Abstract
This essay explores poetics and politics among Latino Catholics in Fresno, California, who draw on a tradition of storytelling and religious ritual to mitigate the hardships that result from their marginal social assignment. Storytelling and ritual allow them to recognize where faith and daily life intersect, exposing the tensions—including those caused by poverty, violence, and isolation—that separate one person from another. This combination of faith and poetics also allows them to cultivate the harmonies that bring people together. The essay focuses on stories told by Eva González, who relates her family’s dreams and disappointments and demonstrates the importance of her beliefs. It weaves together Chicano, religious, and performance-studies scholarship with philosophy, ethnography, and empirical research. As much spiritual as it is historical, psychological, and ethical, the essay is choreographed to produce a textual performance that introduces readers to the narrative process of making life whole.
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