KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 March 5, 2026 \u2013 Religious and indigenous diversity is just as much of a distinct cultural aspect of Oaxaca, Mexico, as its famous beaches, mol\u00e9 sauce delicacies and Zapotec pyramid sites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The southern Mexican state populated by around 1.2 million people\u2014about the size of Rhode Island\u2014is home to 16 distinct indigenous languages in a country that is primarily Catholic. But Protestant groups have taken root within Oaxaca over the last century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
äçÐÄvlogÃâ·ÑBÕ¾ Department of Gender and Women\u2019s Studies<\/a> Chair Kathleen McIntyre<\/a> will travel to Oaxaca in early March to share her research into this diverse Mexican region, and the religious tensions therein, through a special presentation she\u2019ll deliver there on Thursday, March 12. McIntyre\u2019s talk, \u201cReligious Conflict in Oaxaca since the Mexican Revolution<\/a>,\u201d will examine how Protestant conversion impacted \u201cusos y costumbres\u201d(customary law), the \u201ccargo system\u201d (duties and obligations), and \u201ctequio\u201d (collective service work) in Zapotec and Mixtec communities in Oaxaca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAlong with building stronger connections with universities in Oaxaca, I wanted to look at Native communities there where most people were practicing forms of a kind of syncretic Catholicism, a mixture of Spanish Catholicism with indigenous pre-Hispanic indigenous traditions,\u201d said McIntyre, who has been researching the southern Mexican state for more than 20 years. \u201cPlus, changes in culture such as this are not just about religion. It also affects power.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n McIntyre is partnering with Welte Institute of Oaxacan Studies\u2014where she studied the Mixtec language for her research\u2014and the Oaxaca Lending Library to deliver her presentation on religious change and conflict, a current worldwide topic. This upcoming talk builds on McIntyre\u2019s book \u201cProtestantism and State Formation in Post-Revolutionary Oaxaca<\/a>\u201d and her sabbatical to Oaxaca last year as a U.S. Fulbright-Garc\u00eda Robles Social Sciences and Humanities Guest Scholar<\/a> at the Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropolog\u00eda Social.<\/p>\n\n\n\n