Sociology Faculty Directory

Gustavo Morello SJ

Professor, Director of Undergraduate Studies

Photo of Gustavo Morello SJ

Gustavo Morello SJ

Ph.D.

Contact

McGuinn Hall 422

Telephone: 617-552-3346

Email: gustavo.morello@bc.edu

ORCID

Education

  • Ph.D., Universidad de Buenos Aires

Courses

SOCY 1036 -- Intro to Latin American Societies

SOCY 2000 -- OMG! Religion in America SOCY听

SOCY 3222 -- Closed on Sundays. Religious change in modern societies

SOCY 3223 -- Tattoo and Religion. Studying a neglected spiritual practice

SOCY 3342 -- Faith and Conflict in Latin America听

Research Interests

Religion, Global and Transnational sociology (Latin America), Political Sociology.

Academia Curriculum Vitae

Department

Sociology

Biography

I took grades in Philosophy, Universidad del Salvador 1991; Theology, Universidad del Salvador 2007; Master in Social Science, Universidad Nacional de Cordoba 2001; Ph.D. in Social Sciences, Universidad de Buenos Aires 2011.

I am a sociologist of religion, with a particular focus on the interaction between religion and modernity in Latin America. I look for new ways to explore and understand religious practices beyond established categories and theoretical frameworks. In sociology there are two dominant theoretical approaches to the relationship between religion and modernity: secularization (basically stating that the more modern societies are necessarily less religious) and religious markets (modernity gives rise to religious diversity and more religion).

In spite of their differences, and the many nuances within each of them, these approaches are both based on the assumption that the historical particularities of North Atlantic societies (either Europe or the United States) are universally applicable to the rest of the world. I argue that this overlooks key dynamics of Latin American religiosity. I show that when we look beyond the categories sociology has been using to define religion, we see that modernity has definitively changed religion in Latin America-but that religion is nevertheless alive and present in everyday life. If we pay attention to everyday practices, we discover that the interaction of religion and modernity in Latin America differs from the one that developed in the North Atlantic world. You can learn more about this project here.听

My overall research agenda focuses on practices; looking at religion as an ongoing human relation with a supra-human power. I pay attention to the concrete historical and cultural context, to the practitioner鈥檚 material and embodied engagement, exploring how a religious persons relates with divinity. Religious things happen when there is a relationship. Exploring religion from the perspective of the practices, I am not necessarily talking about a reality that conforms to churches鈥� mandates, nor to the variables sociologists have been using to measure religious practice. Instead, I study what people do to connect with the supra-human.

In my classes, I have three main pedagogical principles. First, I expect students to develop critical and analytical skills. Second, I think students bear the burden of the work. I understand my role as a teacher and mentor as a guiding one in their journey, providing engaging readings, posing questions, challenging assumptions, encouraging their quest for social justice. But they are the ones who have to do the job. Third, ongoing evaluation and adaptation of the syllabus; every semester I ask for feedback from students, TAs, and my own perception and adapt the classes according to that assessment.

BOOKS

, 2021 (Oxford University Press)

听

  1. 鈥淧rivileging the voices of the poor, Morello shows us that there is far more religion in their everyday lives than the 鈥榤odern鈥� world might expect, even if it is not necessarily the religion the churches might wish. This brilliant exploration of lived religious practices in three Latin American cities 鈥� across both private and public life -- is a must read for those who seek to understand the breadth of contemporary religious expression in the world鈥� 鈥擭ancy Ammerman, author of Sacred Stories, Spiritual Tribes: Finding Religion in Everyday Life
  2. 鈥淕ustavo Morello鈥檚 engaging book digs deep into the particularities of everyday, lived religious practices in Latin America and in doing so compellingly illuminates the persistent, embodied appeal of the sacred as a dynamic personal and political resource amid the evolving legacy of modernity and the challenges and possibilities it presents鈥溾�擬ichele Dillon, author of Postsecular Catholicism: Relevance and Renewal

听

,听2015

On August 3rd, 1976, in C贸rdoba, Argentina's second largest city, Fr. James Week and five seminarians from the Missionaries of La Salette were kidnapped. A mob burst into the house they shared, claiming to be police looking for 鈥渟ubversive fighters.鈥� The seminarians were jailed and tortured for two months before eventually being exiled to the United States.

