Feminist Inquiry in the Sociology of Religion 283
Latina Women
Much of the work on Latina women also has focused on Catholic traditions (but see
Jacobs 1996, 2000), although often those that are domestic and informal. Ana-Maria
Diaz-Stevens (1993) has focused on the importance of cultural identification and ritual
activity carried out away from the institutional church. Detwiler-Breidenbach (2000)
presents a case study of a pastor’s wife, whose quasi-official role bridges the public and
private, as well as the Anglo and Hispanic communities. Ebaugh and Chafetz (1999)
argue that women in immigrant communities have an “ironic role”: They both repro-
duce traditional cultures and produce change. Pena and Frehill (1998) argue for more ̃
cultural measures that assess embeddedness. They find that Latina women who are
embedded in a Latina culture engage in religious practices that are often missed by re-
searchers, but that produce a culture of resistance that helps them take a stance against
both dominant societal institutions and Latino ones.
African-American Women
In the sociology of religion, black women are still largely invisible as pastors and
as members of congregations, despite the common recognition that black churches
are central to the African-American community, and that women are central to black
churches. Part of this invisibility is due to the heavy Euro-American focus of the schol-
arship in the field. But this is compounded by the fact that the places where black
women are most likely to be found are also less visible in the literature. Although there
are recent signs of change (Gilkes 1998), the traditionally African-American denomina-
tions, including the AME and COGIC, have been slow in ordaining women (Dodson,
1996, 2002; Gilkes 2001). The nondenominational storefronts, where black women
preachers are over represented, are virtually invisible to sociologists who study denom-
inationally based religion (but see Baer 1993). Works looking at “church food” (Dodson
and Gilkes 1995) or a reading of spiritual song traditions as alternative understandings
of Bible stories that are liberating and egalitarian (Gilkes 1996) move into the realms
of culture and lived religion. As I discuss later, in order to have the fuller, more inclusive
understanding of American religion, it is necessary to start in places where those people
who are outside of the organizational hierarchies are to be found (see also Davidman,
Chapter 19, this volume).
Global Feminism in the Sociology of Religion
Unfortunately it is still the case that most feminist work in the sociology of religion
continues to take the United States, and to a lesser extent Canada, as its universe. The
increasing interest in Latin America and migrations is an exception. There is also a
growing interest in Islam. Articles such as those by Meyer, Rizzo, and Ali (1998)
on citizenship rights for women in Kuwait, and Moaddel (1998) on Islamic mod-
ernism in Egypt and India versus Fundamentalist Islam in Iran illustrate the use-
fulness of analysis of societies outside North America. Gerami and Lehnerer (2001)
look specifically at how Iranian women negotiate the patriarchal practices of Islamic
Fundamentalism.