R. Andrew Chesnut
Professor (Latin America, Brazil, Mexico)
537 Agnes Arnold Hall
(713) 743-3119
rchesnut@mail.uh.edu

Dr. Chesnut is a scholar of Latin American history. He specializes in the modern religious history of the region with emphasis on Brazil and Mexico. Chesnut received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles. He has been recognized by Sao Paulo’s leading daily newspaper, A Folha de Sao Paulo, as one of the leading experts on Brazil. Chesnut recently gave guest lectures on Latin American religion at Notre Dame, Ohio State, and University of Texas and served as the chair of the religion section at Brazilian Studies Association conference in Rio de Janeiro. He is a member of the undergraduate committee and has been an doctoral advisor to several University of Houston graduate students.

Teaching:
Dr. Chesnut teaches the following undergraduate courses on a regular basis: History of Brazil, The U.S. and Latin America, Latin America Since 1820, and Food, Drink and Drugs of Latin America. At the graduate level he teaches Brazilian historiography and a seminar on Latin American religious history.

Research:
Dr. Chesnut is the author of two books, many scholarly articles and regularly writes book reviews for new books on the subject of Latin America. His first book. Born Again in Brazil: The Pentecostal Boom and the Pathogens of Poverty (Rutgers University Press, 1997), examines the meteoric growth of Pentecostalism among the popular classes of Brazil. Whereas Born Again in Brazil focuses on a single religion, his second book, Competitive Spirits: Latin America's New Religious Economy (Oxford 2003) considers the three religious groups that have prospered the most in the region's new pluralist landscape. The Virgin of Guadalupe, Mexico's patron saint, is the subject of his next book.

Selected Publications:
Competitive Spirits: Latin America's New Religious Economy, (Oxford University Press, 2003).

Born Again in Brazil: The Pentecostal Boom and the Pathogens of Poverty, (Rutgers University Press,) book on the Pentecostal boom in Brazil, 1997.

"Witches, Wailers and Welfare: The Religious Economy of Funerary Culture and Witchcraft in Latin America," Latin American Research Review, 2005.

Competitive Spirits: Latin America's New Religious Economy, (Oxford University Press, 2003).

"A Preferential Option for the Spirit: The Catholic Charismatic Renewal in Latin America's New Religious Economy," Latin American Politics and Society, Vol. 45:1, spring, 2003.

"Pragmatic Consumers and Practical Products: The Success of Pneumacentric
Religion Among Women in Latin America's New Religious Economy," Review of
Religious Research, Vol. 45:1, pp. 20-31.

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