RT Article
T1 Visibility and Iconic Aspirations of Santa Muerte Devotion in Mexico
JF Religion compass
VO 20
IS 2
SP 1
OP 10
A1 Pansters, Wil G. 1950-
LA English
YR 2026
UL https://ixtheo.de/Record/1963371852
AB This article examines the manifestations and meanings of the spectacularly increased visibility of Santa Muerte devotion in contemporary Mexico. This remarkable development acquires significance against the background of the cult's previous history of concealed devotion. To confront their existential uncertainties and vulnerabilities, present day Santa Muerte devotees engage in a range visual, performative, and spatial practices. Although empirically signaled, hitherto no systematic analysis has been made of the cult's iconic aspirations and its increased public visibility in conceptual terms. To make up for this deficit and deepen our understanding of its meanings, this article explores the theoretical notions of "iconic aspirations" and (the anthropology of) "display." As a key component of popular religion-making, it is important to understand the assemblage of a new visibility regime by the efforts of assorted congregations and their leaders over the course of the past decades. Based on ethnographic material, I show how these range from place-making interventions through the appropriation and sacralization of secular spaces, to the visibilizing effects of commodities, rituals, processions, and human bodies. These practices feature critical bottom-up agency, that explains the cult's religious, iconographic, and expressive dynamics, as well as their profound social, political, and symbolic meanings.
K1 2000-present
K1 Americas
K1 Mexico
K1 Northern America
K1 Anthropology
K1 popular belief
K1 religions in the Americas
K1 Ritual
K1 Saints
DO 10.1111/rec3.70045