Migrating Faith: Pentecostalism in the United States and Mexico in the Twentieth Century by Daniel Ramírez (review)

The Latin Americanist, June 2016 In all, this is an exemplary effort of combining archival and ethnographic research to demystify one of Venezuela’s most politically charged neighborhoods, and in doing so, provides crucial insights into the country ’s often volatile and complex political history. Barrio Rising should appeal to both specialists and the general public, possessing the rare quality of being highly accessible and scholarly in equal measure. David Yee PhD Candidate, Department of History Stony Brook University MIGRATING FAITH: PENTECOSTALISM IN THE UNITED STATES AND MEXICO IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY. By Daniel Ramı́rez. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2015, p. 283, $29.95. In this absorbing exploration into the history of Pentecostalism in the U.S.-Mexican borderlands during the twentieth century, author Daniel Ramı́rez has succeeded in relating the story of a vital and dynamic Apostolic religion through the lives and voices of a number of its practitioners. In doing so, he provides the reader with “the very circuits and processes” that transferred Pentecostalism across borders and back again (197). He argues that the Pentecostals of both sides of the border fashioned their own religious identity rather than just accepting cultural practices that they had inherited from other Protestant denominations, including the development of their own music. Ramı́rez maintains that “this most mobile of Christianities” may be viewed as “parasitic, opportunistic, reactionary, or creative,” but he proves without a shadow of a doubt in this book that it is more creative than anything (112). In telling the story of early Latino Pentecostalism, Ramı́rez begins with the Los Angeles-based Azusa Street Revival of 1906, carries the story of the development of Apostolicism into the era of the Mexican Revolution, describes the repatriation of the Depression era and its effect upon the followers of the faith, and informs the reader of the impact of the Bracero program upon Pentecostal migrants. In doing so, he builds a complicated web (which he terms “religious genealogies”) of Pentecostal leaders, each of whom added an important component to the religion. He does this via the use of a variety of sources, including memoirs, letters, remembrances, interviews, newsletters, minutes from local and regional meetings, and articles from evangelical newspapers. Ramı́rez introduces the reader to Antonio Nava, who left Mexico during the period of the revolution, experienced conversion in an empty church in Los Angeles, served as a pastor, and became a key figure in the faith, allying the Apostolic Assembly (United States) with the Iglesia Apostolica as a Presiding Bishop of the Apostolic Assembly. We also meet Francisco Avalos, who suffered through the deaths of his stepmother (by lightning) and father (from grief), was deported from work in a lemon orchard, and 300 Book Reviews was arrested due to a case of mistaken identity. Despite, or perhaps because of, this hardship, Avalos converted to Apostolicism, evangelized his fellow inmates in jail, was ordained by Antonio Nava via correspondence, and ended up serving as a catalyst for the spread of Pentecostal congregations in the Mexican state of Nayarit. The reader is also familiarized with the Alvarado brothers, Román, Rosario, and Juan, who, thanks to a chance encounter that their father had with the wife of a Hollywood singing cowboy , became Los Hermanos Alvarado, one of the most popular evangelical musical acts in the Americas. These are but three of the fascinating stories that weave together the religious genealogy of the Pentecostal borderland in this book. Perhaps the book’s greatest strength is its discussion of the role of music in the Pentecostalism of the U.S.-Mexican borderlands. Ramı́rez shows a dynamic musical form that, while having its origins in hymns such as those by Charles Wesley, Isaac Watts, and Fanny Crosby, nonetheless became its own art form. In terms of subject matter, Pentecostal composers utilized not only biblical passages but also their own life experiences in their songs, such as Filemón Zaragoza’s work “Mi Plegaria,” or “My Plea,” which he wrote while working in cotton fields in Texas. The instruments they often used included guitars, banjos, and percussion instruments, which were not commonly heard in more traditional Christian services at this time...