Comparative Cultural Studies - European and Latin American Perspectives

“Dulce Padre Pio, estoy aquí en oración… para rogarte que vengas en nuestra ayuda y nos protejas del covid”. Algunas reflexiones teóricas sobre la relación entre religión y COVID 19

2021-04-13T16:16:32+00:00

La storia di un’epidemia: dall’immaginario sfuggente, all’incertezza del domani

2021-04-13T16:16:22+00:00

A distant pain that suddenly involves us. Covid 19 seemed to be a matter that concerned only China, instead we soon found ourselves counting our dead and dealing with “suspended mourning”, that is, facing death without being able to access the usual system of rituals and symbols that accompany the event. A pandemic, as La Spagnola had been in other periods, puts us in a position of uncertainty, but perhaps it stimulates us to find meekness and be more hospitable. The possibility of being able to become better is the message of hope, as are the flowers that continue to bloom demonstrating the victory of beauty in a time of despair.

Il respiro corto dello Spirito nelle mega-chiese, ai tempi della pandemia

2021-04-13T16:16:13+00:00

What effect has the pandemic on Mega-churches? The forced closure or drastic reduction of those present admitted to religious services has in fact called into question both the regime of truth that many of these churches follow, from the theological and spiritual point of view, and the drama-liturgy of hand-to-hand combat between the transmormative force of the Spirit and the prince of all evils, Satan. In this way, Mega-churches moved from the mass event experienced in large auditoriums to an online service, on a domestic scale, for many anonymous and distant faithful, to which a consoling message can be conveyed in a phase of inconvenience and suffering in their daily life. The epidemic has stolen the scene from the great performers of the Mega-churches and from those who, enthusiastic, took their seats in the stalls or moved freely possessed by spirits waiting to be freed, actively participating in the deliverance’s rite. These faithful, probably, now watching from a distance at home, in front of their computer screen, another scene, less involving and, above all, without the parrhesia of the regime of truth, which materialized in the ritual space. The epidemic represents a double contingency for the Mega-churches: on the one hand, it weakens the theological vision of a God who can do everything and of the Spirit who blows triumphantly and defeats all evil, on the other, it dematerializes the presence of the enemy who becomes invisible and intrusive, no longer physically dominable, from which no charismatic leader is more able to delivere the faithful.

Tra saeculum e mysterium fidei. La chiesa cattolica in regime di lockdown

2021-04-13T16:16:06+00:00

The consequences of the pandemic on the presence of the Catholic Church. The relation State-Church. The adaptive strategies by the church followers and by the religious institution. The role played by Pope Francis.The Catholicism between visibility and evanescence. The questions asked to the institution and the possible outcomes for the future way of believing.

Religione, scienza e pandemia

2021-04-13T16:15:57+00:00

The article is inspired by the protests of an important part of the Catholic world against the interdiction of religious liturgies, during the second “confinement” – French term for the lockdown –, imposed by the Macron government at the end of October 2020. The protest resulted in demonstrations in front of the churches, strongly calling for the restoration of masses. The protest was further intensified when the authorization for Masses was given, but with the limit of thirty persons, not one more, not one less – independently of the size of the church. The absurdity of the decision (endorsed by the Scientific Council) reveals the fact that most of the lockdown measures and various curfews are not justified by rigorous scientific arguments. The Catholics kneeling in front of the churches have exposed – and in a blatant way – the obtuse dogmatism of alleged choices inspired by “science”, which seems to reverse the historical positions of religion and science. Moreover, the logic of lockdowns imposes a scientist-like world view that considers religious practice, with its rituals, as non-essential for the life of citizens. The Catholics who demonstrate are opposed to a vision of man and society according to which the only concern is to save the bare biological life – the zoé, animal life that identifies with the natural cycle –, with technical measures ignoring the bios, which concerns the higher faculties of man with his spiritual needs.

El castillo de la pureza. Concepto de Hogar Mundo y la irrupción de los Nuevos Puritanismos en el contexto de la pandemia de COVID 19

2021-04-13T16:15:50+00:00

This text tries to show the emergence of a new social dimension identified as Home-World and how through its New Puritanism linked to the religious sphere gain strength that although they resemble the field of neo-conservatisms, but simultaneously distance themselves from them from the field private. The work takes as a reference what happened in Mexico during the COVID 19 pandemic. Methodologically this is an interpretive exercise of a social representation of both the Home-World and what we identify here as New Puritanism based on data, information and events that allow outline this sociological reality.

Pueblos indígenas y religiosidad en México frente a la pandemia por COVID-19

2021-04-13T16:15:43+00:00

The COVID-19 pandemic shows adverse effects around the world, not only in the socio-economic aspect but also in religious practices, which are fundamental for the cohesion and affirmation of the identity of indigenous peoples. In Mexico, the forms that Catholicism has adopted to adapt to the health contingency stand out for the use of information and communication technologies. However, in indigenous (rural) communities, there is not enough infrastructure to transfer religious practices to these formats. Consequently, some villages suspended these activities, while others continued autonomously, despite the health contingency, that is because religion is fundamental to protect themselves and face events such as the pandemic. This article describes – through the application of telephone interviews and monitoring of the communication spaces of the Catholic communities and missions – how the religious experience of some Tojolabal peoples in Chiapas and an Ixcatecan village in Oaxaca. Likewise, how indigenous communities follow their spiritual practices or not and how religion plays a fundamental role in Mexican indigenous communities despite confinement and social distance in the context of the pandemic.

