Religions in Contemporary Latin America 3305-RWSL-U
The aim of this course is to present and discuss selected religious phenomena and processes in contemporary Latin America, with particular attention to references to religious practices and beliefs and to elements of Indigenous traditions. A review of selected theoretical approaches from the twentieth century and from recent scholarship will deepen understanding of the nature of the changes taking place in this field, providing tools for analyzing contemporary phenomena and processes within the framework of cultural and religious studies.
Following an introduction that includes an overview of classical twentieth-century theories—religion/the sacred/religious experience/disenchantment of the world/invisible religion—several theoretical approaches that explain the specificity of the region will be presented, such as hybridity, creolization, and popular religiosity. Recent trends and the religious landscape of the region will be discussed on the basis of studies by Latinobarómetro and the Pew Research Center.
In the next part, the participants of the course will become familiar with the main proposed definitions of the New Age. Then, the concepts of (new) spirituality, neoindianism, (neo)-shamanism, and transnationalization will be discussed, using examples of specific phenomena from the Latin American context. The issue of the presence of (new) spirituality in politics will also be addressed.
Type of course
Mode
Classroom
Prerequisites (description)
Course coordinators
Learning outcomes
By the end of the course, the student knows and understands the subject matter and methodology of cultural and religious studies in Spanish-speaking Latin American countries, and is able to develop these creatively and apply them in professional activities, as well as the terminology of cultural and religious studies as it relates to recent phenomena and processes in Spanish-speaking Latin American countries; the connections between Iberian philology within cultural and religious studies and other fields in the humanities and social sciences; scientific and cultural phenomena in Spanish-speaking Latin American countries and, in particular, an in-depth understanding of the connections between new research and trends in cultural and religious studies and other humanistic discourses; terminology, theory, and methodology in cultural and religious studies as they relate to Spanish-speaking Latin American countries; contemporary achievements of research centers and schools, covering a selection of recent religious phenomena in Spanish-speaking Latin American countries.
(K_W01; K_W02; K_W04; K_W05; K_W06)
By the end of the course, the student is able to use the research skills acquired, including critical analysis of cultural products and social phenomena in Spanish-speaking Latin American countries, synthesizing different ideas and viewpoints, selecting methods and constructing research tools, and preparing and presenting results, which enables original solutions to complex problems in the field of cultural and religious studies with reference to Spanish-speaking Latin American countries; independently acquire knowledge in the field of cultural and religious studies with reference to Spanish-speaking Latin American countries and expand their research competencies, undertaking autonomous actions to develop their abilities and shape their own career; use acquired language skills to understand and produce oral and written texts employing professional terminology.
(K_U01; K_U02; K_U03)
By the end of the course, the student is prepared to interact within a group, assuming various roles within it.
(K_K01)
Assessment criteria
The final grade consists of two partial grades, each of which must be passing (minimum 3):
1) Preparation of selected topics and their presentation in class: 50% of the final grade;
2) Final oral exam on the material covered in class: 50% of the final grade.
Three unjustified absences are allowed; each additional absence will result in a 0.5 reduction of the final grade.
Bibliography
Arias Yerena, A. (2011). La danza del sol de Ajijic: Un ritual nodo en la red de espiritualidad alternativa (Master's thesis, Centro de Investigaciones en Antropología Social Occidente).
Berger, P. (2014). The many altars of modernity: Toward a paradigm for religion in a pluralist age. Walter de Gruyter.
Berger, P., & Luckmann, T. (1995). Modernity, pluralism and the crisis of meaning: The orientation of modern man. Bertelsmann.
Carozzi, M. (2000). Nueva era y terapias alternativas. Universidad Católica Argentina.
Casanova, J. (1994). Public religions in the modern world. University of Chicago Press.
Casanova, J. (2008). Reconsiderar la secularización: Una perspectiva comparada mundial. Relaciones Internacionales: Revista Académica Cuatrimestral de Publicación Electrónica, 7. http://www.relacionesinternacionales.info/ojs/article/viewFile/85/75.html
Cruz Balderas, Y. (2016). El camino rojo como agente de cambio de los patrones culturales de los jóvenes (Master's thesis, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México, Facultad de Antropología).
