Fire in the Canyon

Religion, Migration, and the Mexican Dream

Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Anthropology, Religion & Spirituality
Cover of the book Fire in the Canyon by Leah M. Sarat, NYU Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Leah M. Sarat ISBN: 9780814770795
Publisher: NYU Press Publication: November 11, 2013
Imprint: NYU Press Language: English
Author: Leah M. Sarat
ISBN: 9780814770795
Publisher: NYU Press
Publication: November 11, 2013
Imprint: NYU Press
Language: English

The canyon in central Mexico was ablaze with torches as hundreds of people filed in. So palpable was their shared shock and grief, they later said, that neither pastor nor priest was needed. The event was a memorial service for one of their own who had died during an attempted border passage. Months later a survivor emerged from a coma to tell his story. The accident had provoked a near-death encounter with God that prompted his conversion to Pentecostalism.

Today, over half of the local residents of El Alberto, a town in central Mexico, are Pentecostal. Submitting themselves to the authority of a God for whom there are no borders, these Pentecostals today both embrace migration as their right while also praying that their “Mexican Dream”—the dream of a Mexican future with ample employment for all—will one day become a reality.

Fire in the Canyon provides one of the first in‑depth looks at the dynamic relationship between religion, migration, and ethnicity across the U.S.-Mexican border. Faced with the choice between life‑threatening danger at the border and life‑sapping poverty in Mexico, residents of El Alberto are drawing on both their religion and their indigenous heritage to demand not only the right to migrate, but also the right to stay home. If we wish to understand people's migration decisions, Sarat argues, we must take religion seriously. It is through religion that people formulate their ideas about life, death, and the limits of government authority.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

The canyon in central Mexico was ablaze with torches as hundreds of people filed in. So palpable was their shared shock and grief, they later said, that neither pastor nor priest was needed. The event was a memorial service for one of their own who had died during an attempted border passage. Months later a survivor emerged from a coma to tell his story. The accident had provoked a near-death encounter with God that prompted his conversion to Pentecostalism.

Today, over half of the local residents of El Alberto, a town in central Mexico, are Pentecostal. Submitting themselves to the authority of a God for whom there are no borders, these Pentecostals today both embrace migration as their right while also praying that their “Mexican Dream”—the dream of a Mexican future with ample employment for all—will one day become a reality.

Fire in the Canyon provides one of the first in‑depth looks at the dynamic relationship between religion, migration, and ethnicity across the U.S.-Mexican border. Faced with the choice between life‑threatening danger at the border and life‑sapping poverty in Mexico, residents of El Alberto are drawing on both their religion and their indigenous heritage to demand not only the right to migrate, but also the right to stay home. If we wish to understand people's migration decisions, Sarat argues, we must take religion seriously. It is through religion that people formulate their ideas about life, death, and the limits of government authority.

More books from NYU Press

Cover of the book Playing to the Crowd by Leah M. Sarat
Cover of the book Fast-Food Kids by Leah M. Sarat
Cover of the book The People's News by Leah M. Sarat
Cover of the book Why Girls Fight by Leah M. Sarat
Cover of the book Black and Multiracial Politics in America by Leah M. Sarat
Cover of the book Latino/a Popular Culture by Leah M. Sarat
Cover of the book Deeper Shades of Purple by Leah M. Sarat
Cover of the book Pranksters by Leah M. Sarat
Cover of the book In Black and White by Leah M. Sarat
Cover of the book Cinema of Outsiders by Leah M. Sarat
Cover of the book Beyond the Bonus March and GI Bill by Leah M. Sarat
Cover of the book The Games Black Girls Play by Leah M. Sarat
Cover of the book Masculinity at Work by Leah M. Sarat
Cover of the book The Expeditions by Leah M. Sarat
Cover of the book Queering the Countryside by Leah M. Sarat
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy