Going to the churches of the Evangelio: Children's Perspectives on Religion in an Indigenous Urban Setting in Buenos Aires

Abstract

The aim of this article is to reconstruct child perspectives on religion and to analyze them in the context of their participation in social practices (such as family transmission, peer and sibling relationships, and practices within the evangelical community´s churches and a catholic school). For my research, I articulate an ethnographic approach using other methods and fieldwork techniques (usually used in anthropology of childhood, as are certain psychological approaches to children´s points of view), that became fundamental strategies for approaching child voices and practices. In doing so, issues of method and epistemology were contemplated, seeking for ways to critically analyze the link between religious and ethnic identifications. By considering the ways children articulate their own perspectives on the social processes they are involved in, I will specially focus on how Toba children constitute the meaning of the Evangelio (Gospel) religious movement over time.