Dubois, T. (2009). An introduction to shamanism. Cambridge University Press.
Frigerio, A. (2016). Epílogo - La "nueva"? Espiritualidad: Ontología, epistemología y sociología de un concepto controvertido. Ciencias Sociales y Religión, 18(24), 209–231.
Galinier, J., & Molinié, A. (2013). Los neo-indios: Una religión del tercer milenio. Ediciones Abya-Yala.
Galinier, J., Lagarriga, I., & Perrin, M. (coords.) (n.d.). Chamanismo en Latinoamérica: Una revisión conceptual. Universidad Iberoamericana, Plaza y Váldes.
Hammer, O. (2006). New Age Movement. In W. Hanegraaff (Ed.), Dictionary of gnosis and Western esotericism (pp. 855–861). Brill.
Heelas, P. (1996). The New Age movement: The celebration of the self and the sacralization of modernity. Blackwell.
Heelas, P., & Lock, A. (1981). Indigenous psychologies: The anthropology of the self. Academic Press.
Heelas, P. (2006). Challenging secularization theory: The growth of New Age spiritualities of life. The Hedgehog Review, 8(1-2), 46–58.
Heelas, P. (2008). Spiritualities of life: New Age romanticism and consumptive capitalism. Blackwell.
Heelas, P., & Woodhead, L. (2005). The spiritual revolution: Why religion is giving way to spirituality. Blackwell.
Labate, B. C., Cavnar, C., Alex, K., & Gearin, A. K. (2016). The world ayahuasca: Diaspora, reinventions and controversies. Routledge.
Labate, B. C., & Jungaberle, H. (Eds.) (2011). The internationalization of ayahuasca. LIT Verlag.
Luckmann, T. (1967). The invisible religion. Macmillan.
Perdomo Marín, J. C. (2018). Todas las tradiciones inmutables se transformaron anteayer: Tras la (re)invención del chamanismo. Sociedad y Religión, 28(50), 12–36.
Sarrazin, J. P. (2011). Transnacionalización de la espiritualidad indígena y turismo místico. In Memorias del IV Congreso de la Red Internacional de Migración y Desarrollo (pp. xx–xx). FLACSO.
Suárez, H., Bárcenas Barajas, K., & Delgado Molina, C. (coords.) (2019). Estudiar el fenómeno religioso hoy: Caminos metodológicos. UNAM.
de la Peña, F. (2001). Milenarismo, nativismo y neotradicionalismo en el México actual. Ciencias Sociales y Religión, 3, 95–113.
Toniol, R., Mossière, G., & Monnot, C. (2024). Spirituality in debates: Politics, genealogy, and new movements. Introduction. Social Compass, 4(70). https://doi.org/10.1177/00377686231222326
de la Torre, R. (2014). Los "newagers": El efecto colibrí. Artífices de menús especializados, tejedores de circuitos en la red, y polinizadores de culturas híbridas. Religiao & sociedade, 34(2), 36–64.
de la Torre, R., Zúñiga, C. (2011). La neomexicanidad y los circuitos new age. Archives de Sciences Sociales des Religions, 153, 183–206.
de la Torre, R. (2014). Red Path (Camino Rojo). Encyclopedia of Latin American Religions. https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/
de la Torre, R., & Zuñiga, C. (2005). Lógica del mercado y lógica de la creencia en la creación de mercancías simbólicas. Desacatos, (18), 53–70.
de la Torre, R., Gutiérrez Zúñiga, C., & Dansac, Y. (2021). Los efectos culturales de la creatividad ritual del neopaganismo. Ciencias Sociales Y Religión, 23(00).
de la Torre, R., Gutiérrez Zúñiga, C., & Juárez Huet, N. (coords.) (2013). Variaciones y apropiaciones latinoamericanas del New Age. Publicaciones de la Casa Chata.
Znamenski, A. (2007). The beauty of the primitive: Shamanism and Western imagination. Oxford Academic.
Fuentes de Internet:
Latinobarómetro Database. http://www.latinobarometro.org
Religion in Latin America. Pew Research Center. http://www.pewforum.org
Additional information
Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system: