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.

As a skilled anthropologist, Almudéver Chanzà persuasively argues that, far from being marginal figures in the Catholic Church, women and gay men are the beating heart of Catholic public devotional life in a Valencian village. As a native son of that same village, he offers an intimate and insightful portrait of local interpersonal relationships and the forms of religious creativity and spiritual resilience they engender.

• GlossaryAcknowledgementsIntroduction 1. Coexisting through opposition2. Gossip and godly work3. Traditional inventions4. The church as an open closet5. Devotional upcycling6. Out of the boxConclusion

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.

As a skilled anthropologist, Almudéver Chanzà persuasively argues that, far from being marginal figures in the Catholic Church, women and gay men are the beating heart of Catholic public devotional life in a Valencian village. As a native son of that same village, he offers an intimate and insightful portrait of local interpersonal relationships and the forms of religious creativity and spiritual resilience they engender.

• GlossaryAcknowledgementsIntroduction 1. Coexisting through opposition2. Gossip and godly work3. Traditional inventions4. The church as an open closet5. Devotional upcycling6. Out of the boxConclusion

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.

As a skilled anthropologist, Almudéver Chanzà persuasively argues that, far from being marginal figures in the Catholic Church, women and gay men are the beating heart of Catholic public devotional life in a Valencian village. As a native son of that same village, he offers an intimate and insightful portrait of local interpersonal relationships and the forms of religious creativity and spiritual resilience they engender.

• GlossaryAcknowledgementsIntroduction 1. Coexisting through opposition2. Gossip and godly work3. Traditional inventions4. The church as an open closet5. Devotional upcycling6. Out of the boxConclusion