Browsing by Subject "Liberation theology"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3

Guatemalan Kairos : Catholic social thought, liberation, and the course of history, 1965-1976
(2013-12) Chandler, Creighton; Garrard, Virginia, 1957-
Guatemalan Kairos chronicles the rise of the discourse of liberation in Guatemala’s Catholic Church in the decade following the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965). In these years, as this study reveals, faith and human history comprised a double helix, constituting two interdependent and mutually supporting sides of the same soteriological vision. Rooted in Vatican II’s call to read the “signs of the times,” this historically conscious theological framework not only propelled Guatemala’s burgeoning progressive Catholic Church to redirect its pastoral practices toward the poor and the marginalized, especially Guatemala’s indigenous majority through an indigenized Catholicism. That new approach also sought to reshape the nation’s history by redrawing its socioeconomic, epistemological, and cultural landscape, in part through the formation of socially engaged lay leaders (catechists). Scholarship on the liberationist church has largely focused on how, as Guatemala’s Cold War civil war (1960-1996) sunk to its nadir in the late 1970s, state repression targeted the church as “subversive.” This dissertation, by contrast, seeks to step back from this prevailing attention on later repression to reconstruct the social and cultural liberative imagination prior to this religious revolution and state counterrevolution. In so doing, it cautions against historical interpretations that have ineluctably connected liberationist praxis in the decade after Vatican II to the—often catechist-led—armed or covert revolutionary activity of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Moreover, intensified by the defeat of the Guatemalan Left, the post-Peace Accords (December 1996) entrenchment of neoliberalism has brought hard times for critical historical consciousness. Indeed, as this study’s concluding chapter outlines, how to read the signs of the current historically fragmented times and craft a narrative for liberation amid today’s deep structural injustice remains a formidable obstacle. Perhaps the most daunting hurdle in this endeavor is to raise awareness of the need itself, particularly given that Guatemala’s historical record remains confronted by the perils inherent in harnessing faith and history in order to shape contemporary circumstances.
Mysticism in the landless rural workers movement (MST) of Brazil : secular religion or liberation theology repackaged?
(2006-05) Smyth, Julia Chelise, 1979-; Garrard, Virginia, 1957-
This thesis focuses on the use of mysticism in the Landless Rural Workers Movement (MST) of Brazil in their struggle for agrarian reform and social justice. Instead of stagnating or disappearing as has befallen many agrarian movements in Brazil, the MST continues to fight for agrarian reform more than 20 years after its formation, and has spread to all states in Brazil, gaining access to land for 250,000 families along the way. The purpose of this thesis is to examine the MST's own brand of mysticism, called mística, to ascertain both its historical roots and influences and its purpose within the movement. Given the movement's relationship with the both the progressive wing of the Brazilian Catholic Church and prominent liberation theologians and the influence socialist and humanist ideals in the organizational structure and implementation of the movement's practices, mística emerges as a tool for creating a community of landless who come to the movement with distinct economic, cultural, and political histories. Mística acts as both a secular religion and a reworking of liberation theology views on mysticism in the Catholic tradition, an act of daily remembrance and inspiration for the landless, with its own symbols and liturgy.
Stratification, religion, and migration in the Western Highlands of Guatemala : a demographic and sociological analysis of two indigenous populations and perceptions of social issues
(2015-12-03) Kasun, Stanley Louis; Rodriguez, Néstor; Powers, Daniel A; Roberts, Bryan R; Regnerus, Mark; Hale, Charles R
The anthropologist Velásquez Nimatuj undertook her study of the K’iche’ of the Western Highlands of Guatemala as both a personal and scientific mission to better understand the interweaving layers of systematic oppression, which include race, class, and gender (2002:35–6). Her work described these layers of oppression from outside the indigenous community as well as within the community. My dissertation complements her work by examining the social position and attitudes of two indigenous K’iche’ communities in the Highlands. I examine stratification, religion, and migration in three separate chapters, describing the demographic context of the K’iche’ communities and how they fit into the wider local, national, and global context. My case study is unique, in the sense that it controls for race-ethnicity, but the towns have different socio-economic structures. The second part of each chapter examines differences in attitudes toward stratification, politics, the economy, and migration issues, both local and international. My hypotheses in each chapter states that the influence of the socio-economic organization of the town in which the respondents live will influence their attitudes toward social issues more than their religious denomination, sense of God’s presence, or whether the respondent belongs to a migrant household. Liberation theologians synthesized the lives and struggles of Latin America’s poor with both religion and science. Their goal was to give inspiration to the multitudes of Latin Americans who lived in extreme poverty, and to give space in society for changes in socio-economic structures of oppression and exploitation. In my chapters, I focus on how private property has been used to create the social structures now in existence. My research is based on a sample survey of 224 respondents, divided between San Cristóbal and Zunil. This study uses quantitative analysis, but it borrows from qualitative research and comparative historical sociology to establish the social context of the two towns and the social position of the respondents. The dissertation reviews relevant social research on stratification, religion, and migration, which provides the sociological context for each chapter.