THE FIRE BETWEEN THEM: RELIGION & GENTRIFICATION IN ERNESTO QUI ONEZ'S CHANGO'S FIRE

This essay addresses how religion and gentrification become interconnected for the Puerto Rican community in Ernesto Qui onez's Chango's Fire. The move from Pentecostalism to Santeria for the protagonist Julio emphasizes an assertion of ethnic identity that the community of Spanish Harlem needs in order to interrogate the process of gentrification. Moreover, an analysis of the religious discourses in this novel exposes economic and social inequities and their critical impact on Spanish Harlem as well as demonstrates the significant connection between ethnic and religious identity for Latino/as.