GLOBALIZATION AND YOUTH NUNISTRY PROYECT Focus on Latin America
A Report on Literature Review by Daniel S. Schipani

in collaboration with Diana Bueno (Argentina) and Alfonso Ramirez (Costa Rica)
Introduction
The exploration leading to this report was meant to cover as much of Spanish- speaking Latin America as
possible. For that reason, a double caveat is in order. On the one hand, it must be kept in mind that the
region is very heterogeneous and rich in varied and contrasting sociocultural, politico-econon-dc, and
religious realities. On the other hand, it is also possible to detect considerable commonality among the
different countries involved, including Portugiiese-speaking Brazil which is the largest country in the
region. The following general remarks and considerations are made in light of that second obser- vation
which highlights commonality.
One of the remarkable features of the current situation in Latin America is the

degree of observable political stability achieved in most of the countries, and the fact that such a stability
has been connected with democratization processes. However, those fledging democracies are fragile and
vulnerable in the face of the constant threat of economic and financial crisis. Indeed, in countries such as
Argentina the twofold mean- ing of crisis--danger and opportunity--is experienced and interpreted very
differently whether people belong to the vast majority of the population or to the small minorities who have
benefitted under the reigning capitalist system: the former emphasize the dimensions of risk, threat, and
hopelessness that "crisis" evokes for them, whereas the lat- ter highlight the dimension of opportunity for
advancement and the wish for further lvprogress."

Another significant feature to underscore is the continuing and pervasive role of religion throughout the
region, including Cuba. Roman Catholicism is still by far the predominant expression of Christianity;
however, the growth of the evangelical churches--especially those churches and movements which are
Pentecostal and "charis- matic" in character--has been fast and steady during the last decades. Interestingly

enough, within the poliphony of Christian religious expressions, it is possible to identify diverse streams
such as traditional as well as popular catholic religiosity, evangelical

piety, charismatic spirituality, and praxis/liberationist discipleship. Consideration of how youth appropriate
and live out those and other expressions of the Christian faith in Latin America could be a significant focus
in any study of globalization, youth and church in the region.
The term globalization is used in the literature to refer to an ongoing, fragmentary and diversified process.
Generally, the concept denotes the increasing interconnection of the political, economic and social life;
more specifically, globalization is pervasively associated with the effects of global market capitalism and
its supporting "neoliberal" ideology, on Latin America. Bibliography focusing on the economic,
communication,

and cultural dimensions of globalization is plentiful; critical appraisals converge from a variety of religious
and theological perspectives.
There is no consensus regarding the definition of youth as far as age span is con- cemed. For most authors,
the term alludes to later adolescence and the early years of young adulthood. Writings on youth and on
religion are abundant; however, there is very little on the relationship between youth, religion/church, and
globalization.
Ile first part of this report deals briefly with globalization primarily as an economic process. The effects of
globalization on religion and youth are considered in the second section, and several issues pertaining to
globalization, the church and ministry with youth are discussed in the third section. The final part of this
report include a number of obser- vations and'implications suggested by the study.

Globalization as an economic process
The concept of globalization is understood primarily as referring to an economic process whereby the
economy of the whole world becomes unified due to the elimination of all kinds of economic borders or

frontiers. Such a process is seen not as a free human invention but as a necessity associated to the degree of
development that has been achieved, that is, a kind of growth which calls for institutionalizing certain
limitations in the international arena (Calvez, 1997: 206, 212). Further, the connotations of the term are
also deliberately used in reference to a number of areas such as politics, communications, technology, the
arts, and many more; even issues such as the environment and drug traf- ficking tend to be viewed in light
of globalization as well (Carvajal 1996:233).
There is evidence of a search for creative, and to some extent symbolic, responses

to the economic logic and the concrete effects of the globalization process. That includes an interest in the
"alternative trade organizations" (ATOS) as developed in the United States and Europe, for instance in the
case of those mediating Latin American crafts and agricultural products (Mato, 1997: 109). However, some
of the responses to globalization are little more than a denunciation and a call to good will which lack
economic realism.
A number of authors have sketched partial alternatives to globalization, including those practices associated
with "globalized solidarity" and "globalization from the grassroots and from the underside" (Giaquinta,
1998; Richard, 1998). There is also

serious discussion on the possibility of global regulation of the economy to prevent maxi- mizing efficiency
and profit on the part of certain corporations and countries, and to introduce a new logic in international
trade (Dierckxsens, 1998, 163-183).
Several Latin American countries are trying to reposition themselves in a less dis- advantageous way within
the process of economic globalization. For instance, Costa Rica seeks to take advantage of its eco-
environmental resources through tourism while preventing the destruction of biodiversity, climate, and
tropical forests. Further, it seeks

