Culture Production and Social Networks: Case Studies of Local Churches in Former Refugee and Displaced Persons Communities in Nicaragua and El Salvador

Abstract

This paper investigates how culture is produced and transmitted within communities populated by former Central American refugees and internally displaced peoples. Local churches in these communities produce culture and form social networks that powerfully counteract the social problems created by the region’s civil wars and exacerbated by poverty. Using a comparative case study approach, I argue that local churches build social capital, construct theological coping mechanisms to deal with the psychological and emotional scars of war, and have a positive impact on the economic development of communities by influencing both structure and agency.