Regards sur les minorités religieuses en Amérique latine et les Caraïbes contemporaines

Argument

Societies in Latin America and the Caribbean have historically been marked by a strong Christian cultural imprint, which has been maintained to the present day and has helped to define the relationship between the state and religious institutions. This relationship between national identity and Christian identity has been stronger in certain historical periods, in which the political and the religious have succeeded in creating an integral national identity (Mallimaci and Esquivel 2014: 73), while at the same time making the recognition of religious minorities and diverse identities problematic. It is in this context that a relationship of distance with minorities (Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Umbanda, Hinduism, etc.) and what they represent has been constructed, a characteristic that has persisted to the present day. These different religious communities, which settled in the region at different times in history, have carried out a vast work of education, promotion and dissemination of their religious culture and values, very often emphasizing national recognition and belonging. However, some religions (such as Islam) continue to be perceived as “religions of foreigners”, as something distant, exotic, little known, or not integrated into the imagination and social representations. Representations that refer to a national identity and, at the same time, construct a “historical otherness” (Segato, 2007). This complex imaginary that is nourished by the relationship that is instituted between otherness and nation is the object of our Thematic Session.

This session aims to enrich and open new avenues of reflection on religious minorities in Latin America and the Caribbean and on the development of a national memory and culture. We are particularly interested in research based on empirical surveys (work on archives, ethnographies, analysis of statistical data, interviews) that seek to understand the links between the nation, national identity and minority religions, explore the relationship between majority religion and religious minorities (dialogues, conflicts, borrowings, etc.) or report on concrete aspects of the presence of these religious minorities in Latin American and Caribbean countries (rituals, practices, relationship to politics, etc.)

Session Convener(s)

• Nadège Mézié – Universidad Estadual de Campinas, Brasil
• Mari-Sol García Somoza – Canthel, Université de Paris / Universidad de Buenos Aires

Submission guidelines

The ISSR conference, 12-15 July 2021 will be a fully digital conference.

The call for sessions is now closed. You can access the list of sessions here. We now open the call for papers, which will run until 28 February 2021.

You may have a look at the list of sessions, names of convener(s), and abstracts for each of the sessions, and decide to which one you would like to submit your paper. Propose a paper by using this link.

The proposal (title and abstract up to 250 words) should be only in one language – English or French – in which you would like to present your paper.