Gender, Practice, and Faith in Nicaragua: Constructing the Popular and Making 'common Sense'

The focus of this book is an examination of the relationship between political consciousness and religious discourse in Nicaragua during the period of revolutionary government and since the FSLN's (Sandinista National Liberation Front) 1990 electoral loss. Concentrating in particular on the gendered character of political consciousness, the book seeks to explore the construction of identities and hegemony in Nicaragua through an analysis of both organised and popular forms of religion. Looking specifically at women's participation in small grassroots groups of Catholic laity called Christian base communities (CEBs), the book examines how women made sense of their lives in terms of their religious faith, political commitment, and gender. The book also focuses on popular discourse and imagery, including popular religious festivals, as spaces in which gender, political and religious identities are shaped and contested. In this way the book examines how everyday religious common sense has been used by both Left and Right to bolster their respective causes.