Local-Level Global Religion: The Case of U.S.-Dominican Migration

Recent work calls attention to religious globalization - the proliferation of transnational religious structures and movements that challenge the nation state. But contemporary migration prompts a different type of religious transnationalism that has not been sufficiently explored. Sustained connections between communities of origin and destination give rise to a set of transnationalized institutional relationships, discourses, and practices that globalize everyday religious life at the local level. This articles aims to contribute to a more systematic understanding of local-level religious globalization by exploring the case of Catholic church ties spanning Boston and the Dominican Republic. It also stresses the importance of taking into account sustained homeland attachments in understanding everyday immigrant religious life. Strong ties between migrants and nonmigrants created a transnational religious sphere within which people, resources, and social remittances were constantly exchanged. Religious life in Boston and the Dominican Republic were reciprocally transformed as a result. Subsequent emigres continue to infuse fresh Dominicanness into the Boston church, though it is a Dominicanness that is increasingly pan-Latino in tone. In this way, transnational ties reinforce religious pluralism at the same time that they limit its scope.