to generate emplyment for its youth while avoiding sexual tourism. Thus Costa Rica,

along with many other countries, faces the major question of how to achieve the best kind of sustainable
development (PNUD/MIDEPAN, 1998). Such an approach includes an economic and social foundation;
yet, in practice, national and foreign entrepeneurs can easily disregard or violate it. The reason is that
globalization can avoid national public policy while not being accountable to world public policy because
such a policy does not exist (cited in Saivini, 1998: 383).
On the effects of globalization on youth and religion
Diverse effects of globalization upon youth can be documented in Latin America. A general observation on
the effects of globalization has to do with unemplyment, espe- cially among youth (with the relative
exception of the service sector as one of the few spaces for work available). Exclusion, the demands of
competition for qualified work associated with modernization, income reduction and increase in work
hours, create tremendous pressures on the family in particular, including the need for children and youth to
enter the work force prematurely as a means of survival.
Another general observation is that, in this continent historic religious groups have tended to lose
credibility for youth; they increasingly demand new models of church and society which can satisfy and
challenge them. In other words, established religion has been losing the kind of social standing that it had
in the past.
In many instances religion has become a technologicauy-driven enterprise in com- petition with the media.
And there is a constant call to support financially the continua- tion and expansion of such religious media
(which are normally owned by private people or organizations). Further, and as a clear illustration of
electronic globalization, television channels in some countries are directly connected with conservative
religious broadcast- ing from the United States.
The emergence of a number of new religious groups, the crisis of traditional fomis of religiosity and,
paradoxically enough, the affirmation of conservative forms of

religious experience, are additional phenomena highlighted in the literture. In the case of Roman
Catholicism, it is not uncommon to experience certain pre-Vatican n faith prac- tices together with massive
public meetings presided by diocesan priests and independent preachers.
Growth takes place in the marketing of religion which offers diverse answers according to the expectation
of the people. New access to religiosity is facilitated by sophisticated electronic instruments, music,

relaxation and self-awareness techniques. Inner healing, theotherapy, positive thinking, yoga, etc. are
promoted including explicitly (pseudo)scientific or spiritualist foundation.
In that kind of cultural and religious context, youth seem to respond with con- siderable disorientation and
religious relativism in addition to culturally promoted individualism. Thus the foundation for a subjective
individualism is laid according to which truth is relativized; yet an inherent ambivalence is noted: on the
one hand, more tolerant forms of social life and interaction can be created; on the other hand, a laissez-
faire culture is generated as well.
Another noted phenomenon is the devaluing of the meaning of family with an apparent weakening of
relationships within and outside the home. The traditional family tends to fade as a place of affective
realization. The pressures felt in the struggle for sur- vival lead many parents to abandon their children's
moral and spiritual formation while others delegate it to Christian shools or to the churches. Increase in
physical and sexual violence within the family--primarily on the part of husbands and fathers--is observable
together with economic privation and/or negligence.
Schools and churches are thus called to offer supplementary personal support, including initiation on values
such as truth, freedom, justice, love, and solidarity, and cor- responding practices. And a variety of
religious groups also function as a refuge where youth can support and identify with one another and
experience community.
Communication media have a great impact as well on religion and youth especially in that they offer
activities for the consumption of free time. Ilus, the prevailing

individualism of the economic arena is extended to other areas and contributes to create a feeling of
vulnerability and abandonment. Further, the media exert a seductive influence upon youth whose self-value
tends to be measured according to the expectations and models provided. Yet the same society which
promotes those models does not offer the opportunities for youth to become fully integrated in its midst.
The youth's self- perception is seriously conditioned by that factor (Rossi-Landi, 1980). Thus the self-
image of the youth of both sexes often moves between aggrandizement and an exaggerated view of their
potential, and a feeling of frustration and failure. Not unfrequently, the combined effect of atomization,
individualism, and loneliness result in a loss of the sense of social belonging and of personal and cultural
identity. And youth

