An Associate Professor of Sociology at Boston College, Morello’s work seeks to move away from the continuing use of categories designed primarily for North Atlantic religious cultures, which serve to obscure Latin American religiosity and its unique dynamics, a key example being the European and North American lens of secularisation. In order to avoid a distorted understanding of Latin American religion, Morello instead proposes that, using over 250 interviews with people in three cities—Lima, Perú; Córdoba, Argentina; and Montevideo, Uruguay—we must start with the lived religious experiences of the people themselves, from which we can then develop our understanding of Latin American religion accordingly via new definitions and conceptual tools.
The book addresses issues of religion and modernity, engaging with such questions as how religion and modern culture interact with one another and the ways in which religion is influenced by modernity. Morello’s thesis rejects simplistic notions of secularisation as a force for the diminishment of religion in Latin America, but rather argues that the interaction between modernity and religion has resulted in religion’s transformation: an exploration of ordinary Latin Americans’ religious practise reveals more to religion than secularists would have us suspect, yet this also manifests itself in ways other than religious leaders might hope. This focus on ordinary people’s lived religiosity allows for better engagement with the ambiguity and creative modifications of individual religious practise, thus emphasising both individual agency beyond institutional structures as well as the broader interconnectedness of individuals’ religious traditions, objects and events.
An urgent and necessary work, Morello’s Lived Religion in Latin America offers a new, less distortive lens through which to look at religion not only in Latin America, but perhaps also in the world more widely.
You can purchase Lived Religion in Latin America here.
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