Margarita MooneyUniversity of North

Carolina at Chapel HillPresentation given at

Rice UniversityOctober 18-19, 2009

Images of Religion and Immigration in U.S., Quebec and France

Cross-National Comparative and Ethnographic Research Design

• National level: immigration policies and religion in the public sphere in US, France and Quebec (Canada)

• Community level: interviews in Miami, Montreal and Paris with 1) Government leaders, 2) Haitian community leaders, 3) Catholic clergy and lay leaders

• Individual level: 15 months of ethnographic fieldwork and interviews at Haitian Catholic mission in each site

Macro Level: Religion-State Relations

Open Market for Religion

and Generally Pro-Religious Society and Government

Assertive Secularism: Religion and

State are Competing

Comprehensive Doctrines

National Secularism:

Placing Limits on Immigrants’

Religious Practices and

Protecting National Identity

Faith as Resilience

“Jesus Came With Us On The Boat”Incarnation and Inculturation of the Faith

“When you feel you are somebody, [that] you are important, you can move mountains, and that is faith.” Active Abandonment

“We Should Give without Expecting to Receive in Return.” Turning Passive Recipients into Givers

“Fight, life is not easy; don’t be afraid, Jesus is there.” Suffering as Redemptive

Incarnation and Inculturation of the Faith

“Jesus came with us on the boat”

“When you feel you are somebody, [that] you are important, you can move mountains, and that is faith.”

Active Abandonment

“We should give without expecting to receive in return.” Transforming Passive Recipients into Givers

“Fight, life is not easy; don’t be afraid, Jesus is there.” Suffering as Redemptive

Religious Beliefs and Practices

“Jesus Came With Us On The Boat”Incarnation and Inculturation of the Faith

“When you feel you are somebody, [that] you are important, you can move mountains, and that is faith.” Active Abandonment

“We Should Give without Expecting to Receive in Return.” Turning Passive Recipients into Givers

“Fight, life is not easy; don’t be afraid, Jesus is there.” Suffering as Redemptive

Mediating Institutions and Immigrant Assimilation

• Mediating institutions are necessary for successful immigrant assimilation because they: – Bridge gaps between the poor and the state through

advocacy and local social services– Create meaning, moral order and resilience that empower

the poor to pursue common interests• Toussaint Center (Miami), Bureau of Haitian Christian

Community (Montreal), Haiti Development (Paris)– Similar missions but different outcomes due to variation in

state response– Close links between social service center and religious

community builds trust

Meso-Level: Haitians’ Mediating Institutions

“The church is the only place

people can trust.”

“The only reason churches would provide social

services is if the state is absent.”

Religion-State Consensual Differentiation

“The State doesn’t pay

any attention to our

associations.”

Assertive Secularism

Secular Nationalism

Comparing Haitians’ Incorporation Outcomes

  Unem-ployed

HH Inc

<Poverty Line

<HS Degree

College Degree

Foreign-Born

Miami 17% $16K 45% 42% 2% 67%

Mont-real

32% $15K 63% 51% 4% 64%

Paris 28% n/a 52% 67% 13% 77%

Micro-Level: Haitian Incorporation Outcomes

Enhanced socio-economic mobility

and strong religious identity among Haitians due, in

part, to cooperation between religious

mediating institutions and the

state

Blocked socioeconomic mobility among

Haitians and strong religious identity

clashes with secular culture

Hindered socioeconomic

mobility and strong religious identity

creates a barrier to symbolic

incorporation

Book Website:

www.faithmakesuslive.com

Blog:

www.margaritamooney. blogspot.com

My Homepage:

www.margaritamooney.com

Open Market for Religion and

Generally Pro-Religious Society and Government

Assertive Secularism: Religion

and State are Competing

Comprehensive Doctrines

Secular Nationalism: Placing Limits on

Immigrants’ Religious Practices

and Protecting National Identity

Macro Level: Religion-State Relations

Three Contexts

Miami Paris Montreal125K, many boat

people; well-established

relationships between Catholic

Charities and local, state and national

governments

25K, class polarization;

long-established

Catholic social services

80K, class diversity and

hierarchy; 1960s Quiet Revolution

displaced dominant

Catholic Church

New Research Questions on Religion and Migration from a Global Perspective

• Global Level: Religious Institutions Across Borders– Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism

• Cross-National Comparisons of Religion-State Interactions in the Public Square– Education, Hospitals, Military, and Prisons– Immigration Policy and Religious Diversity

• Micro-Level: Religion, Resilience and the Life Course

Margarita MooneyUniversity of North

Carolina at Chapel HillPresentation given at

Rice UniversityOctober 18-19, 2009