often turn to alcoholism, drug addiction, violence, and criminality as they face a sense of emptiness.
The literature highlights a number of additional, interrelated critical observations, such as the following:
children and youth are affected by models imposed by the media, especially regarding the body, which
must be perfect, strong, free and ready for adventure and success; advertising in general is oriented
primarily towards youth who are represented as model consumers; and the association of material
possession and happi- ness in turn clashes with the reality of restricted access to material goods (thereby
foster- ing a sense of deception, cinicism, rejection).
Cultural globalization affects youth directly as well, especially through the audiovisual industry (TV, video,
cinema, music) as documented in the widespread adop- tion of icons, values and behaviors presented in
those media; even the indigenous and popular cultures of Latin America are being affected by the global
USA-centric culture (Mato, 1997).
A number of interconnected observations relate directly to both economic and cultural globalization, such
as the following two: a perceived loss of a moral sense as reflected in the pervasive idea that certain social,
economic, and political realities are

unavoidable or unmodifiable--that is, a kind of fawism--which is also fed indirectly by the ideology of
neoliberalism (Richard, 1998); the devaluing of ideologies and utopias

and the sense of lack of alternative in the face of the growth of global market capitalism.
On globalization, church and youth ministry
Many of the youth groups associated in some way with the churches have entered a time of crisis
characterized by a lack of interest in those kinds of organizations on the part of older adolescents and
young adults; that is the case particularly in light of the need to respond to the demands for training,
preparation and resourcing that the current situation presents. In part it is also a simple question of not
having enough time to dedicate to youth group activity.

That social reality is in turn associated to the diminished interest on the part of parents to communicate
their belifs to their children (Fomi, 1998: 304). Global changes contribute significantly to changes in the
family's faith practices. For instance, progres- sive pastors and theologians prefer to see their children in
conservative churches and schools rather than risking exposure to drug addiction; single parents and
divorce people especially seek ecclesial spaces for their adolescent children.
A field study among university students in Buenos Aires suggests that the religious beliefs of students tend
to be reconfigured but they do not disappear altogether (Fomi, Lanzeta, Coppie, 1998). And those students
self-defined as "believers" who participated in institutionalized religious practices during their childhood
and adolescent years often say that they broke away from those practices in preuniversity settings (ibid.
308). A process of deconstruction and comprehensive reconstruction and reappropriation seems

to be at work. In any event an area that calls for further study is the role of "evangeliza- tion" and overall
pastoral work in university settings, especially the under&ding theol- ogy, the association of such efforts
with other religious institutions and programs, and so on.

University students also highlight the following: critique of the "institutional church"; welcoming a
pluralistic context in which religious and political ideas can be dis- cussed and processed; and the
university as a place conducive to the transformation of worldviews, including the religious ones.
Youth who are believers but do not participate in an educational institution, tend to continue holding the
religious belifs and practices of their parents yet in different, new ways and often without church support.
Religious schools do not seem to play a major role regarding faith matters, except in providing higher
quality of education (at least that is the parents' expectation, generally speaking).
The ethical-moral and religious dimensions of globalization are only starting to be considered by the
churches, and new voices are calling for further reflection and work in this area (Giaquinta, 1998: 405-
406). Whereas during the 50's and 60's a major theologi- cal debate had to do with tradition and modernity
(the latter understood in terms of development primarily), now the concern tends to focus on the forms that
the neoliberal- capitalist development assumes in Latin America and its impact on people, society and
culture, and the environment (Calvez, 1998: 157).
Final comments: gaps and challenges
It is widely documented that, in Latin America, the reality of globalization affects deeply the life and work
of the churches, including youth ministry specifically. Sur- prisingly enough, however, within both Roman
Catholic and Protestant circles, there is a shortage of literature on globalization, religion and youth.
Ecclesiological, theological and pastoral perspectives are called for. Many questions are readily elicited, for
instance: is the widespread theology of prosperity an ecciesial response to globalization?; what is the
relationship, if any, between such a globalization process and the proliferation of predictions and
"prophetic" announcements in many churches, or with the use of the kind

of music that seemingly leads youth to alienating experiences? Indeed a number of specific topics and
dimensions have been identified as needing to be addressed, such as the following highlighted below:
-to analyze the unique dynamics at work in the complex picture involving youth and church in light of
better defined understandings of "youth" (given the reported disillu- sionment with the church among older
adolescents and young adults, on the one hand, and the considerable involvement in the church's life and
ministry on the part of pre- teens and early adolescents, on the other hand);
-to seriously consider the possibility of increased and comprehensive inter-church and ecumenical
conversation and collaboration, especially in light of convergent critiques of economic and cultural
globalization and neoliberalism (for instance, Negro, 1998, and Richard, 1997, from
evangelical/charismatic and catholic/liberationist perspectives, respectively);
-to reevaluate the church's unique place and role in society, including its theological and spiritual resources
(for instance, proposals regarding environmental care, reconstruc- tion of the civil society, and an ethical
culture of life [Richard, 19981) which could inspire and undergird youth ministry;
-to explore gender perspectives in regard to the effects of globalization on youth (that is, how young men
and women experience the effects of globalization differently);
-to examine the special question of migration--within the countries (e.g. towards big cities) and regions
(e.g. towards more politically-economicafly stable countries), and towards the "first world" (mainly, USA);
and the issue of identity formation among the new generations who live in multiple cultural spaces (Carcia
Canclini, 1995);

