organization held a regional conference at La Lomita, outside of Mission, Texas in the Rio Grande Valley. La Lomita is the site of St. Peter’s Novitiate, an institute where previously men had prepared to take first vows in the religious order of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate. On the night of Sunday, after a special mass, some of the co...

From the mid-1990s, devotion to Santa Muerte (Saint Death) became highly visible, not only in Mexico but also in the United States. Its evolution has coincided with the expansion of organized crime, creating the impression that the icon belongs to a coherent "narco-culture." This article contextualizes ritual practices at a single altar in Tepito, a Mexico City neighborhood historically specialized in informal and illegal commerce. Its monthly prayer service, which dates to September 2001, now balances the needs of its congregation with a kind of response to accusations against devotees in the mass media. Ironically, the range of gestures that share Santa Muerte iconography encompasses laments and high-minded indignation over blanket attribution of violent intentions to a population, but also a language for making threats. The average devotee is always affected by the likelihood that new acts of violence will be styled as religious.

in Parish Churches in the Early Modern World, ed. by Andrew Spicer (Farnham: Ashgate, 2016), pp. 243-266. Using a combination of archival sources, material published during the period in question, and images gathered from churches in Latin America, this chapter will seek to shed light on the significance of churches for the populations of early modern Hispanic America. Letters written by missionaries to Rome and chronicles sometimes describe the construction of these buildings: the significance and symbolism of the architecture, the perceptions of local populations as these buildings rose from the ground, how these perceptions were affected after accidents and disasters occurred either due to human error or geological changes. They depict the tremendous inauguration ceremonies laid on after their completion. There was even the occasional dispute amongst the faithful when the grandeur of one particular church was thought to overshadow that of another. Descriptions of how these churches were decorated can be brought together in this chapter with images of what little decoration remains, to piece together an idea of how the celestial was perceived, depicted and even experienced in Hispanic America: a place where angels and birds of paradise sang and played together.