Eric Hoenes del Pinal, Ph.D.

“Guarded by Two Jaguars”

Tuesday, September 12

7 p.m.
Reception at 6 p.m.

Open to the public at no charge.

The Dubois Center at UNC Charlotte Center City
320 E. 9th Street, Charlotte, NC 28202

Parking and Light Rail Information

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Fragmenting churches and ‘switching’ of religious alliances is a phenomenon that is not only timeless, but one that is increasing here in the US and in communities abroad. The University of North Carolina at Charlotte Associate Professor Eric Hoenes del Pinal illustrates the cultural factors that may contribute, by focusing on a Catholic parish in Cobán, Guatemala. A serious social rift emerged as some of its Q’eqchi’-Maya members began to identify with the Catholic Charismatic Renewal, and members of both the mainstream and charismatic congregations began to view each other as religiously distinct and problematic “others.”

In “Guarded by Two Jaguars,” Eric Hoenes del Pinal tells the story of this dramatic split and in so doing addresses the role that language and gesture have played in the construction of religious identity. Although members of these two congregations are otherwise socially similar, their distinct interpretations of how to be a “good Catholic” led them to adopt significantly different norms of verbal and nonverbal communication. These differences became the idiom through which the two groups contested the meaning of being Catholic and Indigenous in contemporary Guatemala, addressing larger questions about social and religious change.

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Eric Hoenes del Pinal, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor in the Department of Religious Studies. He was born in Guatemala and earned his B.A. from the University Professors Program at Boston University, and a Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of California, San Diego. He has worked at UNC Charlotte as both a contingent and full-time faculty member since 2010 and became Associate Professor of Religious Studies in 2023. His long-term ethnographic research examines the multiple ways that Q’eqchi’-Maya people negotiate the meaning of their religion and ethnic identities in post-war Guatemala. In that work Dr. Hoenes del Pinal pays special attention to the roles that language and gesture play in shaping human interaction and creating meaning. His work has appeared in several anthologies and journals including “Mediating Catholicism: Media in Global Catholic Imaginaries” (which he also co-edited), “The Anthropology of Catholicism,” “Anthropological Quarterly” “Language Policy,” “Exchange: Journal of Contemporary Christianities in Context,” “Fieldwork in Religion,” and “Gravy: A Quarterly Publication from the Southern Foodways Alliance.”

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All Personally Speaking published experts series events are hosted by the College of Humanities & Earth and Social Sciences with The Dubois Center at UNC Charlotte Center City and J. Murrey Atkins Library. During these community talks, College of Humanities & Earth and Social Sciences faculty engage audiences in conversation about their research findings and describe the personal motivations for writing their books. The presentation may be recorded. During these community talks, College of Humanities & Earth and Social Sciences faculty engage audiences in conversation about their research findings and describe the personal motivations for writing their books. The presentation may be recorded.

The author welcomes questions and comments about the book (Hoenes del Pinal, Eric. Guarded by Two Jaguars: A Catholic Parish Divided by Language and Faith. University of Arizona Press, 2022), which will be available for sale at the event. Or request the book from your local library. It is not necessary to have read the book before attending.