Academic Outputs

  • 2017 Undergrads Research Fellowship program, Boston College, $ 1,845
  • 2016 Undergrads Research Fellowship program, Boston College, $ 12,100
  • 2015 Undergrads Research Fellowship program, Boston College, $ 4,500
  • 2015 Institute for the Liberal Arts, Conference on Religion in Latin America, $17,050
  • 2015 John Templeton Foundation, “The transformation of lived religion in urban Latin America: a study of contemporary Latin Americans’ experience of the transcendent”, $ 511,000 P.I.

Publications


Conferences

2018 Conferences

Conference, “The pope and the Poor”, UCC, Argentina. Morello and Rabbia. Abstract: Mientras que el papa Francisco ha dejado en claro que el orden capitalista no lo termina de convencer, muchas voces seculares, tradicionalmente críticas de la intervención religiosa en la esfera pública, han manifestado su apoyo. Pero, ¿Cómo perciben los pobres esas intervenciones? Basado en una muestra de 41 entrevistas a personas de clase baja, esta ponencia explora cómo los pobres entienden el rol de la religión y los líderes religiosos en la esfera pública argentina, más allá de las normativas secularistas o teológicas. El objetivo es indagar las distinciones que los sujetos realizan a la hora de establecer ‘espacios propios’ para la intervención papal en la vida pública del país.


Conference, “Atheist and believers without religion”, UCU, Uruguay. Da Costa and Morello July.

Abstract: Entre las distintas maneras que hay de estudiar lo religioso, la sociología se enfoca en la influencia de las religiones en la vida en común y de cómo las transformaciones en la vida social afectan la religiosidad de las personas. Aquí presento una mirada sociológica de la situación religiosa en Sudamérica. ¿Cómo afecta la modernidad a la religiosidad de los sudamericanos?


Conference ‘Non-Religious and Secular Network’, London, July 5-6, 2018; Exploring non-religion in South America; Da Costa and Rabbia. Da Costa presented. https://nsrn.net/news/nsrn-conference-2018/  Abstract: the paper explores and compares qualitative data, from 60 in-depth interviews among self-identified “non-affiliated” people from three cities in Latin America: Cordoba, Argentina; Lima, Peru, and Montevideo, Uruguay.  It is an intentional sub sample from a bigger project called “The Transformation of Lived Religion in Urban Latin America: A Study of Contemporary Latin-American’s experience of the Transcendent”. 


Conference Iberian-Latin American Political Psychology Congress, Valparaiso, Chile, October 12-14, 2018; Rabbia


Conference ‘Society for the Scientific Study of Religion’ Annual Meeting, Las Vegas, October 26-28, 2018; https://sssreligion.org/media/9830/sssrplusrra-2018-preliminary-program.pdf Morello presented “Francis symbolic power and the agency of the poor.” Abstract: This study states that exploring the limits established by regular believers to the efficacy of Pope Francis’ religious capital, we better understand how the agency of non-specialists operates in the religious field. In this presentation, I explore the paradox between Pope Francis’ remarkable success as a critic of global capitalism, and the limitations his religious leadership present in Argentina, his home country. While for some observer it might be obvious that the pope is powerful enough to influence people’s thinking about social and political matters, the findings of this paper highlight the role of “non-specialist” in setting limits of Francis’ religious power. Using Bourdieusian theory and a “lived religion” methodological approach, I explore the agency of the ordinary believer in the religious field. The research is based on a sample of semi-structured, in-depth interviews conducted in Córdoba, Argentina from November 2015 to December 2016. The subsample consists of 42 lower class interviewees, self-identified as Catholics, Evangelicals, Others, and Non-Affiliated.


Conference Jornadas de Alternativas Religiosas en América Latina, Santiago de Chile. November 14-17, 2018. Da Costa presented Uruguay, el país con más porcentaje de creyentes sin afiliación en América Latina. Una aproximación en perspectiva de "Religión Vivida" http://www.acsrm.org/septima-circular-xix-jornadas-2018-santiago-de-chile/ Abstrac: Un 24% de la población uruguaya se define a si misma como creyente en alguna forma de trascendencia en tanto que un 10% afirma ser ateos. Estas cifras son las más altas de América Latina. Esta presentación está orientada a explorar y caracterizar a dichos grupos sociales a partir de una investigación cualitativa que ha entrevistado a 80 personas en Montevideo explorando las formas de entender, aproximarse, significar y resignificar sus propias experiencias de búsqueda o negación de la trascendencia. Al mencionar la perspectiva de "Religión Vivida" se hace referencia un enfoque donde la aproximación al objeto de estudio es a través de la experiencia de las personas y no de las instituciones o líderes religiosos.


Confernece Jornadas de Alternativas Religiosas en América Latina, Santiago de Chile. November 14-17, 2018. Pereira Arena and Hugo Rabbia. Pereira Arena presented “Images of God among believers without a church and atheists from Cordoba and Montevideo”. http://www.acsrm.org/septima-circular-xix-jornadas-2018-santiago-de-chile/ Abstract: The present work explores the different images of God manifested by ‘believers without a church’ and atheists in the cities of Montevideo and Córdoba. For those who believe in God without belonging to a church or for those who do not believe in Him, there are certain configurations of how or what God is, or how his idea is rejected by the images that have been drawn about Him. We analyze images of God from the spiritual narratives of 49 people self-identify as without a religious affiliation (19 among people from Cordoba, 30, from Montevideo), from different social classes and ages. Data was obtained from in-depth interviews under the project “Transformation of lived religion in Latin America”, granted by J. Templeton Foundation. Results allow us to discuss different images of God, ultimate divinity or higher power, ideas that give more complexities to our perception of non-religious populations.


Confernece LASA, Barcelona, May 23-26, 2018; Pereira Arena and Brusoni presented: Individuals and faith spaces: the case of Uruguayan Catholics. Abstract: In this work we seek to put into discussion the relationship that Catholic believers maintain with the religious institution through their own notions of the spaces where transcendence is lived. Both in the case of Catholics that feel far from the institution and for those who still maintain a bond, the spaces for experiencing the religious are multiple and varied, and put the place of institutions in tension in their experiences of faith.