Gender, Religion and Migration: Translocalities and Pandemics

A special issue of Religions (ISSN 2077-1444). This special issue belongs to the section "Religions and Health/Psychology/Social Sciences".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (25 June 2022) | Viewed by 9343

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Department of Women and Gender Studies, University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, AB T1K 3M4, Canada
Interests: gender; religion; migration; disasters; island countries
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In 2020, the global scale of COVID-19 highly demonstrated the intersections of gender, religion, and migration within communities and nation-states. As borders, both domestic and international, continue to define and target bodies for inclusion or exclusion by state agents and others, the embedded social scripts for women, men, and non-binary persons are compounded by religion and migration histories. For example, the different modes and levels of population mobility have rendered gendered bodies vulnerable to abuse, exploitation, and occupational segregation. Religious practices in public spaces have become pods for the spread of infection as participants travel to their home communities and beyond. The consequent imposition of travel restrictions and barriers for social engagements around the world require new perspectives on the relations of gender, religion, and migration in the context of the current pandemic and translocalities.

Translocalities, broadly conceived, refer to the physical, geographical, structural, and social as well as the imagined states and well-being affecting individuals, groups, and communities. These are fluid and complex terrains that construct borders, bodies of belonging, conformities, and punitive acts, amongst others. Gendered bodies are necessarily located in particular cultural contexts, political regimes, and economic settings. These are not mutually exclusive but intersect with other dimensions, including religion and spirituality. As people move within and about their communities, they inhabit translocal spaces where the processes of ‘being’ and ‘settling’ are transformed, or not. Under the aegis of the global pandemic, translocalities are crucial sites of engagements from the personal to the communal, from the local to the global.

We invite original works that examine the intersections and interrelationships of gender, religion, and migration along these sample questions:

  1. In what ways do variants of gender expressions find affirmations or condonations from religious precepts affecting immigrant groups before, during, and after a pandemic?
  2. How does religion contribute to gendered patterns of survival or coping strategies across generations of immigrant groups?
  3. What are the transformative potentials of religion for gender equity under a pandemic?
  4. In matters of public health under a pandemic, does religion matter in the lives of immigrants?
  5. Is religiosity a factor in the survival of inbound/outbound persons? Does it differ based on intersectional gender?
  6. What are the gendered effects of the multipronged restrictions of family, state, and religion during the pandemic?

We accept submissions in the English language. If interested, please submit an abstract of 500 words with a succinct title and a short biography of contributing authors to Guest Editor on or before 20 March 2022. Full length articles of about 6000 words including references are due by 25 June 2022.

Prof. Dr. Glenda Tibe Bonifacio
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • Translocalities
  • Pandemic
  • Transformations
  • Religiosity/religion
  • Gender/gender expressions/gender roles/equity
  • State control
  • Resilience/coping
  • Migration
  • Ethnicities
  • Generations

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

16 pages, 305 KiB  
Article
Immigrant Women’s Protagonism: Exercising Leadership Roles in Ethnic Churches at the Time of the Pandemic in Italy
by Samuele Davide Molli
Religions 2022, 13(8), 696; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13080696 - 29 Jul 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1834
Abstract
This paper discusses the protagonism expressed by immigrant women in religion via a series of leadership roles and expands on this theme by considering the pandemic as an emblematic period in which such female activism revealed itself. While the literature gives important details [...] Read more.
This paper discusses the protagonism expressed by immigrant women in religion via a series of leadership roles and expands on this theme by considering the pandemic as an emblematic period in which such female activism revealed itself. While the literature gives important details on gender inequalities generated by COVID-19, this article brings to attention agency, resilience and innovation. The case of catholic ethnic churches in Italy, a country particularly hit by the implications of COVID-19, is the empirical field. This paper uses qualitative data obtained through prolonged fieldwork (2018–2022), allowing to discuss the role of ethnic churches before and after the pandemic. The empowerment processes of women in religion and their leading role in terms of welfare provision and activism are detailed, concluding by considering the implications of these. While public institutions were in trouble, religious minorities, and notably their female members, acted to ensure the survival of non-Italian citizens. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Gender, Religion and Migration: Translocalities and Pandemics)
27 pages, 2851 KiB  
Article
Riding the Wave: Daily Life and Religion among Brazilian Immigrants to Japan in the Age of COVID-19 Pandemic
by Hugo Córdova Quero and Nilta Dias
Religions 2021, 12(11), 943; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12110943 - 29 Oct 2021
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 3247
Abstract
In March 2020, the world folded before an imminent pandemic. Community gatherings, events, and rituals quickly moved online. Jobs halted or were conducted remotely. The fear of the COVID-19 pandemic impacted different areas of daily life. In this article, we propose examining and [...] Read more.
In March 2020, the world folded before an imminent pandemic. Community gatherings, events, and rituals quickly moved online. Jobs halted or were conducted remotely. The fear of the COVID-19 pandemic impacted different areas of daily life. In this article, we propose examining and analyzing the experiences and narratives of Brazilian migrants in Japan. With the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act amendment on 8 December 1989, thousands of Japanese descendants born and raised in the Americas migrated to Japan. They are the offspring of Japanese immigrants who established colonies in the Americas in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Over time, the community of Brazilian immigrants in Japan fluctuated from being a minority to become the fifth-largest ethnic group of immigrants. Our analysis focuses on two areas of concern in times of the COVID-19 pandemic: daily life—including gender, and religion. On the one hand, daily life became cumbersome due to issues related to language and the hardships of accessing health services in a foreign land. On the other hand, we state that in the process of adaptation to the new society, the role of faith communities has been notable in offering support to these immigrants. Religious institutions, in particular, confronted the fact of moving their support and activities online with the consequent difficulties for those who are not tech-savvy or lack reliable connectivity. Both situations impacted Brazilian immigrants in different ways during the COVID-19 pandemic and highlighted the agency they displayed in coping with its consequences. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Gender, Religion and Migration: Translocalities and Pandemics)
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11 pages, 235 KiB  
Article
Effects of Pandemics on Migrant Communities: Analysis of Existing Sources
by Mollo Kenneth Otieno and Lewis Nkenyereye
Religions 2021, 12(5), 289; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12050289 - 21 Apr 2021
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2341
Abstract
Gender, religion, and migration are perplexing issues, especially in this era of the COVID-19 pandemic in which gendered and religious dynamics are emerging within migrant communities across the world. The relations between these three concepts are explored within this bleak time that has [...] Read more.
Gender, religion, and migration are perplexing issues, especially in this era of the COVID-19 pandemic in which gendered and religious dynamics are emerging within migrant communities across the world. The relations between these three concepts are explored within this bleak time that has exposed previously neglected dynamics present in migrant communities living in distant host countries in Asia, Europe, and the United States of America. In this paper, we discuss the intricacies within religion and gender among migrant communities and the gendered impacts that COVID-19 has had on the aforementioned migrant communities. Through a secondary desk review analysis of the diverse emerging literature, we show that there are gendered implications of the pandemic measures taken by governments as migrant communities occupy unique translocalities. Overall, the intersection of religion, gender, and migration underscores religion reproducing gender roles among the migrants. The reproduction of gender in religious institutions disadvantage women amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. The analysis confirmed the trivial fact that migrant women continue to suffer disproportionately due to increased unemployment and disease burden coupled with religious practices that continue to advance the upward mobility of male migrants. There is a need to recast the place of migrant women in this era, and lastly, religion plays a renewed role among migrant communities especially for women who have enhanced their social positions and organizational skills through it. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Gender, Religion and Migration: Translocalities and Pandemics)
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