PILGRIMAGE, TRANSNATIONAL TERRITORIES AND MIGRATION: RENEE DE LA TORRE DECEMBER 2ND 12PM 79 FIFTH AVENUE ROOM 1618

Renée de la Torre has a Masters degree in communication studies, from ITESO, and a PhD in Social Sciences, specializing in Social Anthropology, from the University of Guadalajara. Since 1993 she has been working as a Researcher and Professor of Anthropology at CIESAS (Centre for Research and Advanced Studies in Social Anthropology), in Guadalajara, Mexico. She has level III membership of the National Research Institute, (SNI) and is a member of the National Science Academy. She is a co-founder of the Network of Researchers into Religious Phenomena in Mexico (RIFREM). She has specialized in the study of religious change in Mexico, spiritual movements, Aztec dance transnationalization and new urban identities. Among her publications are Los hijos de la Luz (1995, 2000); La Ecclesia Nostra (2006);Guadalajara: Una ciudad donde habitan muchos dioses (2011); and, Religiosidades nómadas (2011). Is co-editor of Religions transnationales des Suds (Afrique, Europe, Amériques) (2012) published in Lovaina: Editorial d´Academia-L´Harmattan (2012).

 Renata de Castro Menezes is a Brazilian Anthropologist; she is Associate professor at the National Museum, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro since 2006.  Currently she is a Visiting Scholar at the Center for Religion and Media, New York University. Her main areas of research are Brazilian Religions (popular festivals and Catholicism), Rituals and Symbolism. She is also an editor of two Brazilian Journals in Social Sciences: Mana – Revista de Antropologia Social and Religião & Sociedade.  She is a researcher of the Brazilian National Council of Scientific and Technological Development.