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UC Santa Barbara UC Santa Barbara Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Bordering Faith: spiritual transformation, cultural change, and Chicana/o youth Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8528v75h Author Fuentes, Francisco Javier Publication Date 2016 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Santa Barbara Bordering Faith: spiritual transformation, cultural change, and Chicana/o youth at the border A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Chicana and Chicano Studies by Francisco Javier Fuentes Jr. Committee in charge: Professor Ralph Armbruster-Sandoval, Chair Professor Dolores Inés Casillas Professor Rudy Busto December 2016 The dissertation of Francisco Javier Fuentes Jr. is approved. _____________________________________________ Dolores Inés Casillas _____________________________________________ Rudy Busto _____________________________________________ Ralph Armbruster-Sandoval, Committee Chair December 2016 Bordering Faith: spiritual transformation, cultural change, and Chicana/o youth at the border Copyright © 2016 by Francisco Javier Fuentes Jr. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS A work like this is no small feat and there are many people I would like to thank for walking with me on this journey. I owe my first thanks to my Dissertation Committee and all the faculty associated with the Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies, Sociology, and Religious Studies. I cannot express enough thanks to Dr. Ralph Armbruster-Sandoval who served as the chairman of my committee and was the first to provide me unyielding support in a cutting-edge program. I am also truly grateful for Dr. Inés Casillas and Dr. Rudy Busto who continued to make themselves available for feedback, conversations, and encouragement throughout the years. I could not have finished had it not been for their guidance and keen observations. I am also appreciative of Dr. Mario T. Garcia, Dr. Gerardo Aldana, and Dr. Peter J. Garcia who first taught me the power of scholarship as a Chicano. I have the work and instruction of Dr. Inés Talamantez, Dr. George Lipsitz, Dr. Victor Rios, Dr. Laura Perez, and Dr. William I. Robinson to thank for adding to my personal and intellectual development. I am incredibly in debt to all these University of California faculty members who gave their time to listen and teach me. Dr. Margaret Cerullo from Hampshire College and Debra L. Martin at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas were the first professors to take an interest in me. They were the first to show me how to conduct multi-disciplinary research and believe I had it in me to pursue and complete a doctoral program. It took me almost two years to believe them and ten more to receive my degree. For them, and the research colleagues I had in 2004, I am grateful for the inspiration and friendship. I would like to give a special thanks to the Chicano Studies Institute (CSI) and University of California Institute for Mexico and the United States (UC MEXUS) for funding critical parts of the dissertation research. The type of research included in this dissertation would not have been possible if not for the support of these two institutions. In particular, I would like to give a special thanks to Dr. Carl Gutiérrez-Jones, Dr. Andrea Kaus, David Kropf, Theresa Peña, Jazmin Gomez, and Martha Ponce for facilitating research funding for this dissertation. iv There are many colleagues and fellow graduate students that made the trek easier when it felt impossible for me. Members of my cohort, especially Dr. Eddy F. Alvarez and Dr. William A. Calvo, provided me with the energy I needed to keep going. I especially could not have arrived here without the friendship and relentless encouragement from Dr. Diana T. Dyste, Dr. Mario Galacia, Dr. Christina Jackson, Dr. Nicole Merino, Dr. Cesar Rodriguez, Dr. Xuan Santos, Eusebio Ahumada, Oscar Alcantar, Lynn Becerra, Rodrigo Del Cid, Celia Del Cid, Katherine Douglas, Simo Elaouad, Sal Güereña, Gustavo Gutierrez, Kosar Jahani, Kamrin Klauschie, Marcos Lazaro, Monique Limón, Tony Montoya, Emil Margolis, Liz Ortiz, Khoabane Phoofolo, and Tess Posner. I know I’m forgetting at least one more person so please excuse the omission. A special thank you to my friend and colleague Dr. Thomas Carrasco for showing me what it means to be a true Chicano. I could not have finished this stage without a friend like you. Thank you for always being positive and making me laugh. Finally, I thank my mother who has been the brightest light in my life and my father who taught me the meaning of sacrifice and hard work. No words are sufficient to express what my two sisters have done for me. Le doy gracias a Dios por