Catholicism on the Borderlands: A Conversation with Dr. Daisy Vargas

Season Three, Episode Four is here, featuring Dr. Daisy Vargas, Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at the U of Arizona (Ph.D. in History, University of California, Riverside; M.A. in Religious Studies, University of Denver), who specializes in Catholicism in the Americas, especially in the borderlands of the American Southwest. She examines race, ethnicity, and religion in the United States, Latina/o religion, and material religion. Please go to her web page to check out her publications, including some that are available online. 

She describes her current project as tracing the history of Mexican religion, race, and the law from the nineteenth century into the contemporary moment, positioning current legal debates about Mexican religion within a larger history of anti-Mexican and anti-Catholic attitudes in the United States. In that context we talked about “crimmigration” and how US law enforcement sometimes determines who is a good or bad Catholic on the basis of material artifacts like prayer cards and rosaries.

I found this a challenging and stimulating conversation on a topic I knew little about, but the major question - who decides on whether one's religion is good or bad? - is a perennial one. And the addition of race and ethnicity in the calculation of who is a good or bad Catholic, for instance, especially in the USA, points to the ongoing power of white supremacy at the American borderlands. 

Some news on upcoming podcast episodes: 

In the coming weeks we will be hearing from Dr. Bill Cavanaugh of DePaul University on his new book The Uses of Idolatry, Dr. Adele Reinhartz of University of Ottawa on hher work on the Gospel of John, Dr. Gerald Schlabach, Dr. Tim Pawl, and many more excellent scholars and thinkers.

The first episode of Pop Culture Matters is out. I hope you have listened to it. Martin and I are ready for more and we are definitely thinking about a movie: the Matrix? The Big Lebowski? Philomena? The Meaning of Life? Let us know what you want to discuss. Follow us at our social media pages, linked below, and drop us a line as to what you want to see or hear. We’ll post on our socials with a question as to what you are most interested in seeing. When we decide what’s next, we’ll let you know and then we can all make sure to watch it or listen to it or read it before the next episode of Pop Culture Matters. Or email us with your suggestions to [e-mail] or [e-mail].

Upcoming Events:

On October 29, we will have a webinar on the American election featuring Steve Millies and his new book, .css-j9qmi7{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-flex-direction:row;-ms-flex-direction:row;flex-direction:row;font-weight:700;margin-bottom:1rem;margin-top:2.8rem;width:100%;-webkit-box-pack:start;-ms-flex-pack:start;-webkit-justify-content:start;justify-content:start;padding-left:5rem;}@media only screen and (max-width: 599px){.css-j9qmi7{padding-left:0;-webkit-box-pack:center;-ms-flex-pack:center;-webkit-justify-content:center;justify-content:center;}}.css-j9qmi7 svg{fill:#27292D;}.css-j9qmi7 .eagfbvw0{-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;color:#27292D;}