Latinoamérica Religiosa: Approaching Modern Latin America through the Study of Religion

Academics and policy makers often take Latin America for granted as a clearly defined and culturally coherent region of the world. For many, this stems from the economic, political, and cultural ties that date back to the Spanish, Portuguese, and French colonial periods. But the concept of Latin America is a modern one that emerged from nineteenth-century debates over statecraft and was modeled on old world divisions between Anglo/Teutonic Europe on the one hand and Latin Europe on the other. In many ways, this imposition fit quite poorly in the Americas. With its astounding diversity (ethnic, geographical, economic, political, and otherwise), Latin America defies easy generalizations. So, what is it that makes this category useful today? In this essay, I draw on a multilingual and multidisciplinary body of scholarly literature to argue that the study of religion is one of our best tools for understanding the echoes, parallels, and divergences that have defined the history of modern Latin America. Additionally, I hope to show that a broad, interdisciplinary approach to the study of religion has much to offer the fields of inquiry we call area studies.