Abstract

RODRIGUEZ, Alejandro. The Sociology of Monastery Life: Two Ethnographic Experiences of Male Cloisters in Spain and Mexico. Sociológica (Méx.) [online]. 2021, vol.36, n.102, pp.119-150.  Epub Sep 13, 2021. ISSN 2007-8358.

This article has two aims. On the one hand, it seeks to sketch the basic theoretical conditions for a sociology of monastery life, and, on the other, it offers an analysis of the innovations and continuities of this particular form of devotion. The raw material come out of two field experiences in a Cistercian monastery in Soria, Spain, and in a Franciscan monastery in Chiapas, Mexico. Day-to-day organization in the cloister is based on a complex system of discipline that requires an unconventional ethnographic design because it limits access to spaces and restricts human interaction. Nevertheless, it permits the observation of current conditions of monastic life in the framework of Catholicism’s institutional changes.

Keywords : sociology of monastic life; ethnography; Catholicism; Spain; Mexico.