Syncretism and Liminality in Latin American and Latinx Religions

Dear Colleagues,

Cross-cultural fertilization has been happening for thousands of years during migrations, invasions, wars, and other forms of displacement. In recent history, a notable period of intense, accelerated cultural exchanges started during the conquest and colonization of the Americas, and the forced conversion to Christianity of millions of Amerindians, as well as slaves imported from Africa. In the words of Fernando Ortiz: “All the cultural scale that Europe traversed in more than four millennia Cuba experienced in less than four centuries…. In one day in Cuba millennia and ages went by.” This situation that continued during colonial times and is still present today required extreme adaptability and fluidity, creating ideal conditions for multiple forms of syncretism. Since the mid-nineteenth century, another important layer has been added to this puzzle, through the prevalence of liminal conditions, engendered by the movement of populations between the United States and Mexico. In recent years, new circumstances of "liminality", "outsiderhood", "structural inferiority", and "marginality" have been created as a consequence of the war on drugs, climate change, extreme poverty, and displacement of millions of migrants from Mexico and Central America to the United States. This unprecedented, permanent liminal status has led to the creation of alternative economic as well as cultural, including religious, circuits and practices, both in the borderlands and in large urban areas across the USA, as well as in Latin America. There is a great need for documenting and analyzing the new phenomena that have deep roots in history but are being created daily in even more complex ways. Therefore, we are looking for contributions analyzing any new religious phenomena both in Latin America and in the United States, as well as for new approaches to existing literature on the topic.

Prof. Dr. Malgorzata Oleszkiewicz-Peralba
Guest Editor

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