11. The Moral Economy of Brujería under the Modern Colony: A Pirated Modernity?

Romberg R (2020)

Publication Type: Book chapter / Article in edited volumes

Publication year: 2020

Edited Volumes: Obeah and Other Powers

Pages Range: 288-315

Abstract

For the last five centuries, the moral economy of Puerto Rican brujería (witch-craft, witch healing) has been shaped by extra- and intra-religious forms ofpower.∞ As with many other non-institutional vernacular religions, it has re-tained the symbols of hegemonic culture long after they have ceased to berelevant in the mainstream.≤ In this sense, the moral economy of brujería hasbeen shaped by what Anna Tsing terms the ‘‘margins’’: those ‘‘zones of unpre-dictability at the edges of discursive stability, where contradictory discoursesoverlap, or where discrepant kinds of meaning-making converge.’’≥ The result-ing moral economy thereby encompasses apparently incongruous manifesta-tions, such as the presence of the Catholic cross amid African and Asiandeities, the performance of Catholic and Protestant worship in the making ofmagic works, and the convergence of consumerist desires with the moral lawsof Spiritism

Authors with CRIS profile

Rachel Romberg

Involved external institutions

Tel Aviv University

Israel (IL)

How to cite

APA:

Romberg, R. (2020). 11. The Moral Economy of Brujería under the Modern Colony: A Pirated Modernity? In Duke University Press 2012 (Eds.), Obeah and Other Powers. (pp. 288-315).

MLA:

Romberg, Raquel. "11. The Moral Economy of Brujería under the Modern Colony: A Pirated Modernity?" Obeah and Other Powers. Ed. Duke University Press 2012, 2020. 288-315.

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