Guadalupe in New York: Devotion and the Struggle for Citizenship Rights among Mexican Immigrants » (New Edition)

Alyshia Gálvez is assistant professor of Latin American and Puerto Rican studies at Lehman College, City University of New York. She is editor of Performing Religion in the Americas and Traveling Virgins/Virgenes Viajeras, a special issue of the journal e-misférica.

Every December 12th, thousands of Mexican immigrants gather for the mass at New York City’s St. Patrick’s Cathedral in honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe’s feast day. They kiss images of the Virgin, wait for a bishop’s blessing—and they also carry signs asking for immigration reform, much like political protestors. It is this juxtaposition of religion and politics that Alyshia Gálvez investigates in Guadalupe in New York.

The Virgin of Guadalupe is a profound symbol for Mexican Catholics and the patron saint of their country. Her name has been invoked in war and in peace, and her image has been painted on walls, printed on T-shirts, and worshipped at countless shrines. For undocumented Mexicans in New York, Guadalupe continues to be a powerful presence as they struggle to gain citizenship in a new country.

Using a series of rich in-depth interviews which illuminate Mexican American Catholicism and everyday practices in New York, Gálvez shows that it is through Guadalupan devotion that many undocumented Mexican immigrants are finding the will and vocabulary to demand rights, immigration reform, and respect. She also reveals how such devotion supports and emboldens immigrants in their struggle to provide for their families and create their lives in the city with dignity.

List of Figures xi

Acknowledgments xiii

1 Introduction 1

2 On Citizenship, Membership, and the Right to Have Rights 16

3 Los Comités Guadalupanos and Asociación Tepeyac: Their Formation and Context 31

4 Our Lady of Guadalupe: The Image and Its Circulation 72

5 EI Viacrucis del Inmigrante and Other Public Processions 107

6 La Antorcha Guadalupana/The Guadalupan Torch Run: Messengers for a People Divided by the Border 140

7 Conclusion: Citizenship for Immigrants 167

Appendix: A Note on Methodology and the Use of Pseudonyms 193

Notes 197

References 211

Index 227

About the Author 237