Chapter 1 Anthropological Theory

Introduction This dissertation is a historical ethnography of religious diversity in post- revolutionary Nicaragua, a study of religion and politics from the vantage point of Catholics who live in the city of Masaya located on the Pacific side of Nicaragua at the end of the twentieth century. My overarching research question is: How may ethnographically observed patterns in Catholic religious practices in contemporary Nicaragua be understood in historical context? Analysis of religious ritual provides a vehicle for understanding the history of the Nicaraguan struggle to imagine and create a viable nation-state. In Chapter 1, I explain how anthropology benefits by using Max Weber’s social theory as theoretical touchstone for paradigm and theory development. Considering postmodernism problematic for the future of anthropology, I show the value of Weber as a guide to reframing the epistemological questions raised by Michel Foucault and Talal Asad. Situating my discussion of contemporary anthropological theory of religion and ritual within a post-positive discursive framework—provided by a brief comparative analysis of the classical theoretical traditions of Durkheim, Marx, and Weber—I describe the framework used for my analysis of emerging religious pluralism in Nicaragua. My ethnographic and historical methods are discussed in Chapter 2. I utilize the classic methods of participant-observation, including triangulation back and forth between three host families. In every chapter, archival work or secondary historical texts ground the ethnographic data in its relevant historical context. Reflexivity is integrated into my ethnographic research, combining classic ethnography with post-modern narrative methodologies. My attention to reflexivity comes through mainly in the 10 description of my methods and as part of the explanation for my theoretical choices, while the ethnographic descriptions are written up as realist presentations. Masaya, especially its indigenous residents, played a prominent role in the resistance and insurrection that eventually contributed to the overthrow of the Somoza family dynasty. The 1979 Sandinista Revolution was noted for its embrace of liberation theology, a Catholic theological approach to the analysis of structural economic and social injustice that dared to bring the theological idea of the Christian gospel as “good news” for the poor into dialogue with actual economic, political, and social conditions of poor people. This radical approach utilized some elements of Marxian thought in order to understand Nicaragua’s peripheral position in the capitalist world-system. Realizing that liberation theology is one interpretation of Christianity among several available in Nicaragua, I focus on the religious thought and behavior of lay Catholics in Masaya and its Indian barrio of Monimbó as they experience religious competition within and against their religious worldview. Nicaraguan culture is saturated with Christianity, especially the public manifestations of Roman Catholicism that are practiced in the streets through ritual processions during feast days for saints and major holidays in the church’s liturgical calendar. However, increasingly evangelical faith groups are presenting a challenge to Catholic cultural hegemony. The growth of evangelical Protestantism beginning in the 1950’s and the much faster growth of Pentecostalism since the 1960’s have been accompanied by different forms of worship within Roman Catholicism itself. While the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church may be losing its cultural hegemony, at the same time lay Catholics are showing remarkably diverse forms of agency in the performance of their religious charismas. Chapter 3 presents a brief historical sketch of the city of Masaya. I trace this history from the time of Spanish domination over the Mesoamerican Indian population living in Monimbó to the present, when their descendants are a distinct ethnic group 11 living in the largest barrio of the modern-day city. The physical continuity of Monimbó as a place of work and residence has facilitated their self-identity as Indians in spite of the loss of indigenous language, dress, and religion. Catholicism plays a prominent role in the self-identity of Monimboseños. Chapter 4 describes Masaya’s San Jerónimo patron saint celebration from the point of view of the subaltern male members of the religious brotherhood (cofradía) whose role it is to carry the saint in street processions. Having observed a social drama during the 1999 patron saint festival in which the men who carry the saint symbolically rebuffed the then-sitting president of the country, Arnoldo Alemán, my attention focused on making sense of this politically symbolic use of ritual. Wondering who they were and why they would use this form of political protest lead me to an analysis of the ethnic and gendered history of the Catholic religious brotherhood that has its roots in the colonial institution of the civil-religious cargo cult. Chapter 5 is about another annual Catholic ritual celebration, la Purísima, the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary, whose history also reaches back to the colonial period, when it was introduced by Franciscan priests. Celebrated in the first week of December, la Purísima captures more time and attention in Nicaragua than Christmas. Discovering that Nicaraguan scholar Edgardo Buitrago considered la Purísima the “soul” of the nation, I began to ask questions about how imagining a distinctive Catholic nation impacted Nicaraguan history. How should the relationship between this festival ethnographically observed in the neighborhoods of Masaya and the Immaculate Conception as a national patron saint be understood? Could understanding Marian devotion shed light on the fate of the Sandinista effort to imagine a revolutionary nation-state? Chapter 6 is framed by a question posed by political scientist Anthony Gill: Can the emergence of liberation theology be more adequately explained by the phenomenon 12 of rapidly growing evangelical, non-Catholic religious competition than by a hypothesis of an internal awakening within the Roman Catholic Church to the injustices of poverty and political repression? Gill’s hypothesis prompted questions not only about how the “invasion of the sects” may have challenged the Roman Catholic Church to reconsider its lack of pastoral services to the poor majority, but also how the specific history of the Nicaraguan Roman Catholic Church reveals its transformation into a politically oppositional institution challenging the state. Could this transformation have actually taken place under the Sandinista government, not under the Somoza regime? While observing the Catholic Charismatic Renewal and the Neocatechumenal Way, I began to ask questions about these “new” movements are Catholic responses to the challenge of evangelical Christianity quite distinct from the more widely studied Christian Base Community associated with liberation theology. Gill’s hypothesis about religious competition leads me to ask questions that draw out similarities between these three modern Catholic religious movements rather than overemphasize their differences. What follows sheds light on how religious practices have influenced the way Nicaraguans imagine themselves as a nation. Religious rituals are useful windows for observing people make their own history. As the people of Masaya perform their faith, they illuminate a complex articulation of economic class, social status (principally ethnicity and gender), and political party. 13 Chapter 1 The Weberian Tradition and Postmodern Challenges: Theoretical Implications for a Historical Ethnography of Religion and Politics in Nicaragua The Discursive Nature of Social Theory Most theory courses in cultural anthropology begin by teaching three classical social theorists—Durkheim, Marx, and Weber (Moore 1999:3)—and such was true in my case. A key text was Anthony Giddens’ (1971) Capitalism and Modern Social Theory, a comparative analysis of these classical traditions that anthropology shares with other social sciences. Given that contemporary anthropology has been split between those seeking to find scientific tools for the study of humankind and those who believe that anthropology and the social sciences generally are best conducted as interpretive analysis, it is useful to return to the classics because all three “sought to break through the traditional philosophical division between idealism and materialism,” although this has not always been recognized by “secondary interpreters” (Giddens 1971: xv). All three classical thinkers were attempting to understand the structure of modern society, especially the impact of changes in the economic system (i.e., emergence of modern capitalism). I have chosen to take a postpositivist approach to social theory; i.e., a systematic, comparative examination of the discourse among social theorists in light of contemporary problems and issues. Jeffrey Alexander’s article (1987:21) has been my touchstone; he takes note of the way in which anthropology and its sister disciplines have found it difficult to arrive at consensus on abstract concepts, overarching theoretical frameworks, and empirical referents. Due to this lack of consensus, reference to the classics is needed to integrate the discourse. Following Alexander (1987:27) who says, 14 “To mutually acknowledge a classic is to have a common point of reference,” I have chosen the Weberian tradition as my common point of reference. Yet, the Weberian

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