Review: La Santa Muerte in Mexico: History, Devotion and Society, edited by Wil G. Pansters

Abstract

Review| November 01 2021 Review: La Santa Muerte in Mexico: History, Devotion and Society, edited by Wil G. Pansters La Santa Muerte in Mexico: History, Devotion and Society. Edited by Wil G. Pansters. University of New Mexico Press, 2019. xiv + 230 pages. $65.00 cloth; $29.95 paper; ebook available. Rebecca Moore Rebecca Moore Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Nova Religio (2021) 25 (2): 146–147. https://doi.org/10.1525/nr.2021.25.2.146 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Twitter LinkedIn Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation Rebecca Moore; Review: La Santa Muerte in Mexico: History, Devotion and Society, edited by Wil G. Pansters. Nova Religio 1 November 2021; 25 (2): 146–147. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/nr.2021.25.2.146 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentNova Religio Search This collection of scholarly essays assessing the history, meaning, and impact of the Santa Muerte cult in Mexico is a welcome addition to the burgeoning field of Santa Muerte studies. The outgrowth of a 2014 conference hosted at the University of Groningen, the papers treat a variety of topics focused on the saint’s Mexican presence—from tattoos as altars made of human flesh to the way that those who are most vulnerable “use” the dead to reassert a measure of control over their lives. Although only two of the contributors are Mexican, the rest coming from Europe and the United States, the book is informed throughout by fieldwork and ethnographic observation. An afterword provides a helpful summation of the authors’ arguments. The introduction, however, written by editor Wil Pansters, is really the book’s heart and soul, making up more than a quarter of the text. In it he presents a general... You do not currently have access to this content.