Sanctuary People

podcastOPTalksBooks
Written By Open Plaza

Dr. Felipe Hinojosa talks with Dr. Gina M. Pérez about her recent book, what galvanizes sanctuary movements, and what commitment to community organizing and faith-based activism looks like

María Magdalena Campos-Pons, Constellation, 2004, instant color prints, each print: 24 x 20 in. (61.0 x 50.8 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, 2013.23A-P, © 2004, María Magdalena Campos-Pons

 
 

In this episode of OP Talks, Dr. Felipe Hinojosa, historian, professor, and endowed chair for Baylor in Latin America, talks with Dr. Gina M. Pérez, cultural anthropologist, professor and chair of Comparative American Studies at Oberlin, about her recent book Sanctuary People: Faith-based Organizing in Latina/o Communities (NYU Press, 2024).

Drawing from historical activist communities in Northeast Ohio, particularly Lorain, and their mobilization efforts following the impact of Hurricane Maria on the Puerto Rican diaspora, to broader national responses, Dr. Pérez argues that sanctuary practices as expressions of care communities reveal that sanctuary people are  “not born…but continually made through decisions, big and small…How do you live with your faith? How do you respond to injustice?” This discussion highlights the ongoing effort and commitment required to become a sanctuary person.

 

"Perez's timely and thought-provoking Sanctuary People is a beacon of hope. The book offers readers a profound understanding of the power of faith communities to shape a brighter, more inclusive future and of Latinx communities' activist strategies to enact expansive forms of solidarity. It also provides a model for conducting socially engaged and compassionate ethnography in the 21st century."

Arlene Dávila,
New York University

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Felipe Hinojosa

Born and raised in Brownsville, Texas, Dr. Felipe Hinojosa is the John and Nancy Jackson Endowed Chair in Latin America & Professor of History at Baylor University. Dr. Hinojosa was formerly on faculty at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas, where he also served as Director for the university's Carlos H. Cantu Hispanic Education & Opportunity Endowment. His research areas include Chicana/o and Latina/o Studies, American Religion, Race and Ethnicity, and Social Movements. He co-edited Faith & Power: Latino Religious Politics Since 1945 (New York University Press, 2022) with Sergio M. González and Maggie Elmore. His recent book, Apostles of Change: Latino Radical Politics, Church Occupations, and the Fight to Save the Barrio (University of Texas Press, 2021) is set in four major cities (Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, and Houston), where, in 1969 and 1970, Latino radical activists clashed with religious leaders as they occupied churches to protest urban renewal, poverty, police brutality, and racism. Latino Mennonites: Civil Rights, Faith, and Evangelical Culture (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2014) received the 2015 Américo Paredes Book Award for the best book in Mexican American and Latina/o Studies by the Center for Mexican American Studies at South Texas College. His work has appeared in Zócalo Public Square, Western Historical Quarterly, American Catholic Studies, Mennonite Quarterly Review, and Latina/o Studies collections. Dr. Hinojosa holds a PhD in History from the University of Houston, an MA in History from the University of Texas Pan American, and BA in English from Fresno Pacific University. He serves on the Advisory Board for the interdisciplinary, peer-reviewed, and online moderated forum Latinx Talk.

Featured
Gina Pérez

Dr. Gina M. Pérez is a cultural anthropologist and chair of the Department of Comparative American Studies at Oberlin College. Dr. Pérez’s interdisciplinary scholarship explores the lived experiences of Latina/o communities through the lenses of migration, militarism, youth, gender, and faith-based organizing. She received a PhD in anthropology from Northwestern University (2000), an MA  from Northwestern University (1996), and a BA from the University of Notre Dame (1990). Her work is deeply rooted in ethnographic research and community engagement, especially in the U.S. Midwest and Puerto Rico. Dr. Pérez is the author of Sanctuary People: Faith-Based Organizing in Latina/o Communities (NYU Press, 2024), and the award-winning Citizen, Student, Soldier: Latina/o Youth, JROTC and the American Dream (New York University Press, 2015) and The Near Northwest Side Story: Gender, Migration and Puerto Rican Families (University of California Press, 2004). She has also coedited two anthologies: Ethnographic Refusals, Unruly Latinidades (coedited with Alex Chávez, University of New Mexico Press, 2022, School for Advanced Research Advanced Seminar Series) and Beyond el Barrio: Everyday Life in Latina/o America (coedited with Frank Guridy and Adrian Burgos Jr., New York University Press, 2011). Dr. Pérez teaches courses that are grounded in community-based learning and research methods, theories, and practice that connect students to Latina/o/x communities in Lorain and throughout Northeast Ohio. With the support and guidance of the Oberlin College Libraries’ staff, she works with students to develop their skills of public and community engagement by developing web-based platforms like Omeka to share research findings with a broader public.

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