Conversos al islam y retornados al judaísmo en Buenos Aires y San Pablo: un ensayo comparativo

The article discusses some aspects of the dynamics of conversion to Islam and of the return to orthodoxy in Judaism. The objective is to consider the extent to which comparative criteria can be established to understand more comprehensively the phenomenon of the expansion of religious orthodoxies in Buenos Aires and São Paulo during the last decades. There is a dissimilar diversity of the Argentine and Brazilian religious field, and differences in belief systems, as in Islamic and Jewish institutions (both religious and ethnic). Nevertheless, through an inductive analysis of both similar and differential characteristics, it is intended to understand the dynamics and patterns of renewal of the diverse monotheistic religious traditions. The present preliminary stage is based on fieldwork, still under execution, which analyses the conversion to Islam and the return to Judaism in Buenos Aires and San Pablo, and whose result still requires further elaboration. The basic analytical assumption is that religious affiliation is built across boundaries and strategies for maintaining them.