THE HOUSEHOLD BASIS OF EVANGELICAL RELIGION AND THE REFORMATION OF MACHISMO IN COLOMBIA (WOMEN, SOUTH AMERICA, GENDER, PENTECOSTALISM, KINSHIP).
Item
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Title
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THE HOUSEHOLD BASIS OF EVANGELICAL RELIGION AND THE REFORMATION OF MACHISMO IN COLOMBIA (WOMEN, SOUTH AMERICA, GENDER, PENTECOSTALISM, KINSHIP).
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Identifier
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AAI8614661
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identifier
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8614661
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Creator
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BRUSCO, ELIZABETH ELLEN.
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Contributor
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May Ebihara
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Date
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1986
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Anthropology, Cultural
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Abstract
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This study examines the effects of evangelical Protestantism on the domestic lives of converts in Colombia. Colombian evangelicalism serves to reform gender roles in a way that enhances female status. It promotes female interests not only in simple practical ways but also through its potential as an antidote to machismo (the culturally constructed emphatic masculinity which constitutes a variant of the male role in Colombia as well as in other parts of Latin America.).;The growth of evangelicalism in Colombia coincided with a decline in peasant household production, a consequent increase in female dependence on a male wage earner and a devaluation of women's role in the domestic sphere. This process also intensified the segregation of the sexes into public and private spheres and resulted in a breakdown in the articulation of male and female roles and values.;The asceticism required of evangelicals (drinking, smoking, and extra-marital sexual relations, among other things, are forbidden) brings about changes in the behavior of male converts, particularly in relation to the machismo complex. By reorienting into the household the resources spent on these things, such changes have the effect of raising the standard of living of women and children who are dependent on the income of these men. The relative participation of men and women in the domestic realm is reordered, and the sphere itself is redefined.;The study concludes that machismo attenuates the husband role by eroding the "prosperity ethic" as an affective component of the conjugal bond. This ethic, which entails the assumption that, upon marriage, spouses enter into a partnership committed to the well-being of the conjugal pair, their children and their kin unit, is reinstated by evangelical conversion. Much of the literature on Latin American conversion, both Weberian and Marxist, uncritically utilizes Western notions of "progress." By focusing on the level of social process within households, a distinction between "progress" and "prosperity" becomes evident, and it becomes clear that Colombian evangelicalism is not necessarily an "opiate" for the masses, nor is it the spirit of capitalism.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
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Program
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Anthropology
