Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Politics and Belief of Religious Conversion

新学院大学博士生迭戈·卡盖纳斯将在安·斯托勒博士的指导下，对拉丁美洲土著政治化现象进行人类学研究。他将通过镜头来看待这些变化，即从殖民列强引入的世界宗教转向复兴的地方宗教。拉丁美洲的这类运动呼应了当代世界许多地区对世俗主义的更广泛反对，这使得它们具有社会科学和社会政策利益。研究将在哥伦比亚的蒂耶拉丹特罗进行，1994年的一场山体滑坡促使当地的Nasa人回归传统宗教习俗。这位研究人员将调查对人格的重新定义，这些重新定义是美国国家航空航天局被称为宇宙观的激进复兴的特征。NASA活动人士一直在努力将NASA的灵性重塑为一个自主的信仰体系，这排除了土著和基督教哲学的融合。他们的目标是创造一个“真正的美国宇航局”，与更广阔的精神世界和一系列本土信仰相协调。研究人员假设，在一个日益世俗的社会中，当地行为者将皈依天主教或宇宙观作为个人重新认同的策略，作为积极形成种族自我意识的一部分。研究方法将包括长期参与者观察、结构化和半结构化访谈以及对档案文件的分析。这项研究的结果不仅将有助于对代表性不足的地理区域的研究，还将讨论一个更广泛的主题：天主教福传对土著信仰和政治激进主义的历史和持续影响。这项研究之所以重要，是因为它将有助于从理论上理解世界范围内远离世俗主义的趋势。资助这项研究还支持社会科学家的教育。

New School University doctoral student Diego Caguenas, supervised by Dr. Ann Stoler, will undertake anthropological research on the phenomenon of indigenous politicization in Latin America. The lens through which he will view these changes is the movement away from world religions introduced by colonial powers and back to revived local religions. Such movements in Latin America echo a broader rejection of secularism in many parts of the contemporary world, which makes them of social scientific as well as social policy interest.The research will be carried out in Tierradentro, Colombia, where a 1994 landslide prompted the indigenous Nasa people to return to traditional religious practices. The researcher will investigate redefinitions of personhood that characterize this radical Nasa revivalism called Cosmovision. Nasa activists have been working to recast Nasa spirituality as an autonomous belief system, which precludes the melding of native and Christian philosophies. Their aim is to produce a "true Nasa" who would be attuned to a broader spiritual universe and set of native beliefs. The researcher hypothesizes that local actors take up conversion to Catholicism or to Cosmovision as strategies of personal re-identification in an increasingly secular society as part of the active formation of an ethnic self-awareness. Research methods will include long-term participant observation, structured and semi-structured interviewing, and analysis of archival documents.The findings of this research will contribute not only to the study of an underrepresented geographical area, but will also address a broader topic: the historic and ongoing impact of Catholic evangelization on indigenous beliefs and political activism. The research is important because it will contribute to theoretical understanding of a worldwide trend away from secularism. Funding this research also supports the education of a social scientist.