The perpetrators were part of the Argentine military government that took power under President General Jorge Videla in 1976, ostensibly to fight Communism in the name of Christian Civilization. Videla claimed to lead a Catholic government, yet the government killed and persecuted many Catholics as part of Argentina鈥檚 infamous Dirty War. Critics claim that the Church did nothing to alleviate the situation, even serving as an accomplice to the dictators. Leaders of the Church have claimed they did not fully know what was going on, and that they tried to help when they could. Gustavo Morello draws on interviews with victims of forced disappearance, documents from the state and the Church, field observation, and participant observation in order to provide a deeper view of the relationship between Catholicism and state terrorism during Argentina's Dirty War.

Morello uses the case of the seminarians to explore the complex relationship between Catholic faith and political violence during the Dirty War鈥攁 relationship that has received renewed attention since Argentina鈥檚 own Jorge Mario Bergoglio became Pope Francis. Unlike in countries such as Chile and Brazil, Argentina's political violence was seen as an acceptable tool in propagating political involvement; both the guerrillas and the military government were able to gain popular support. Morello examines how the Argentine government deployed a discourse of Catholicism to justify the violence that it imposed on Catholics and how the official Catholic hierarchy in Argentina rationalized their silence in the face of this violence. Most interestingly, Morello investigates how Catholic victims of state violence and their supporters understood their own faith in this complicated context: what it meant to be Catholic under Argentina鈥檚 dictatorship.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

2023听听听 "The construction of the sacred through photographs displayed in Latin American homes." Social Compass, v70 n1, p 127-148,

2022听听听 鈥淓ntre el opio del pueblo y la b煤squeda de la salvaci贸n. Aproximaciones a la 鈥渞eligiosidad vivida鈥� desde Am茅rica Latina鈥�, second co-author with Valentina Pereira Arenas, Revista de Estudios Sociales, 82 Octubre-Diciembre, p. 3-21

2022 鈥楥atholicism and State Terror in Argentina鈥� in Sara Brown and Stephen Smith, The Routledge Handbook of Religion, Genocide, and Mass Atrocity, Routledge, London.

2021 "Catholicism in Context: Religious Practice in Latin America," Journal of Global Catholicism: Vol. 6: Iss. 1, Article 3. p.46-63. DOI: 10.32436/2475-6423.1104

2021 鈥淣obody prays alone. The practice of prayer among Latin American Catholics鈥�, International Journal of Latin American Religions.

2021 鈥淲omen, Tattoos, and Religion. An exploration into women鈥檚 inner life.鈥� Fist author with Mikayla Sanchez, Diego Moreno, Jack Engelman,听and Alexis Evangel; Religions 12: 517.

2021 "I鈥檝e got you under my skin. Tattoos and religion in three Latin American cities." Social Compass. February, Vol 68, n 1, p. 61-80.

2021 The Pope, the Poor, and the Location of Religion in Argentina's Public Sphere. Latin American Perspectives, Issue 241, Vol. 48 No. 6, November 2021, 179鈥�193 DOI: 10.1177/0094582X19879410

2019 鈥淐ambios religiosos y din谩micas demogr谩ficas: m谩s all谩 de la Teor铆a de la Secularizaci贸n. El caso del catolicismo en la ciudad de C贸rdoba, Argentina鈥�. First author with Hugo H. Rabbia. Revista de Estudios Sociales 69: 14-27. https:// doi.org/10.7440/res69.2019.02

2019 "Why Study Religion from a Latin American Sociological Perspective? An Introduction to听Religions听Issue, 鈥淩eligion in Latin America, and among Latinos Abroad鈥�."听Religions听10, no. 6: 399.

2019 鈥淭he Symbolic Efficacy of Pope Francis鈥� Religious Capital and the Agency of the Poor鈥�. Sociology, https://doi.org/10.1177/0038038519853109

2018 鈥淐atholic legitimization up for grabs: The political pluralization of Argentinean Catholicism in the 1960s鈥� (First author with Fortunato Mallimaci) Journal of Contemporary Religion, v. 33, i. 3, p. 427-445.

