Nabhan-Warren, Kristy

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Nabhan-Warren, Kristy

PERSONAL:

Married Steve Warren; children: Cormac. Education: Indiana University, B.A.; Arizona State University, M.A.; Indiana University, Ph.D.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Augustana College, 639 38th St., Rock Island, IL 61201.

CAREER:

Augustana College, Rock Island, IL, assistant professor of American religions.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Young Scholar in American Religion award, Indiana University-Purdue University Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture, 2005-06.

WRITINGS:

The Virgin of El Barrio: Marian Apparitions, Catholic Evangelizing, and Mexican American Activism, New York University Press (New York, NY), 2005.

SIDELIGHTS:

Kristy Nabhan-Warren earned her B.A. in religious studies at Indiana University in Indianapolis, received her M.A., also in religious studies, from Arizona State University, and then returned to Indiana University for her Ph.D., after which she became an assistant professor of religion at Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois. In 2005 she was named a Young Scholar in American Religion, an award sponsored by Indiana University-Purdue University's Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture. This program supports innovative research and teaching, and Nabhan-Warren's project had the intent of teaching a combination of service and ethnography.

Her first book, The Virgin of El Barrio: Marian Apparitions, Catholic Evangelizing, and Mexican American Activism, is a case study of a Mexican American visionary and her family. Expanded from Nabhan-Warren's dissertation, the work follows the life and family of Estela Ruiz, who had a vision of the Virgin Mary in 1989 and claimed to receive messages from her to share with the public. Nabhan-Warren studied Ruiz and her family—conservative, Mexican American, Roman Catholics living in South Phoenix—noting the effects the visions and messages had on her family, her community, and herself. Nabhan-Warren's information about the beginning of the visions before her study began came from Estela and those who knew her. The rest came from Nabhan-Warren's own observations, interviews, and conversations over a period from 1993 to 2003.

Estela's messages from the Virgin Mary are about healing, hope, and love, and Estela believed that her mission was to help the poor. The Ruiz family and many others engage in a multitude of activities as a result of the messages. One of these is the construction of a shrine in their backyard, which is open to any who want to visit. As the popularity of the shrine and Mary's messages become known worldwide, the crowds of visitors become so large that the shrine had to be cordoned off. Obligations from the messages included community improvements, women's rights, and the establishment of a Montessori school. At one point Estela even received sponsorship from the National Football League. Eventually, Estela and her family found themselves placed under the watchful eye of Catholic Church authorities. Numerous problems began to arise, some financial, some related to church politics, and some regarding the school. Estela's husband died, public interest waned, and Estela received word from the Virgin that there would be no more messages. As part of her treatise, Nabhan-Warren makes clear her own difficulties and reservations regarding the type of faith involved in visionary obligations and rituals; she talks about her approach to her subjects and how she worked to gain their trust.

Calling The Virgin of El Barrio "a powerful and important book," Luis D. Leon wrote in Church History: "There is much of interest and importance in this descriptively rich portrayal of a remarkable Mexican American woman…. Nabhan-Warren argues that Estela's visions enable her to negotiate her identity as a Mexican American woman trapped at the crossroads of cultural expectations, and that she and the other devotees are empowered by the devotion to enact both personal and social transformations." Theresa L. Torres, writing in Theological Studies, felt that The Virgin of El Barrio is a "significant and important contribution to the limited number of anthropological studies on Mexican American popular Catholicism." She continued: "This study will help familiarize theologians and others with this form of popular Catholicism and help them appreciate the impact of religious faith on the Latino/a community and the larger civic community." There was also appreciation for Nabhan-Warren's nonjudgmental attitude toward her research subjects. A critic for AESonline.org, for example, praised The Virgin of El Barrio as "a respectful, sensitive, clearly written book."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, March 1, 2006, P.R. Sullivan, review of The Virgin of El Barrio: Marian Apparitions, Catholic Evangelizing, and Mexican American Activism, p. 1264.

Church History, March 1, 2006, Luis D. Leon, review of The Virgin of El Barrio, p. 224.

Sociology of Religion, December 22, 2007, Michelle M. Camacho, review of The Virgin of El Barrio, p. 434.

Theological Studies, December 1, 2006, Theresa L. Torres, review of The Virgin of El Barrio, p. 912.