The Beyond as Partner of the Here and Now
Romberg R (2017)
Publication Type: Book chapter / Article in edited volumes
Publication year: 2017
Publisher: De Gruyter
Edited Volumes: Experiencing the Beyond: Intercultural Approaches
Series: Challenges of Life: Essays on philosophical and cultural anthropology
Book Volume: 4
Pages Range: 256-267
DOI: 10.1515/9783110530773-019
Abstract
Drawing on extensive archival and ethnographic research among Puerto Rican Spiritists and vernacular healers, this paper focuses on the ever present and quotidian hermeneutical practices performed by many Puerto Ricans of various social classes and backgrounds in deciphering the “manifestaciones” (manifestations) assumed to have been produced by a host of spirits and ancestors. Since these invisible agents are assumed to communicate with humans on a regular basis in indirect ways (dreams, unexpected occurrences and sudden events, such as the death of a pet or the loss of an object) this requires a constant deciphering of, and acting on, a “spiritual semiotics” composed of impromptu sings of the “beyond.” Most importantly, these are viewed not just as explanations and warnings of misfortunes but also as ethical guides for everyday action following the Spiritual Laws of Spiritism - considered a spiritual philosophy not a religious dogma. My argument centers on “religious” individual and collective subjectivation processes that these kinds of everyday interventions of the” beyond” produce in the lives of individuals, even those who might otherwise define themselves as “modern” and “secular.” A theoretical discussion about the extent of a spiritual semiotics that is predicated neither on a binary, arbitrary, or closed system of meaning is launched in conversation with contemporary semiotic theories that address the dynamic, actuality, and agentive power of an indefinite number of objects and subjects, human and non-human, material and spiritual, all tied in meaning making processes informed by specific semiotic ideologies that act on the world in pragmatic yet also, most surprisingly, indeterminate ways.
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APA:
Romberg, R. (2017). The Beyond as Partner of the Here and Now. In Gert Melville, Carlos Ruta (Eds.), Experiencing the Beyond: Intercultural Approaches. (pp. 256-267). De Gruyter.
MLA:
Romberg, Raquel. "The Beyond as Partner of the Here and Now." Experiencing the Beyond: Intercultural Approaches. Ed. Gert Melville, Carlos Ruta, De Gruyter, 2017. 256-267.
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