Scopic Regimentation of Cuban Popular Religious Altars
Cuban popular religious altars command attention with their elaborate presentations of statues, dolls, figurines, photographs, vessels, and offerings to a host of spirits and saints. The altar is cosmogenic: any given altar in all of its inventive particularity is a diagram that figures a world of...
Saved in:
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Department of Anthropology, University of Chicago
2021-04-01
|
| Series: | Semiotic Review |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://semioticreview.com/sr/index.php/srindex/article/view/67 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1849421132454690816 |
|---|---|
| author | Kristina Wirtz |
| author_facet | Kristina Wirtz |
| author_sort | Kristina Wirtz |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description |
Cuban popular religious altars command attention with their elaborate presentations of statues, dolls, figurines, photographs, vessels, and offerings to a host of spirits and saints. The altar is cosmogenic: any given altar in all of its inventive particularity is a diagram that figures a world of relations between the living practitioner and the constellation of spirits who work with that practitioner. The concept of scopic regimentation, adapted from what Christian Metz (1975) and Martin Jay (1988) call the scopic regime, describes how the location, arrangement, and qualities of altars and their objects dynamically figure possibilities and tensions in developing spiritual relationships. Four dimensions of the altar’s work of scopic regimentation are described. First is the altar’s work as a prism, in which the altar’s objects refract general spiritual presence into distinct spirit figures. Second, the altar’s arrangement as a constellation diagrams multiple, complex relationalities among spirits as an image of the evolving spiritual biography of the altar’s owner. Third, the altar’s work as interface shapes multimodal communicative engagements between spirits and religious adherents. And fourth, the altar serves as an aperture in diagramming the limits of knowledge about spirits in its play between revelation and concealment.
|
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-0bfddce3398c45bd83d430ca1c2f2c5a |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 3066-8107 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2021-04-01 |
| publisher | Department of Anthropology, University of Chicago |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Semiotic Review |
| spelling | doaj-art-0bfddce3398c45bd83d430ca1c2f2c5a2025-08-20T03:31:33ZengDepartment of Anthropology, University of ChicagoSemiotic Review3066-81072021-04-01910.71743/t14pyd80Scopic Regimentation of Cuban Popular Religious AltarsKristina Wirtz Cuban popular religious altars command attention with their elaborate presentations of statues, dolls, figurines, photographs, vessels, and offerings to a host of spirits and saints. The altar is cosmogenic: any given altar in all of its inventive particularity is a diagram that figures a world of relations between the living practitioner and the constellation of spirits who work with that practitioner. The concept of scopic regimentation, adapted from what Christian Metz (1975) and Martin Jay (1988) call the scopic regime, describes how the location, arrangement, and qualities of altars and their objects dynamically figure possibilities and tensions in developing spiritual relationships. Four dimensions of the altar’s work of scopic regimentation are described. First is the altar’s work as a prism, in which the altar’s objects refract general spiritual presence into distinct spirit figures. Second, the altar’s arrangement as a constellation diagrams multiple, complex relationalities among spirits as an image of the evolving spiritual biography of the altar’s owner. Third, the altar’s work as interface shapes multimodal communicative engagements between spirits and religious adherents. And fourth, the altar serves as an aperture in diagramming the limits of knowledge about spirits in its play between revelation and concealment. https://semioticreview.com/sr/index.php/srindex/article/view/67altar visualityCuban Spiritismsemiosisscopic regimentation |
| spellingShingle | Kristina Wirtz Scopic Regimentation of Cuban Popular Religious Altars Semiotic Review altar visuality Cuban Spiritism semiosis scopic regimentation |
| title | Scopic Regimentation of Cuban Popular Religious Altars |
| title_full | Scopic Regimentation of Cuban Popular Religious Altars |
| title_fullStr | Scopic Regimentation of Cuban Popular Religious Altars |
| title_full_unstemmed | Scopic Regimentation of Cuban Popular Religious Altars |
| title_short | Scopic Regimentation of Cuban Popular Religious Altars |
| title_sort | scopic regimentation of cuban popular religious altars |
| topic | altar visuality Cuban Spiritism semiosis scopic regimentation |
| url | https://semioticreview.com/sr/index.php/srindex/article/view/67 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT kristinawirtz scopicregimentationofcubanpopularreligiousaltars |