Description:

PhD Candidate Ely Orrego-Torres (Political Science) will present her research on “In the Name of Religious Freedom: Transnational Religious Mobilization in the Organization of American States (OAS)."

Religious freedom is crucial in the construction of international global history. Its definition has been taken for granted in legal and political institutions worldwide as a universal and democratic principle. This right is endorsed in legal and public policy circles worldwide, including constitutions, state offices of religious affairs and international law. However, what happens when we shift the focus to civil society groups and their approach to religious freedom? How do these groups interpret and articulate political agendas surrounding religious freedom in the (Latin) Americas? Why do they verbalize and strengthen discourses of religious freedom in the context of international fora? In this paper, Orrego-Torres delves into the mobilization of the concept of "religious freedom" at the Organization of American States (OAS), focusing on discourse analysis within the context of the “Civil Society Dialogue.” She argues that transnational religious networks from the Americas use the language of religious freedom to mobilize and strategize discourses either against or in favor of gender and sexual rights. Why and how do they use the language of religious freedom in regional institutions like the OAS? The coordinated participation of these networks highlights the diverse—and at times contradictory—invocations of religious freedom within the democratic spaces of the OAS. In recent years, the OAS has served as a key forum where these dynamics have unfolded, leading to confrontations and polarization in the discourse on human rights among religious groups. Moreover, the case of the OAS underscores the complexities of “vernacularization” in the (Latin) American context, illustrating how transnational religious networks adapt and reinterpret the concept of religious freedom through the lens of their lived religious experiences. This research uses qualitative methods (ethnographic and interpretive) to analyze the involvement of religious groups during the OAS General Assembly and Summit of the Americas between 2017 and 2023.

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