-to find ways to deliberately and explicitly include the perspectives of youth as active social and cultural
agents and to foster their participation in understanding and strategizing (almost all of the literature
available has been written by adults who reflect an adult-centric vision of youth [Panchi, 1997]);

-to develop a comparative consideration of diverse kinds of youth organizations-- private, public, national,
international, environmentalist, religious, etc.--in order to further the study of globalization and youth, and
the potential of youth ministry as such in a variety of areas (spiritual formation, education, recreation, care
and healing [e.g. addic- tion treatment and recovery], art and music, etc.);
-to identify and study those local, paradigmatic church-based projects that may be characterized by the
following suggested features: a new way of viewing and doing youth ministry (contextualized,
incamational, and collaborative), with a special focus on cultural, ethical and spiritual resistance as well as
the recovery of hope.
Selected bibliography

The following list includes sources published in the following Latin American countries: Argentina,
Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mdxico, PeM, Salvador, Venezuela, and Uruguay.

Angulo, Alejandro. "La solidaridad, camino real de la mundializaci6n". Revista Javeriana Oulio, 1997): 11-
21.

Arenas, Nell "Globalizaci6n e identidad latinoamericana". Nueva Sociedad (enero- febrero, 199@@: 120-
131.

Bar6 Herrera, Silvio. "Las oportunidades de la globalizaci6n". Am@rica Nuestra (eneroifebrero, 1997): 7-
9.

Calvez, Jean-Ives. "Globalizaci6n, exclusi6n y pensamiento cristiano". CIAS Ounio, 1997): 205-212.

------------ -- Las religiones frente al liberalismo". CIAS (mayo, 1998): 157-166.

Carvajal B. Luis. "Globalizaci6n y nuevo orden mundial". Revista Javeriana (mayo, 1997).

CifeUi, Pablo. "Cultura juvenil: interrogantes y pistas de aproximici6n". Argentina, tiempo de cambios.
Sociedad, estado y doctrina social de la Iglesia. Gerardo T. Farrel, et. al. Buenos Aires: Ediciones Paulinas,
1996., pp. 283-321.

Dierckxsens, Wim. Los limites de un capitalismo sin ciudadanta. San Josd: DEI, 1998.

Dussel, Enrique. Etica de la liberaci6n en la edad de la globalizaci6n y de la exclusion. Madrid: Editorial
Trotta, 1998.

Escurra, Ana Maria. "Globalizaci6n, neoliberalismo y sociedad civil. Algunos desafios pata los
movirnientos sociales t populates latinoamencanos". Revista Interamericana de Educaci6n de Adultos
(enero-a' ril, 1996).

Espeche, Vicente. "Cristianos en tiempos de globalizaci6n y pluralismo". Criterio (novimebre, 1997): 684-
686.

Farrel, Gerardo T. et al. Argentina, tiempo de Cambios. Sociedad, estado y doctrina social de la Iglesia.
Buenos Aires: Edicaiones Paulinas, 1996.

Ferrazzi, Giovan Maria. "Educaci6n, j6venes y megatendencias de la globahzaci6n". Educaci6n
(septiembre, 1998): 143-168.

Fomi, Floreal; Lanzetta, M;Lximo; y Coppid, Estela. "Religi6n modemidad en las creen- cias religiosas de
los jo'venes universitarios". CIAS Outio, 1998 : 295-31 1.

Frazao Linares, Celia. "La reinvenei6n de la juventud". Nueva Sociedad (marzo-abril, 1996): 70-88.

Gailardo, Helio. "Globalizacio'n, reforma del estado y sector campesino". Pasos (enero- febrero): I- 13.

Garcia Canclini, N'stor. Consumidores y ciudadanos. Con
e flictos multiculturales de la

globalizaci6n. M6xico: Editorial Grijalbo, 1995.

s --------- Culturas hibridas. E trategias para entrar y satir de la modernidad. Mdxico: Editorial
Grijalbo, 1990.

Garcia guadilla, Carmen. "Globalizaci6n conocinuento en tres tipos de escenarios." Educaci6n Superior y
Sociedad 6:1 (199@): 8 1 - I 0 1.