todos mis tíos, tías, primos y primas por creyendo en mí. None of this would be possible without my family and faith. From the bottom of my heart I give thanks. v Francisco Javier Fuentes Jr. Curriculum Vitae December 2016 EDUCATION Bachelor of Arts in Global Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara, June 2005 Master of Arts in Chicana and Chicano Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara, September 2008 Doctor of Philosophy in Chicana and Chicano Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara, August 2016 (expected) PROFESSIONAL EMPLOYMENT 2015-16: Business Consultant in Technology & Culture, San Francisco 2013-15: Curriculum Engineer and Manager, Samaschool, San Francisco 2012-13: Visiting Scholar, Department of Ethnic Studies, University of California, Berkeley 2011-12: Adjunct Faculty, Department of American Ethnic Studies, Santa Barbara Community College 2010-11: Teaching Associate, Department of Chicana/o Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara 2006-09: Teaching Assistant, Department of Chicana/o Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara 2004: Researcher, Feeding Families in Troubled Times in Mexico after NAFTA, National Science Foundation PUBLICATIONS “Leo Limon: Portrait of an Artist” [Documentary], University of California, California Ethnic and Multicultural Archives (2011). "Children and Immigration," Anti-Immigration in the United States: A Historical Encyclopedia, ed. Kathleen R. Arnold (2008), 101-105. “Men and Masculinities in the Maquiladora Shop Floor: A Case Study of One of Central Mexico’s New Manufacturing Workforce.”,” Unpublished thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Arts degree in Chicana/o Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara, 2008. 45 pp. “Estampilla conmemora latinos contra la segregación." Conexiôn (2007), 37-38. vi AWARDS Chicano Studies Institute Dissertation Grant, Graduate Student Fellowship, 2012 Graduate Division, UCSB, Graduate Student Fellowship, 2012 University of California Institute for Mexico and the United States (UC Mexus), Dissertation Research Grant Recipient, 2012 Chicano Studies Institute Graduate, Faculty Immigration Working Group Travel Grant, Undergraduate class travel to US-Mexico Border for weekend field research & humanitarian aid, 2010 Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies, UCSB, Graduate Student Fellowship, 2010 Jose Tarango and Susana Escamilla de Tarnago Graduate Student Fellowship, UCSB, Grant Recipient, 2010 Chicano Studies Institute Graduate Research Grant, Research Grant Recipient, 2009 National Science Foundation Summer Research Program Award Grant, Recipient, UC Diversity Initiative in Graduate Study in the Social Sciences, 2009 Chicano Studies Institute Graduate Research Grant, Research Grant Recipient, 2007 FIELDS OF STUDY 2009-2016: Field Research, San Diego, California: Dissertation: “Bordering Faith: Mexican Americans, Youth Culture, and Pentecostalism.” 2008-2009: Research Assistant, Professor Victor Rios, Dept. of Sociology, UC Santa Barbara: “Youth Obstacles, Resilience, and Subculture in Santa Barbara.” 2008: Research Assistant, Professor Carl Gutierrez-Jones, Chicana/o Studies Institute, UC Santa Barbara. 2007-2008: Researcher and Curator Assistant, Director Salvador Güerena, California Ethnic and Multicultural Archives, UC Santa Barbara, ImaginArte initiative. 2004-2010: NSF Ethnography, Emiliano Zapata, Mexico: “Men and Masculinities in the Maquiladora Shop-Floor.” 2004: Research Assistant, National Science Foundation, Cuernavaca, Mexico: “Feeding Families in Troubled Times.” vii ABSTRACT Bordering Faith: spiritual transformation, cultural change, and Chicana/o youth at the border by Francisco Javier Fuentes Jr. For several decades now, ethnographers, historians, and religious scholars alike have explored charismatic forms of Christianity among Mexican American or Chicana/o youth, chiefly in southern California, because this social group now represents the fastest growing segment of U.S. Pentecostalism (Lugo et al. 2007; Hackett 2015). In this relatively short period of time, researchers have almost exclusively concentrated their studies on congregational experiences, paying little attention to the religious expressions of these youth between Sundays. Furthermore, no study has examined the cultural practices of religious youth in predominantly Chicana/o communities or how such youth are exposed to and even draw from other cultures to pump life into the global charismatic and Pentecostal movement. In order to shed light on the untold experiences of such youth beyond church walls, this study ventures into a Chicana/o majority community alongside the U.S. border with Mexico to find out more about the implications of religious assimilation,