Lived Religion in Buenos Aires Slums

ANA LOURDES SUAREZ

Seattle

Congreso; Annual Meeting of the Association for the Sociology of Religion; 2016

Association for the Sociology of Religion

The poor´s expressions of faith are diverse and are exhibited in plenty of ways, what leads us to think that ?the religious?- or rather what refers to the sacred- is part of poor people´s lives and of their matrix of meanings, practices and rituals. The aim of the paper is to asses some of the faith expressions of Buenos Aires slums believers that account for a ?lived religion?.First, the paper describes resident?s religious beliefs, affiliation, and practices. Second, the paper addresses a widely widespread religious practices in marginal settlements: making a ?promise? to a religious figure. It then links that practice to three expressions of religious faith: 1.To consecrate home through shrines, 2.To the devotions of religious figures, and 3.To miracle believe and the experience of having been benefited by a miracle. These religious expressions imply at some point an emotional bond that becomes explicit through practices and rituals.The data that supports the analysis comes from two sources. The first one is a questionnaire applied in 2014 to a representative sample of 400 inhabitants of Buenos Aires slums. The second one consists of in-depth interviews applied in 2011-12 to women living in poor settlements of Greater Buenos Aires.