Life after death

Leadership and social structure of an ethno-evangelical group

Abstract

This article explores the foundations of the social structure of an ethno-evangelical group deployed from a dramatic scenario; the unexpected death of two leaders in Santiago del Estero (Argentina). Nobody expected the almost simultaneous death of the most renowned referents of this evangelical space and members of the first families of Syrian immigrants who adopted the evangelism proposed by British missionaries at the beginning of the 20th century. What social dynamics does death reveal in a group where cohesion is closely linked to leaderships whose main source of legitimacy is belonging to an ethno-religious lineage? How does the evangelical community face the challenge of transferring authority in the absence of formal systems that prescribe it? What singularities does this case entail to investigate with original materials the evangelical diversity in Argentina? The detailed analysis of the conflicts and reforms carried out after the deaths will allow us to observe the dynamics of the relationships between families, churches, old and new leaderships and generational tensions. In this way we will understand the density in the forms of organization and social structure in a crisis situation.