Abstract

FORTUNY LORET DE MOLA, Patricia. Migrantes y peregrinos de La Luz del Mundo: religión popular y comunidad moral transnacional. Nueva antropol [online]. 2012, vol.25, n.77, pp.179-200. ISSN 0185-0636.

The article analyzes the central ritual (Holy Supper) of a Mexican evangelical church. The celebration attracts faithful who are both American citizens and immigrants in the United States. While the theology of religion amounts to a Pentecostal denomination, multiple practices and contents of popular religion can be found. The analysis of the ritual shows the religious community is the prime mover of transnationalism among migrant believers. On this feast day, the followers of the religious minority express their opposition to dominant Catholicism, exhibiting their antagonistic relationship with the hegemonic social classes in Guadalajara, Jalisco, where the faith originated. As Victor Turner explains, the extraordinary time and place of the sacrament is useful to understand the symbolic investment, power relations, and the position of the Church and the underprivileged or oppressed faithful against the rest of Mexican society.

Keywords : ritual; popular religion; transnational moral community; migrant believers.

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