Ana María Díaz Stevens is a Puerto Rican-American sociologist with a focus on Latinos and Latinas in religion, especially

Roman Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

. She was inaugurated as a full faculty member at Union Theological Seminary in 1999, making her the first

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...

n to hold that position at the university. She later became the Chairperson of the Church and Society at the seminary. Stevens focuses on the role of women in Roman Catholicism. She finds their contributions to be very important in that they establish what she titles a "

matriarchal Matriarchy is a social system in which women hold the primary power positions in roles of authority. In a broader sense it can also extend to moral authority, social privilege and control of property. While those definitions apply in general E ...

core". She especially focuses on the effects Puerto Ricans in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

: "We Puerto Ricans contributed tremendously in terms of this city’s spiritual well-being and the identity of the

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to Vic ...

community. And sometimes that is not recognized.” Before becoming a professor, Stevens was a nun in the Catholic church. She has also taught at

Queens College Queens College (QC) is a public college in the Queens borough of New York City. It is part of the City University of New York system. Its 80-acre campus is primarily located in Flushing, Queens. It has a student body representing more than 170 ...

of the City University of New York as an adjunct assistant professor of modern languages, sociology, and Puerto Rican studies;

Fordham University Fordham University () is a Private university, private Jesuit universities, Jesuit research university in New York City. Established in 1841 and named after the Fordham, Bronx, Fordham neighborhood of the The Bronx, Bronx in which its origina ...

as an assistant professor of social science; and

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's ...

as an assistant professor of Puerto Rican and Hispanic studies. Before teaching, she worked with New York Catholic Archdiocese, Brooklyn Catholic Diocese, and Centro de Evangelizacion.

Written works

* ''Oxcart Catholicism on Fifth Avenue: The Impact of the Puerto Rican Migration upon the Archdiocese of New York'', 1993 * ''The Religious Experience of Latinos in the United States: An Interdisciplinary Perspective'', 1994 * ''An Enduring Flame: Popular Religiosity of Latinos'', 1994 * ''Recognizing the Latino Resurgence in U.S. Religion'', 1997. * �
Fuego a la Lata: The Puerto Rican Experience in New York — Mobilizing Institutions and Institutions Mobilizing
��. May 5, 2011.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stevens, Ana María Díaz Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American sociologists American women sociologists Union Theological Seminary (New York City) faculty 21st-century American women