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Borderlands, Liminal Spaces, and Religion: Latinx/Caribbean Perspectives on Gender, Sexuality, Violence and Identity

Submitted to Program Units
1: Latina/o Religion, Culture, and Society Unit

Elaine Nogueira-Godsey, Drew Theological School, Presiding

Abstract for Online Program Book (maximum 150 words)

This panel explores the intersections of gender, sexuality, violence, migration, and theological-ethical reflections within borderlands and liminal spaces, focusing on Latinx, Chicanx, and Caribbean contexts. Papers analyze the borderlands as a site of cultural gestation and conflict, explore the liminal space at the intersection of queerness, Latinidad, and faith, and examine the potential for queer reimaginings of colonial symbols. Additionally, the panel investigates the complex dynamics of motherhood within a mujerista framework and challenges traditional conceptions of masculinity, advocating for a transformative understanding of male identity within the Borderlands.

Papers

  • Octavio Carrasco, Union Theological Seminary

    A Borerlands Imperative: Music, Mestizaje, and US Religious History

    Abstract

    This paper explores the Spanish-American-Mexican Borderlands as a location, a geography but most importantly a lens through which to come to terms with the present. Our failure to take the borderlands seriously undermines the welfare of our society both in terms of what we don’t know and admit about our past, but also in terms of how people are affected by that cultural whitewashing. Rather than a specter of the past, the borderlands continue to be a dynamic space of conflict, collaboration and cultural gestation in the world today. In particular, the North American borderlands have tremendous influence on the culture, religion, and even the epistemology and rhetoric of our era while simultaneously being misrepresented and poorly understood in popular culture and everyday interactions. I will explore this directly though Spanish language (*banda*) music on the radio, and the role it plays in preserving and expressing the borderlands perspective.

  • Ish Ruiz, Pacific School of Religion

    Del Medio Pa’ Fuera: Liminality, Identity, and Liberation

    Abstract

    The emergence of queer Latinx Faith-based voices in culture, art, and politics raises important questions about how a person can synthesize conflicting identities within oneself and harness the energy from this process to engage in liberatory action. This presentation explores the concept of liminality, which is present at the intersection of queerness, Latinidad, and faith, and how such a space can be the source of hope-filled decolonial liberatory activism. The first part will offer an overview of the intersection, the second part will explore a deep analysis of the dynamics of the liminal space, and the third part will investigate how this process aids liberation. The overall goal of this presentation is to craft an understanding of the internal, spiritual dynamics of queer Latinx Christians to better understand how they have synthesized various apparently conflicting fragments of their identity and harness this power to create a better world.

  • Isabela Rosales, Iliff School of Theology

    Queering our Lady of Guadalupe

    Abstract

    In the context of Latine ethics and liberation theologies, queering Our Lady of Guadalupe offers a critical and liberative approach to honoring the complexity of culturally Catholic and Queer Mexican lived experiences. Specifically, queering our Lady of Guadalupe creates an anti-oppressive theo-ethical framework grounded in the tenets of Latine ethics and theologies of nepantla,  lo cotidiano, el acompañamiento, and doing theology en conjunto. Expanding on these theo-ethical cornerstones, queering our Lady of Guadalupe rejects heteronormativity, homophobia, machismo, marianismo, and any social construction of gender or sexuality which functions to exclude and/or oppress those of us identifying within Queer communities or outside of the sexual/gender norm. Living in the unique tension of both the colonized and colonizer identities, I examine how nepantla as an epistemological framework is limited to a specific hybrid existence and does not apply to all Indigenous experiences. Holding this tension, I prioritize queerness as an invitation to liberative reimaginings of colonial symbols for Queer Mexican Catholics. 

  • Natalie Readnour, Southern Methodist University

    Women Giving Birth to Themselves: Liminal Motherhood and Liberation in the Work of Ada Maria Isasi-Diaz and Frida Kahlo

    Abstract

    This paper utilizes a mujerista interpretation of Frida Kahlo’s artwork in order to complexify mujerista images of motherhood. The first section is an analysis of the motherhood-related language that Isasi-Diaz uses in her book Mujerista Theology. The second section provides a brief biographical sketch of Frida Kahlo as we explore a set of her paintings referred to as “anti-nativity scenes” and how these anti-nativity scenes contribute to the mujerista project of liberation due to their reimagining of the role of mother, their symbolic naming of the self, and their location in lo cotidiano. The final section explores how placing the work of Frida Kahlo and Isasi-Diaz into conversation can create an expanded and empowering conception of motherhood that addresses the embodied liminality of Latina women. This gives legitimacy to the varied experiences of Latina women, liberating their real, everyday experiences from the category of the unimportant.

  • Rubén David Bonilla-Ramos,

    ¡Qué Cojones!: An Exploration on Man, Borderlands, and Transcending Masculinity.

    Abstract

    This presentation analyzes masculinity within a Latin American-Caribbean colonial context, exposing the enduring impact of historical gender norms on contemporary male identities. Analyzing colonial biases favoring male virility and the cultural legacy of the penis as a symbol of masculine honor, I argue these historical views continue to shape male behavior and expressions in Latin American-Caribbean cultures and contribute to gender violence and sexual abuse. This historical context sets the stage for employing Anzaldúa's Borderlands theoretical approach as a framework for rethinking masculinity and uncovering vulnerability and fragility as sources of male identity. Drawing from personal experience, I advocate for a new understanding of what it means to be a man transcending oppressive structures of colonialism and heteropatriarchy, paving the way for transformative religious practices. I aim to demonstrate how, within the Borderlands, men can transcend traditional conceptions of masculinity to foster unconventional and refreshing experiences with the divine

Business Meeting
Lauren Frances Guerra, Loyola Marymount University, Presiding
Audiovisual Requirements

Resources

LCD Projector and Screen
Podium microphone

Comments

Three small notes: 1. Please list my name as "Ish Ruiz;" 2. I will be transitioning from my postdoc at Emory to the Pacific School of Religion so that is my new institutional affiliation; 3. If possible, please consider placing this presentation on Sat or Sunday.

Full Papers Available

No
Program Unit Options

Session Length

2 Hours
Schedule Info

Sunday, 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM

Tags

#immigration #borders #colonialism
mestizaje
music
Religion
Borderlands
Latinx theology
liminality
queer theology
Puerto Rican Theology
decolonial theology
#Masculinities #LiberationTheologies #Colonialism #Gender #GloriaAnzaldúa #Borderlands #LatinAmerica #Caribbean

Session Identifier

A24-139