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- Title
Religion and politics in land takeovers in Mexico: new dimensions of "classical" social movements?
- Authors
Doran, Marie-Christine
- Abstract
Within Latin American contemporary studies, the ties between religion and politics seem to be informed by certain presuppositions: religion is tied either to the question of poverty or to the weakening of the State, bringing with it the possibility of supplanting politics with religion. However, during the last 15 years, many "classical" and non-religious Latin American social movements such as land takeovers and peasant movements in Brazil, Paraguay, or Mexico have incorporated religious dimensions in their repertories of collective action. In order to assess whether these new religious aspects affect socio-political dimensions and practices in these traditionally non-overtly religious social movements, this article examines the case of Mexican land takeovers (invasiones) that have been occurring since 1998 in various regions suffering from extreme poverty. Through discourse analysis of interviews and life stories, and analysis of new religious practices, this article shows the existence of a collective miracle phenomenon, present in all of the cases of land takeovers that were observed in Mexico. It seeks to determine whether this collective miracle discourse and new religious practices interfere with more socio-political dimensions and what the result is on collective action in Mexico, taking into account the particular historical background of religion and politics in this country.
- Subjects
MEXICO; LATIN America; RELIGION &; politics; SOCIAL movements; LAND use; POVERTY; MEXICAN civilization; RELIGION; RELIGIOUS life
- Publication
Canadian Journal of Latin American & Caribbean Studies (Canadian Association of Latin American & Caribbean Studies (CALACS)), 2014, Vol 39, Issue 1, p72
- ISSN
0826-3663
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1080/08263663.2014.978165