Book
The cultural dynamic of Puerto Rican spiritism: class, nationality, and religion in a Brooklyn ghetto
University Microfilms International • Ann Arbor, Mich. • Published In 1992 • Pages:
By: Figueroa, José E..
Abstract
This is an evaluation of the role that spiritism plays in '…enhancing or diminishing both national self awareness and working class consciousness' (p.iv). The data for this study were obtained primarily through participant observation and interviews with Puerto Rican workers in Williamsburg, Brooklyn (New York). Figueroa demonstrates that religion (here spiritism), plays a far more positive and liberating role than the social theories of Karl Marx predict. Figueroa illustrates his theory with several case studies including the collective actions of a group of tenants against their landlord, in which religion (or spiritism) acted as a motivating factor in bringing about change in the structure of everyday life.
- HRAF PubDate
- 2002
- Region
- North America
- Sub Region
- Regional, Ethnic and Diaspora Cultures
- Document Type
- Book
- Evaluation
- Creator Types
- Ethnologist
- Indigenous Person
- Document Rating
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- Analyst
- John Beierle ; 1992
- Field Date
- mid-1970s -- four years (p.27)
- Coverage Date
- mid-1970s
- Coverage Place
- Williamsburg, Brooklyn; New York, N.Y., United States
- Notes
- [by] José E. Figueroa
- UM AAC8203279
- Bibliography: p. 251-260
- Thesis (Ph.D.) -- City University of New York, 1981
- LCSH
- Puerto Ricans--New York (N.Y.)--Religion