Negotiating Belonging: Race, Class, and Religion in the Brazilian Quest for “Becoming American”
This study examines how members of a majority second-generation Brazilian church in South Florida perceive their English-speaking, “American” congregation compared to the Portuguese-speaking Brazilian congregation from which they originated. Data for this research are drawn from in-depth, open-ended...
Main Author: | |
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Format: | Electronic Article |
Language: | English |
Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
Journals Online & Print: | |
Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
Published: |
Oxford Univ. Press
2022
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In: |
Sociology of religion
Year: 2022, Volume: 83, Issue: 4, Pages: 459-479 |
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
USA
/ Brazilians
/ Pentecostal churches
/ Church congregation
/ Ethnic identity
/ Assimilation (Sociology)
/ Stereotyping
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RelBib Classification: | AD Sociology of religion; religious policy CB Christian life; spirituality KBQ North America KBR Latin America KDG Free church RB Church office; congregation |
Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
Summary: | This study examines how members of a majority second-generation Brazilian church in South Florida perceive their English-speaking, “American” congregation compared to the Portuguese-speaking Brazilian congregation from which they originated. Data for this research are drawn from in-depth, open-ended interviews with 32 members from different ethnoracial backgrounds, participant observation, and content analysis of the congregations’ social media. Findings show that the discourse of church differences portrays the two congregations in racialized and classist ways. Combining boundary-making and identity work theories, I argue that the perceptions espoused by members of the American congregation come from a place of pressure to assimilate to U.S. White middle-class culture, consequently reinforcing and legitimizing stereotypes in an effort to distance themselves from Brazilian immigrants. |
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ISSN: | 1759-8818 |
Contains: | Enthalten in: Sociology of religion
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Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1093/socrel/srac002 |