Negotiating Respect: Pentecostalism, Masculinity, and the Politics of Spiritual Authority in the Dominican Republic by Brendan Jamal Thornton (review)

This work by Brendan Jamal Thornton is an ethnographic study of the phenomenal growth of fundamentalist Protestantism among those living in an urban barrio in the Dominican Republic. Thornton seeks to explain why Pentecostalism has made such inroads in a country where the citizens identify very strongly with the Catholic Church. He wants to understand why converts to Pentecostalism, a foreign religion that undermines Catholic authority, are welcomed as religious leaders and exemplars among the Dominican population. The author focuses attention on violent street gangs and provides insight into why gang members convert to a religion that undermines their macho identity and rejects everything they stand for. While the focus of this study is on the Dominican Republic, the author recognizes that people are converting to Pentecostalism by the millions in the Caribbean, Latin America, and many other places throughout the world (see Dow 2001). Thornton states that although Pentecostalism is a marginal religion in the US, it claims more then 500 million adherents worldwide (2), many of whom occupy the lowest levels of socioeconomic hierarchies. Pentecostalism overwhelmingly attracts the poor and dispossessed. The appeal of this Protestant sect in such a wide variety of cultures and nations calls out for social scientific explanation. Thornton’s ethnographic approach provides many fascinating insights into the phenomenon as it plays out in the Dominican Republic. However, his reliance on an interpretive approach inspired by the work of Clifford Geertz (1973) robs the study of some of its analytical and explanatory power. The reader learns about the attraction of Pentecostalism to some people in the barrios, but understands little about its universal appeal to widely different people outside of that context. Furthermore, one learns only of the positive effects of conversion to Pentecostalism and not its negative consequences for individuals and social groups.

In the Introduction, the author states that his study focuses on the intersection of religion, identity, and culture and aims to illuminate the social dynamics of Pentecostalism by offering a “fresh perspective on religious pluralism and the ever-evolving contours of contemporary religious and culture change” (1). Thornton goes on in Chapter 1 to provide a brief history of the Dominican Republic showing how the strong Catholic identity developed from the colonial period carries through to today. He reviews major religious traditions in the country and shows how the arrival of Protestantism fits into the larger Christian presence. Chapter 2 provides an overview of the barrio, detailing the local economy, street gangs, and community churches, as well as a description of the author’s techniques for interviewing residents. In Chapter 3, the author provides a case study of a woman who converted to Pentecostalism, along with a discussion of beliefs found throughout the Dominican Republic regarding the causes of disease and misfortune. Chapter 4 is devoted to outlining the behavioral changes associated with conversion, followed by a chapter discussing the street gangs in greater depth. Thornton provides case studies showing how the gangs relate to conversion and demonstrates that members with the most ferocious reputations often make the most convincing converts. Chapter 7 elaborates the concepts of respect and trust as they relate to conversion to Pentecostalism. The author ends with a summary of his findings and briefly compares Pentecostalism to other religious traditions in the island nation.

Anthropological studies of religion in the Caribbean have largely focused on the fascinating beliefs and practices of Vodú (Voodoo) to the neglect of more mainline, less exotic traditions (7–8). Negotiating Respect departs from that practice and addresses religious change in the form of the widespread conversion to Protestantism, arguably the most important cultural transformation occurring in the Dominican Republic since the arrival of the Spanish colonialists. Furthermore, Thornton conducted his ethnographic research in urban barrios where a large percentage of the Dominican population resides, rather than in rural, less populated communities favored by many anthropologists. Equally important, he goes beyond...