El mercado laboral y la religión: la religión “vivida” de la diáspora comercial de Otavalo (Ecuador)

This research demonstrates that the labour market mechanisms can profoundly influence the ways in which religion in understood and practiced in migratory contexts. Multiple studies, from diverse geographical contexts, show that migrants are often overrepresented in specific occupations. This paper, based on a case study of the kichwa otavalo, an indigenous population from Northern Ecuador, indicates that the concentration in one occupational niche can lead to the development of what we have called “segmented religiosity”. The results of the qualitative research conducted in the South of Spain demonstrate that religious life in emigration cannot be properly understood without the longitudinal analysis of socioeconomic and political conditions that affect the insertion of migrants in the destination contexts. It is argued that, in spite of static conceptualization of religion, collective religious meanings and practices can change in a very short period of time in response to the requirements of the labour market.