Sociability and urban life

4. Religion, family and migration.

Recent decades have witnessed profound changes in the religious scenario in major urban centers, which have also witnessed intense changes in family dynamics and migratory processes. Quantitative and qualitative literature in this country has established a consistent connection between family structure and migration. The question we ask is how these relate to changes in religious identification and practice.

On the one hand, religious inclination has been driven by migratory shifts and the need to et up new social ties that may, at times, be ant antagonic to family bonds. On the other hand, and this is particularly true in families that have Catholic or Afro-Brazilian traditions, there has been a continuous erosion of the ability to transmit religious identification to younger generations. This has led to different credos coexisting in a given family, generating generational and gender conflicts. This project will investigate religious frameworks within families that are part of the inbound migratory process, and how these dimensions and their mutual implications are socially reproduced in the metropolitan area.

Coordinator: Ronaldo de Almeida, Elza Berquó