Feminist religiosity of a university colectiva in Mexico

Abstract

We study a Mexican university colectiva with the purpose of understanding how they can maintain their feminist commitment despite the resistance and attacks of patriarchy. From the theoretical framework of religiosity, understood as the social construction of the-transcendent, we investigate how the collective sacralizes woman/women and gender equality in the face of different valuations of the world, in the context of normative pluralism typical of contemporary Western societies. Using case study and discourse analysis methods, we conduct semi- structured interviews with ten university students. We identify in their speech five religious facets –sacralizations, transcendental experiences, doctrines, rites and community ties– that convey a feminism which we call inclusive, along with absolutizations of loved ones and the personal life project. Making these reifications visible makes it possible to recenter the feminist commitment when it is relativized by contact with other sacralizations; it also shows that they are social constructions that evolve according to ever-changing needs. The religiosity approach allows us to focus on the intangible motivations that inspire feminist activism, showing the  complementarities  and tensions with other sacralizations with which it competes.