Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Politics and Belief of Religious Conversion

The New School, New York NY

Investigators

Abstract

New School University doctoral student Diego Caguenas, supervised by Dr. Ann Stoler, will undertake anthropological research on the phenomenon of indigenous politicization in Latin America. The lens through which he will view these changes is the movement away from world religions introduced by colonial powers and back to revived local religions. Such movements in Latin America echo a broader rejection of secularism in many parts of the contemporary world, which makes them of social scientific as well as social policy interest. The research will be carried out in Tierradentro, Colombia, where a 1994 landslide prompted the indigenous Nasa people to return to traditional religious practices. The researcher will investigate redefinitions of personhood that characterize this radical Nasa revivalism called Cosmovision. Nasa activists have been working to recast Nasa spirituality as an autonomous belief system, which precludes the melding of native and Christian philosophies. Their aim is to produce a "true Nasa" who would be attuned to a broader spiritual universe and set of native beliefs. The researcher hypothesizes that local actors take up conversion to Catholicism or to Cosmovision as strategies of personal re-identification in an increasingly secular society as part of the active formation of an ethnic self-awareness. Research methods will include long-term participant observation, structured and semi-structured interviewing, and analysis of archival documents. The findings of this research will contribute not only to the study of an underrepresented geographical area, but will also address a broader topic: the historic and ongoing impact of Catholic evangelization on indigenous beliefs and political activism. The research is important because it will contribute to theoretical understanding of a worldwide trend away from secularism. Funding this research also supports the education of a social scientist.