This essay explores the remaking of religion and the presence of a social justice ethic in the co... more This essay explores the remaking of religion and the presence of a social justice ethic in the contemporary spiritual practices and beliefs of Tejanas of the post-WWII generation. This work draws on ethnographic research conducted in the Texas-Mexico borderlands with eighteen Tejanas involved in social justice causes since the late 1960s. Using the theory and praxis of spiritual activism as put forth by Gloria E. Anzaldúa, this essay examines patterns of spiritual change in the lives of three Tejanas. Such cultural change is reflective of women’s social worlds; political acts tied to the material realities of women’s experiences. By reconfiguring how they view and practice spirituality—which includes a shift away from organized Catholicism—women are critiquing and working to reverse gender hierarchies, patriarchy, and other social inequalities within and outside of organized religion. Today women’s activism takes the form of spiritualized activisms, whereby they do the inner spiritual work that gives them the strength to do the outer work of creating social change as spiritual healers, educators and community activists.
This essay explores the remaking of religion and the presence of a social justice ethic in the co... more This essay explores the remaking of religion and the presence of a social justice ethic in the contemporary spiritual practices and beliefs of Tejanas of the post-WWII generation. This work draws on ethnographic research conducted in the Texas-Mexico borderlands with eighteen Tejanas involved in social justice causes since the late 1960s. Using the theory and praxis of spiritual activism as put forth by Gloria E. Anzaldúa, this essay examines patterns of spiritual change in the lives of three Tejanas. Such cultural change is reflective of women’s social worlds; political acts tied to the material realities of women’s experiences. By reconfiguring how they view and practice spirituality—which includes a shift away from organized Catholicism—women are critiquing and working to reverse gender hierarchies, patriarchy, and other social inequalities within and outside of organized religion. Today women’s activism takes the form of spiritualized activisms, whereby they do the inner spiritual work that gives them the strength to do the outer work of creating social change as spiritual healers, educators and community activists.
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Papers by Brenda Sendejo