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- Title
Saint Worship and Citizenship in Bolivia: An Ethnographic Approach to Democracy and Civil Society at the Festival of Urqupiña.
- Authors
REU, TOBIAS
- Abstract
This article is based on extensive ethnographic research and provides an examination of the relationship between saint worship and the practice of democracy in a Bolivian association of religious and folkloric groups. The confraternities, as the groups are called, perform at patron saint festivals, and their sociality rests on the ritual office of the pasante, or festival sponsor. The office of the pasante is an important part of their economic structure, but also a metaphor that organizes notions of status and leadership more generally. At the same time, the confraternities are fully invested in democracy as a set of institutions and procedures. Examining the example of the exchanges and negotiations surrounding the beer provided by the local brewery in support of the festival, this article argues that the democracy practiced in these faith-based civil society organizations is culturally inflected by the metaphor of the pasante. It suggests that this particular fusion of regimes of leadership may explain some peculiarities in the relation between the Bolivian civil society and its political authorities.
- Subjects
BOLIVIA; DEMOCRACY; FOLKLORE; VENERATION of Christian saints; DEVOTION to the Blessed Virgin Mary; FESTIVALS; MANNERS &; customs
- Publication
FIAR: Forum for Inter-American Research, 2013, Vol 6, Issue 1, p51
- ISSN
1867-1519
- Publication type
Article