Religion and the Awakening of Indigenous People in Latin America

Abstract

The “awakening” of the indigenous people of Latin America raises the following question: is it accompanied by a religious revitalization and a return to ancestral beliefs and rituals? Religion is, indeed, present in protests and visible movements such as those in Mexico or Ecuador, but religion does not appear to be the principal factor or the deepest source of these movements. Thus, alongside the rapid expansion of evangelicals (especially Pentecostals) among the indigenous communities, we also observe the higher profile and the increased respect achieved by ancestral indigenous religious traditions. Elsewhere, intense missionary activity by various churches has contributed to the emergence of new indigenous leaders, and shamanic rituals function as a means of reaffirmation of ethnic identity and in support of the struggle to recover ancestral lands, a struggle which is acquiring a sacred character. The battle is political and ethnic; it is fought for recognition of indigenous rights, for the specificity of people and their communities, for their ancestral lands, and for their cultural expression. Belief is by no means uniform among indigenous peoples. But there is no doubt that religion is a part of the process of recovery of ethnic identity, even though it is under threat from globalization.

Evangelical indigenous radio stations in Colombia: Between the promotion of social change and religious indoctrination

“…The negative view on evangelism began to change with the growth of Latin American Pentecostalism, 1 which facilitated the appropriation and indigenization of Protestantism especially but not exclusively by popular masses (González and González, 2008). More recently, various researchers have launched a new generation of scholarship on ‘positive Evangelicalism’ (Burdick, 2005; Gill, 2008; Gumucio, 2002; Smilde, 2004; Steigenga and Smilde, 2004). Without denying its conservative moral stance and recognizing its cultural and organizational diversity, this scholarship shows how Pentecostalism has helped lower classes to navigate the uncertainties and instability created by neo-liberal policies (Martin, 1998), facilitated grass-roots political mobilization (Smilde, 2004), forged new generations of indigenous leaders (Gumucio, 2002), and improved women’s participation in the public and private spheres (Steigenga and Smilde, 2004).…”

“…Historically, the intervention of US evangelical missionaries in Latin America, particularly in indigenous communities, has been polemic due to the promotion of individual empowerment, ideological affinity with the status quo, and disregard for community action (Andrade, 2010; Demera Vargas, 2007; Garrard, 2010; Gros, 1999; O’Neill, 2010; Orta, 2004; Stoll, 1982). In recent years, scholars have started providing more nuanced discussions of the social role of traditional and non-traditional evangelicalism, such as Pentecostalism (Burdick, 2005; González and González, 2008; Gumucio, 2002). This approach inspired this analysis on the Misak’s unlicensed evangelical radio stations Srю Wam (Good News in the Misak language, Nam Trick) and Pentecostal Estereo.…”

El mercado laboral y la religión: la religión “vivida” de la diáspora comercial de Otavalo (Ecuador)

“…Habría que enfatizar, además, que la concentración en los aspectos económicos y políticos no debe marginar la importancia de las potentes transformaciones socio-culturales e identitarias en el origen. El auge evangélico a nivel mundial afectó también, en gran medida, a las poblaciones indígenas del continente americano (Gumucio, 2002). En el caso de los otavalos, tuvo un importante impacto en el desarrollo de la especialización empresarial, su activismo político y la articulación de las relaciones intra y extragrupales (Korovkin, 1998;Lalander, 2010).…”

«El indígena tiene que estar siempre innovando»: transformaciones de la etnicidad de la diáspora comercial de Otavalo

“…El auge de las iglesias evangélicas ha influido de manera crucial en las poblaciones indígenas de América Latina (Gros 1999;Gumucio 2002) y, en el caso de los otavalos, ha repercutido en las formas de articulación de la etnicidad, en las relaciones sociales y económicas y en los cambios políticos (Korovkin 1998;Lalander 2010). Hay que tener en cuenta además la persistencia de las divisiones étnicas y raciales en el origen (Colloredo-Mansfeld 1999) así como las transformaciones del significado de las categorizaciones identitarias a lo largo de las últimas décadas (Huarcaya 2010;Stolle-McAllister 2013).…”