About the Book
Based on ethnographic research by an interdisciplinary team of scholars and activists, Religion at the Corner of Bliss and Nirvana illuminates the role that religion plays in the civic and political experiences of new migrants in the United States. By bringing innovative questions and theoretical frameworks to bear on the experiences of Chinese, Filipino, Mexican, Salvadoran, and Vietnamese migrants, the contributors demonstrate how groups and individuals negotiate multiple religious, cultural, and national identities, and how religious faiths are transformed through migration. Taken together, their essays show that migrants’ religious lives are much more than replications of home in a new land. They reflect a process of adaptation to new physical and cultural environments, and an ongoing synthesis of cultural elements from the migrants’ countries of origin and the United States.As they conducted research, the contributors not only visited churches and temples but also single-room-occupancy hotels, brothels, tattoo-removal clinics, and the streets of San Francisco, El Salvador, Mexico, and Vietnam. Their essays include an exploration of how faith-based organizations can help LGBT migrants surmount legal and social complexities, an examination of transgendered sex workers’ relationship with the unofficial saint Santisima Muerte, a comparison of how a Presbyterian mission and a Buddhist temple in San Francisco help Chinese immigrants to acculturate, and an analysis of the transformation of baptismal rites performed by Mayan migrants. The voices of gang members, Chinese and Vietnamese Buddhist nuns, members of Pentecostal churches, and many others animate this collection. In the process of giving voice to these communities, the contributors interrogate theories about acculturation, class, political and social capital, gender and sexuality, the sociology of religion, transnationalism, and globalization. The collection includes twenty-one photographs by Jerry Berndt.
Contributors. Luis Enrique Bazan, Kevin M. Chun, Hien Duc Do, Patricia Fortuny Loret de Mola, Joaquin Jay Gonzalez III, Sarah Horton, Cymene Howe, Mimi KhÚc, Jonathan H. X. Lee, Lois Ann Lorentzen, Andrea Maison, Dennis Marzan, Rosalina Mira, Claudine del Rosario, Susanna Zaraysky
Table of Contents:
Preface: Advancing Theory and Method / Lois Ann Lorentzen, Kevin M. Chun, Joaquin Jay Gonzalez III, and Hien Duc Do vii
Acknowledgments xxvii
Part 1. Gender and Sexualities
Devotional Crossings: Transgender Sex Workers, Santisima Muerte, and Spiritual Solidarity in Guadalajara and San Francisco / Cymene Howe, Susanna Zaraysky, and Lois Ann Lorentzen 3
Sexual Borderlands: Lesbian and Gay Migration, Human Rights, and the Metropolitan Community Church / Cymene Howe 39
El Milagro EstÁ en Casa: Gender and Private and Public Empowerment in a Migrant Pentecostal Church / Lois Ann Lorentzen with Rosalina Mira 69
Part 2. Acculturation
Religious Organizations in San Francisco Chinatown: Sites of Acculturation for Chinese Immigrant Youth / Kevin M. Chun 89
Immigrant Religious Adaptation: Vietnamese American Buddhists as Chua Viet Name (Vietnamese Buddhist Temple) / Hien Duc Do and Mimi KhÚc 124
Part 3. Transnationalism
Americanizing Philippine Churches and Filipinizing American Congregations / Joaquin Jay Gonzalez III 141
Creating a Transnational Religious Community: The Empress of Heaven and Goddess of the Sea, Tianhou/Mazu, from Beigang to San Francisco / Jonathan H. X. Lee 166
Ahora la luz: Transnational Gangs, the State, and Religion / Lois Ann Lorentzen with Luis Enrique Bazan 184
Transnational Hetzmek: From Oxkutzcab to San Francisco / Patricia Fortuny Loret de Mola 207
The Latino "Springtime" of the Catholic Church: Lay Religious Networks and Transnationalism from Below / Sarah Horton 243
Part 4. Civic and Political Engagment
We Do Not Bowl Alone: Cultural and Social Capital from Filipino Faiths / Joaquin Jay Gonzalez III, Andrea Maison, and Dennis Marzan 265
Counterhegemony Finds Place in a Hegemon: Activism through Filipino-American Churches / Joaquin Jay Gonzalez III and Claudine del Rosario 285
Appendix A: Research Questions 311
Appendix B: Family Member Questionnaire 316
References 325
Contributors 355
Index 359
About the Author :
Lois Ann Lorentzen is Chair of Theology and Religious Studies and Director of the Center for Latino Studies in the Americas at the University of San Francisco.
Joaquin Jay Gonzalez III is Associate Professor of Politics and Director of the Yuchengco Philippine Studies Program at the University of San Francisco.
Kevin M. Chun is Professor of Psychology and Director of the Asian American Studies Program at the University of San Francisco.
Hien Duc Do is Professor of Social Sciences and Asian American Studies and Coordinator of the Asian American Studies Program at San Jose State University.
Review :
"Religion at the Corner of Bliss and Nirvana offers a cornucopia of fresh insights into the multiple roles that religion plays for immigrant communities. It includes groundbreaking comparisons among various Asian and Latino groups, ranging from Salvadoran Pentecostals, Vietnamese Theravada Buddhists, Filipino Roman Catholics, and Chinese American Presbyterians. The volume also stands out for its innovative and perceptive exploration of the connections among transnationalism, spiritual journeys, gender crossings, and acculturation."--Manuel A. Vasquez, University of Florida "Religion at the Corner of Bliss and Nirvana is a welcome new compilation of research on migrants and religion. It not only addresses subjects such as identity and politics, but also gives voice to groups and institutions not often considered by religious studies, such as transnational gangs, Filipino American faith-based organizations, and adherents of the Chinese goddess Tianhou. By considering these together, this anthology offers new perspectives on the intersections of faith and immigration."--Russell Jeung, author of Faithful Generations: Race and New Asian American Churches
