Transnational Religion in Contemporary Latin America and the United States
January 26-27, 2006
This conference seeks to interrogate how religion and globalization are intertwined within transnationalized societies, from the perspectives of both the "sending" and the "receiving" countries, and to explore how church affiliation and church institutions react to and against the twin elemental forces of transnationalism and globalization. We will take as a point of departure the notion that religion is unusually well suited to transnationalism, since colonial Catholicism could be considered the first truly transnational entity in Latin America.
Program:
Thursday, January 26
1:30-2:00 - Introductions and greetings
Nicolas Shumway, Director, LLILAS
Bryan Roberts, Director, Mexican Center
Virginia Burnett, LLILAS
2:00-5:00 - Transnationalism and Religion (Ford Foundation Project)
Timothy Steigenga, Florida Atlantic University
Philip Williams, University of Florida
Commentator: Robert Woodberry, UT Austin, Sociology
Friday, January 27
9:30 - Coffee and morning greetings
Martha Newman, Introduction
9:45-12:00 - Brazil Panel
Paul Freston, Calvin College
Karina Belotti, Universidade de Campinas
Commentator: Andrew Chesnut, University of Houston
1:30-3:00 - Migration Panel
Jesse Bernal, UT Austin
Ed Gómez, El Buen Samaritano, Austin
José Leonardo Santos, Southern Methodist University
Joseph Berra, Central American and Caribbean Research Center
Commentator: Paul Barton, Episcopal Seminary of the Southwest
3:30-5:00 - Film
Toribio Romo: Martyr Saint of the Northern Migration
Sylvia Romo, UT Austin
Commentator: Anne Martinez, UT Austin, History
Free and open to the public.