2018 鈥淟atin America鈥檚 Contemporary Religious Imaginary鈥�. Social Imaginaries v4. n2 p. 87-106

2017 鈥淚ntroduction. Lived religion in Latin America and Europe. Roman Catholics and their practices鈥� in Visioni LatinoAmericane, y. IX, n. 17, Luglio 2017. P. 13-23.

2017 "Making sense of Latin America鈥檚 religious landscape" (First author with Catalina Romero, Hugo Rabbia and Nestor Da Costa) Critical Research on Religion. Article first published online:听September 20, 2017 Vol 5, Issue 3, pp. 308 鈥� 326, December 2017.

PROFESSIONAL HONORS AND AWARDS

2019 Campion Hall, University of Oxford, U.K. D鈥橝rcy Lectures, January 鈥� March. Hilary term.

Visiting Scholar - Department of Political Science, University of Michigan, 2009 - 2010.

Grant from Irmgard Coninx Foundation for the Tenth Berlin Roundtables on Urban Governance. 鈥淯rban Governance: Innovation, Insecurity and the Power of Religion鈥�, Social Science Research Center Berlin (WZB), Humboldt University, Berlin, March 2009.

Grant for the Symposium 鈥淧olitics and the Religious Imagination鈥�. Faith Forward Series: Exploring Religion, Culture and Conflict Symposium. Trinity Western University, Langley, British Columbia, Canada, March 2008.

听

Grants

The transformation of lived religion in urban Latin America: a study of contemporary Latin Americans鈥� experience of the transcendent (*).

This groundbreaking project explores how urban, contemporary Latin Americans, both believers and non-believers, from different social classes and generations experience transcendence in everyday life. This study will not rely on past approaches to studying secularization in North America and Europe, but rather it will bring a new perspective鈥攖hat of ordinary people acknowledging their free will and creativity in the religious/spiritual realm. How do people articulate free will within their religious/spiritual traditions and exercise their creativity and talent for innovation in prayer or in other religious/spiritual practices? How have everyday life dynamics and religious competition affected lived religion? We will explore the quest for the divine at the borders of religious institutions and in relation to them, in 3 different cities which have experienced significant religious pluralization and competition: C贸rdoba, Argentina; Lima, Per煤; and Montevideo, Uruguay. We will sample people from different SES groups, self-identified as 鈥榥ones鈥� (agnostics, non-affiliated, atheist, etc.), Catholics, Evangelicals (including main line Protestants, Evangelicals, neo-Evangelicals), and Other Traditions (including Jews, Muslims, Mormons, Afro cults, Native American spiritualities, New Age, etc.), collecting 鈥榬eligious/spiritual narratives鈥� through in-depth interviews of life histories and 鈥榦bject-elicitation鈥� meetings about pictures of significant places, symbols, and meaningful artifacts. We will focus on the story itself, using the interviewees鈥� spontaneous narrations as our main resource to develop a grounded theory of Latin Americans鈥� lived religiosity/spirituality. The project will contribute to a growing understanding of human nature and its relationship with the divine by disseminating the findings to scholarly audiences (conferences, papers, book), religious/spiritual leaders and journalists (workshops), and the general public (press releases, trade book).

(*)This project is made possible through the support of a grant from the John Templeton Foundation.

听

Public Sociology

2022 Interview in No Esperen Milagros, AM Con Vos 1420, Buenos Aires, February 7th.

2022听Tattoos are deeply meaningful -and religious- for many young people, 鈥淛esuitical鈥� a podcast of America, Friday, February 4th.

2022 Media Mention, The Wall Street Journal, Francis Rocca 鈥淲hy the Catholic Church Is Losing Latin America鈥�, January 11;

2021 For many, a tattoo isn鈥檛 just ink. It鈥檚 a religious experience. In America, December 2nd, on line

2021 PBS, In their own words. Pope Francis; interviewed.

Back To Top