Cantitate/Preț
Produs

Devoted to Death: Santa Muerte, the Skeleton Saint

Autor R. Andrew Chesnut
en Limba Engleză Hardback – 2 noi 2017

În cadrul programelor de studii de antropologie religioasă și sociologie a Americii Latine, înțelegerea fenomenelor de credință alternativă este esențială pentru a descifra dinamica socială contemporană. Descoperim în Devoted to Death o analiză riguroasă a celui mai rapid crescător cult religios din emisfera vestică: venerarea Sfintei Morți. R. Andrew Chesnut oferă prima cercetare academică de anvergură care scoate acest subiect din zona senzaționalismului mediatic și îl plasează într-un cadru teoretic solid. Considerăm că forța acestui volum rezidă în capacitatea autorului de a cartografia diversele fațete ale divinității — de la „Sfânta Albă” a vindecării, la cea „Neagră” a protecției împotriva violenței.

Subliniem faptul că acest studiu se distinge prin obiectivitate științifică. Comparabil cu Santa Muerte de Tracey Rollin în ceea ce privește detalierea ritualurilor, volumul lui Chesnut este actualizat pentru a include dimensiunea politică și economică a fenomenului, explicând cum „Sfânta Schelet” a devenit un simbol al supraviețuirii într-un context marcat de războiul drogurilor și precaritate. În raport cu lucrarea sa anterioară, Competitive Spirits, unde Chesnut analiza sfârșitul monopolului catolic în regiune, Devoted to Death funcționează ca o aplicație practică a acelei teorii, demonstrând cum Santa Muerte umple golurile lăsate de instituțiile religioase tradiționale. Stilul este alert, evitând jargonul excesiv, dar păstrând standardele academice impuse de Oxford University Press.

Citește tot Restrânge

Specificații

ISBN-13: 9780190633325
ISBN-10: 0190633328
Pagini: 264
Ilustrații: 12 photographs
Dimensiuni: 213 x 145 x 20 mm
Greutate: 0.47 kg
Ediția:22
Editura: Oxford University Press
Colecția OUP USA
Locul publicării:New York, United States

De ce să citești această carte

Recomandăm această carte oricărui cititor interesat de intersecția dintre religie, criminalitate și cultura populară mexicană. Veți câștiga o perspectivă nuanțată asupra unui fenomen adesea greșit înțeles, descoperind de ce milioane de oameni își încredințează viața unei figuri scheletice. Este un instrument esențial pentru studenții la științe umaniste și pentru cei care doresc să înțeleagă realitățile complexe ale Americii Latine dincolo de clișeele jurnalistice.


Despre autor

R. Andrew Chesnut deține catedra Bishop Walter F. Sullivan în Studii Catolice și este profesor de studii religioase la Virginia Commonwealth University. Este recunoscut la nivel mondial ca unul dintre principalii experți în pluralismul religios din America Latină. Lucrările sale precedente, precum Competitive Spirits, au explorat ascensiunea penticostalismului și competiția dintre diversele confesiuni pentru sufletele latino-americanilor. Prin cercetările sale de teren și analizele sociologice, Chesnut a devenit o voce de referință în explicarea modului în care credința se adaptează la provocările socio-economice moderne din Mexic și Brazilia.


Descriere

R. Andrew Chesnut offers a fascinating portrayal of Santa Muerte, a skeleton saint whose cult has attracted millions of devotees over the past decade. Although condemned by mainstream churches, this folk saint's supernatural powers appeal to millions of Latin Americans and immigrants in the U.S. Devotees believe the Bony Lady (as she is affectionately called) to be the fastest and most effective miracle worker, and as such, her statuettes and paraphernalia now outsell those of the Virgin of Guadalupe and Saint Jude, two other giants of Mexican religiosity. In particular, Chesnut shows Santa Muerte has become the patron saint of drug traffickers, playing an important role as protector of peddlers of crystal meth and marijuana; DEA agents and Mexican police often find her altars in the safe houses of drug smugglers. Yet Saint Death plays other important roles: she is a supernatural healer, love doctor, money-maker, lawyer, and angel of death. She has become without doubt one of the most popular and powerful saints on both the Mexican and American religious landscapes.

Recenzii

Reviews of the first edition: Devoted to Death is an illuminating account of a lively, vibrant, multihued personification of death in Santa Muerte. Chesnut's text offers a unique and very personal portrait of Mexican culture... His expansive examination is interdisciplinary, involving diverse topics and methodologies. As such, this book has much to offer to scholarship in a variety of disciplines, such as Mexican anthropology, American anthropology, cultural studies, and sociology, among others.
Vividly written and cleverly organized, this wonderful book provides the most comprehensive and balanced account of Mexican and American devotion to this controversial folk saint.
Chesnut provides a much-needed analysis of the meteoric rise in devotion to La Santa Muerte, the saint of death whose appeal has attracted the attention of immigrants, jilted lovers, journalists, drug dealers, clergy, the infirmed, and a host of needy petitioners. This first book-length study of the devotion will be a foundational reference point for future researchers as the Santa Muerte phenomenon continues to evolve.
...intellegent, responsible, and sympathetic (although not uncritical) account of a significant and rising movement.
Chesnut's book is readable and accessible. Like one of the Santa Muerte-inspired films the author describes--indeed, like the kidnapper and murderer who first brought Saint Death into the public eye--Devoted to Death is engrossing in a pulp fiction kind of way.
This chatty, anecdotal work provides a basic introduction to the rapidly expanding cult of the Mexican folk saint Santa Muerte...Recommended
Devoted to Death is fascinating, and a continuous revelation. The Skinny Lady may look sinister, and she's certainly not to be trifled with, but something about her is terribly human. As demigods go, she is the salt of the earth. Devotees feel a special intimacy with her because she is, as one of them told Chesnut, 'an old battle-axe, like us.' She also has appetites. Lighting a candle will get her attention, but she gets thirsty, and while water is acceptable, she prefers something stronger. She enjoys tobacco, but won't turn down marijuana.
Andrew Chesnut's comprehensive survey of Mexican folk saint Santa Muerte is a detailed and highly entertaining read. Organized by the colors symbolizing her various powers, the book neatly encapsulates the themes significant to devotees. As a researcher with a keen interest in vernacular religion and folk saints in particular, I found this book strongly appealing and an informative, engaging text...an excellent companion to Graziano's Cultures of Devotion and a very relevant read for scholars and students interested in Mexican druglore, faith healing, and vernacular religion.
Andrew Chesnut offers a comprehensive view of the cult to Saint Death, also known as the White Sister or the White Girl. ... Devoted to Death unpacks the meaning and origin of Saint Death's following. ... Consequently, anthropologists, sociologists of religion, criminologists, and immigration scholars would all benefit from reading Devoted to Death to get a full understanding of the breadth of Santa Muerte's cult.
Chestnut contributes the first book-length study of Santa Muerte, Mexico's skeletal patroness of death... No doubt, this initial study has set the bar high for more research even while providing a book that is accessible to students and readers of all levels.

Notă biografică

R. Andrew Chesnut is Bishop Walter F. Sullivan Chair in Catholic Studies and Professor of Religious Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University. He is the author of Competitive Spirits: Latin America's New Religious Economy (OUP, 2003) and Born Again in Brazil: The Pentecostal Boom and the Pathogens of Poverty (1997).