Cristianismo y pandemia en Argentina. Notas sobre la secularización del discurso religioso

2021-04-13T16:15:36+00:00

The article analyzes the discourse of religious specialists on the pandemic. Throughout the essay we offer some provisional answers based on what happened in Argentina with the authorities of the Catholic Church and the associations of evangelical churches. We defend the hypothesis that the discourse of these religious actors about the pandemic had a low level of enchantment. We also affirm that it was based on a secularized view of society, health and politics, devoid of apocalyptic and conspiratorial perspectives. On the other hand, we affirm that two moments can be demarcated. In the first months, Christian religious institutions supported the government’s health measures. However, in the following months, critical voices emerged demanding more attention to religion in public policy.

Fede cristiana, devozione mariana e pandemia da covid-19. Il “caso” della comunità di Biancavilla (Ct)

2021-04-13T16:15:29+00:00

The crisis dramatically resulting from the sudden pandemic for Covid-19 had immediate and long-term consequences. From a religious point of view, what were the answers? The civil and ecclesial community of Biancavilla country is unique in the Etna province and in Valdemone, since it is the only one of Arbëreshë origin, although now Latinized, arrived and finally settled at the foot of Etna, after the exile following the fall of Byzantium. The exiles brought with them an icon of the Mary of almsgiving, which is to some extent at the origin of the foundation of the town. The local historical, social and religious history is linked to the cult, first Byzantine, then Latin, of the Virgin of Mercy, and its icon. The people of Biancavilla country have always devoted their devotion to it, especially on the occasion of wars, famines, plagues, obtaining, according to the faith of the people, the favor of the Virgin, despite the fact that neighboring communities were equally affected. We want to report the “case” of the Biancavilla community, which faced the health emergency caused by Covid-19, also from a religious point of view with a constant, broad, varied commitment, not only liturgical or devotional, but also educational. Expressing once again its Christian faith in devotion to the Virgin of Alms, her patron. While the commitment of the clergy to a constant liturgical and pastoral activity has not been lacking, the faithful also maintained the oratorio and educational activities through the use of the internet, using all the communication channels available, with positive results also with respect to other civil and religious communities, during the long period of isolation, keeping personal and community relationships alive. The biancavillese marian devotion therefore permeated and acted as an agglutinant of the overall estate of the small town of Biancavilla.

Lockdown e “Chiesa in uscita”. Un caso di studio in Italia: la fraternità “AGBP”

2021-04-15T08:08:04+00:00

The impetuosity of the Sars-Covid 2 infection has been remarkable, quickly upsetting the habits of individuals in every seat of the planet. We can observe, on the one hand, the individuals, lost and called to redefine every area of their daily lives. On the other, the institutions that, seizing this loss, have been called to play their essential role of creating and strengthening social bonds. The Catholic Church has promoted respect for the norms, without renouncing a “religious offer” which seems to have responded to an effective demand for accompaniment with a lot of possibility to chose on line liturgical celebrations, with a multiplicity of forms and possibilities of access. Among the various options possible, it was decided to focus attention on a specific case: the case of the fraternity “Amici di Gesù Buon Pastore” (AGBP), which has experienced a significant increase in its followers in the days of lockdown. In particular, we will ask ourselves what so many spiritual-followers have been looking for and if (and how) this interest, born during the quarantine period, can transform the new forms of religious belonging into a context where the historical religions seem to be unattractive if compared to the many alternatives of spirituality present on the “market”.

Comunità da remoto. Il laboratorio della diaspora cristiano-ortodossa davanti alla pandemia

2021-04-13T16:15:17+00:00

This paper pledges to illustrate and analyse the practices and measures that Eastern European Orthodox Christian communities in the diaspora implemented in response to the global phenomenon of the SARS-CoV-2 epidemic. A comparative study of two different West-European communities, in Italy and France, will be attempted through the tools of multi-sited participant observation. We will illustrate the alternative forms of reaction and re-aggregation implemented by the faithful and their priests by putting them in communication with the two local contexts, and with the overall dynamics that have affected contemporary Orthodoxy. Observation will therefore offer fruitful opportunities to investigate the semantic variations with which Orthodox communities translate the debate between tecno-scientific measures and religious dogmas, and between civil and religious authorities, in a scenario in which orthodox migrants are protagonists of both a growing religious transnationalization, and a new everyday life regulated by epidemic risk and physical and social distancing. We will therefore focus on the production from below of new practices, which have readjusted the community belonging and the adherence to dogmas and traditional rituality, both central in Orthodox Christianity, to the current condition.

Brasile, terra del futuro

2021-04-13T16:15:13+00:00

The short note represents a travel “journal”, prepared between the end of October 2020 and the end of January 2021, in the Brazilian state of Ceará and in Rio de Janeiro. It includes brief descriptions of glimpses of everyday life, in the vague search for an anthropological gaze; reflections or rather attempts to develop an embryonic analysis; confused evocations of feelings and memories. The pandemic cannot be ignored, but the note shows how social distancing cannot occur in Brazilian society. Despite this, Brazil does not have a higher number of deaths than European countries, but lower.

Olimpia Affuso, Ercole Giap Parini, Ambrogio Santambrogio, Gli Italiani in quarantena. Quaderni da un “carcere” collettivo, Perugia, Editori Morlacchi, 2020

2021-04-13T16:15:08+00:00