Giaquinta, carmelo Juan. "Igiesia y globalizaci6n". CIAS (septiembre, 1998): 405-420.

Gonzdlez Butr6n, Marta. "Desde el mundo de las excluidas para un mundo donde quepan todas y todos.
Por la visibilidad de los invisibles". Pasos (marzo-abril, 1997): 1-10.

Guerrero, Alexis. "La juventud de los parses del pacto andino". Revista de estudios de la juventud
(septiembre, 1989): 33-46.

Hinkelammert, Franz. El grito del sujeto. Del teatro mundo del evangelio de Juan al perro-mundo de la
globalizaciin. San Jose': DEI, 1998.

----------------- -- El huracin de la globalizaci6n: la exclusi6n y la destrucci6n del medio ambiente vistos
desde la teon'a de la dependencia". Pasos (enero-febrero, 1996): 21-27.

frarr;izaval Diego. "La otra globalizaci6n: anotaci6n teol6gica". Pasos (mayo-junio, 1998): 1-7.

Jaura, Ramesh. "La trampa de la globalizaci6n." Rumbo (octubre, 1996): 35-38.

Jimdnez, Pablo A. Introducci6n a los ministerios juveniles. Decatur: Libros A-ETH, 1997. Kohr, Martin.
"La globalizaaci6n y sus injusticias". Revista del Sur (enero-febrero,
1997): 11-14.

------------- -- La globalizaci6n no debe ser a expensas de los pueblos".,Revista del Sur Oulio-agost, 1996).

Larnas, Alicia. "La pobreza en tiempos de la globalizaci6n: mitos y desaffos de la PDlftica social". Revista
Javeriana Oulio, 1997): 27-39).

Martin-Barbero, Jesds. "Libros y medios: nuevos modos de leer". Mito o realidad del libro. Bogoti:
CERLALC/COLCULTURA/ASEUC.

Mdspero, Emilio. "Los P"i@ ipales problemas del mundo del trabajo en el proceso de lobaliacio'n de la
economia@'. Perspectiva Centroamericana (octut)re-noviembre, 1997):

Mato, Daniel. "Culturas indfgenas y po ulares en tiempos de globalizaci6n". Nueva Sociedad. Caracas:
Nueva Sociedad, IT@97.

Montoya, Aquiles. "ZGlobalizaci6n y nada mas?". ECA (abril, 1996).

Negro, Angel. El cristianofrente a la globalizacio'n. Buenos Aires: Editorial Logos, 1998.

Pacheco, Amparo. "Globalizaci6n: cambios y desaffos". La Naci6n (12-18 enero, 1998), p. 6.

Panchi Vasco, Luis. "Los j'o'venes como nuevos actores sociales frente a los procesos de tiobalizaci6n".
Revista de la Pontificia Universida Cat6lica de Ecuador (agosto, 1997):
9-24.

PNUD/MIDEPAN. Desarrollo humano sosteniblefrente a la globalizaci6n. San Josd: Programa de las
Naciones Unidas para el Desarrollo, 1998.

Richard, Pablo. "Crftica teol6gica a la globalizaci6n neoliberal". Pasos (mayo-junio, 1997): 31-34.

-------------- -- Dios, Ld6nde estds? La bu'squeda de Dios en el contexto actual de la globalizaci6n". Vida y
Pensamiento 17:2 (novimebre 1997): 13-20.

Rossi-Landi, Ferruccio. Ideologla. Barcelona: Editorial Labor, 1980.

Salvini'Gian aolo. "Globalizaci6n economics y parses en vfas de desarrollo". CIAS (agosto, 199@: 371-
384.

Schipani, Daniel S. Cornunicaci6n con la juventud. Disefio para una nueva pastoral. San Juan: Serninario
Evangdlico de Puerto Rico, 1994.
"La pedagogfa de la liberaci6n frente a los retos de la olobalizaci6n" (cl --------------
OSM9 lecture, International Association for the Promotion of Christian Higher Education; first Latin
American conference, San Jose, Costa Rica, Jnuary 1999; to be published by LkP- CHE).

Storffi, Fernando. "La globalizaci6n y sus dramas". CIAS (agosto, 1995): 321-324.

Varc!as, Alicia E. "Globalizaci6n, capital humano, y educaci6n". Reflexiones (noviembre, 19-99): 39-48.

VUlegas, Harold. "Centroam6rica: hacia unapolftica de cooperaci6n international en el

contexto de la globalizaci6n". Re
.flexiones (diciembre, 1996): 39-45.

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