Women Leaders, Queer Faithfuls

With a vivid ethnographic lens on a Spanish village, Josep Almudéver Chanzà brings to life the resurgence of religion at the heart of European public life amid the global rise of neo-conservatism. This book reveals how faith, far from fading, is being reshaped, reclaimed, and reasserted as a powerful force in Europe’s social, cultural, and political transformations.

Through immersive fieldwork, including participant observation, oral histories, interviews, and archival digging, Almudéver Chanzà uncovers how villagers navigate and reinterpret religious rituals in everyday life. Faith emerges not as static tradition but as a living, contested space where the boundaries between secular and sacred, conservative and progressive, institutional and grassroots are constantly renegotiated

From material religious practices to the shifting role of the Catholic Church, each chapter explores how new forms of faith-based identity are being crafted on the ground. Central to the narrative is the question of gender: how are historically excluded voices, especially sexual and gender minorities, reshaping religious life from within?

Boldly interdisciplinary, Almudéver Chanzà draws on feminist theory, critical theology, and cultural politics to challenge dominant narratives and offer a timely, provocative account of religion’s evolving role in Europe today. This is not just a study of belief—it’s a story of power, resistance, and transformation.

Author Biography

Josep Almudéver Chanzà is a lecturer in Social Geographies at Newcastle University, UK and a poet. His academic research explores religious innovation, gender, sexuality, and Europe’s south.