Christianity and Democracy in Latin America: Religious Practice and Citizenship in Catholic and Protestant Organizations in Bolivia, Guatemala and Argentina

• Applicant: Tobias Reu, Ph.D.
• Subject Area: Social and Cultural Anthropology and Ethnology
• Term: from 2017 to 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 390092447

As crime, corruption, economic crises, and inequality undermine the legitimacy of democratic government in Latin American countries, many people seek ways out of violence and poverty in the Christian faith. What relations exist between the re-invigoration of Christian religiosity that characterizes Latin American societies and popular attitudes toward democracy and the state? What does the religious life in churches and faith-based associations contribute to political cultures? This project uses ethnographic methods to compare connections between religious life and citizenship practices in evangelical and Catholic organizations in Bolivia, Guatemala and Argentina. It aims to make a substantial contribution to an understanding of the relation between Christianity and the state of democracy in contemporary Latin America. Inspired by the theme of voluntary associations as schools of democratic practice, which Alexis de Tocqueville introduced into political theory, this project rests on the assumption that the involvement in religious organizations shapes participants' attitudes toward society and the state. Following the lead of recent anthropological work on democracy and citizenship, the project aims at the specific cultural contents that religious practice adds to how people in Latin America participate in their political communities. In particular, these contents are sought in notions and practices of authority and leadership (Spanish: liderazgo) that are entailed in the religious precepts and structures of communal organization that Christian churches and voluntary associations promote.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Co-Investigator: Professorin Dr. Joanna Pfaff-Czarnecka