Missionaries: Migrants or Expatriates?: Guatemalan Pentecostal Leaders in Los Angeles (Inter-American Studies / Estudios Interamericanos)

This book inquiries into the religious praxis of Pentecostal missionaries who come from the South and evangelize in the North following the case of Guatemalan independent Pentecostal leaders working in Los Angeles. The research focused on the study of their Pentecostal beliefs and practices and the relationship between their religious praxis and the social context in Los Angeles. When one speaks of missionaries coming from countries like the United States they are designated as expatriates. But what about Pentecostal believers who come from countries like Guatemala with any institutional s upport? Are they expatriates or simple immigrants? To answer this question biographical narratives of Guatemalan independent Pentecostal leaders were analyzed using the Habitus Analysis approach. Table of Contents 1. Introduction ................................................................................. 11.1. Pentecostalism in Guatemala ....................................................... 21.2. Inter-American Mobility and New Pentecostal MissionaryFlows: Evangelizing from the South to the North ....................... 41.2.1. Missionaries from the South to the North:Expatriates or Migrants? .................................................. 71.3. Guatemalan Independent Pentecostal Leaders in theInteramerican Social Space Established Between Guatemalaand Los Angeles: A Praxeological Approach .............................. 101.4. Structure of the Dissertation ........................................................ 12 2. Literature Review: Delimiting Pentecostalism and OutliningStudies Dealing with Latino Pentecostalism and Migrationin the United States.. ................................................................... 152.1. Delimiting Pentecostalism ........................................................... 152.2. Studies on the Relation Between Latino Pentecostalism andMigration in the United States ..................................................... 232.2.1. The Incorporation Approach ......................................... 252.2.2. The Religion on the Move Approach ............................ 31 3. Description of the Research ......................................................... 393.1. Theoretical Framework ............................................................... 393.1.1. Praxeological Approach to the Study of Religion ............ 403.1.2. Bourdieu and the Study of Religion:Towards a Religious Praxis .............................................. 423.1.3. Between Embodied andObjectified Conditions of Praxis ...................................... 463.2. Methodological Framework ........................................................ 513.2.1. The Fieldwork .................................................................. 523.2.2. Biographical Narratives ................................................... 573.3. Process of Analysis and Writing ................................................. 61 4. Guatemalan Pentecostal Leaders in Los Angeles:Contexts of Departure and Arrival since the 1970s ..................... 644.1. Los Angeles in the 2010s ............................................................ 644.2. Historical Trends in Los Angeles ................................................ 674.3. Guatemalans in Los Angeles:Changing Migratory Flows since 1970 ........................................ 704.3.1. The 1970s: The Beginning of Guatemalan Migrationto Los Angeles ................................................................. 704.3.2. The 1980s: Economic or Political Immigrants?Social Turmoil in Guatemala .......................