Skip to main content

LUP Student Papers

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Heretical Skeletons: Social Deviance & The Mediatization of Santa Muerte

LaGrone, Austin Daniel LU (2020) KOVM12 20201
Division of Art History and Visual Studies
Abstract
The purpose of this Thesis is to investigate the Mexican religious phenomenon of Santa Muerte and the mediatization that both simplifies and sensationalizes her. By investigating public Santa Muerte shrines and prayer cards in Guadalajara and Mexico City, by interviewing devotees in both cities, and by looking at media depictions of Santa Muerte, this project will explore how mediatization affects the production and reception of Santa Muerte devotional practices within Mexico and abroad. This project will argue that the sharing of Santa Muerte images online adds another domain of visibility to the devalued or disappeared bodies that, for some, Santa Muerte has come to represent. Yet it will also be argued that this new visibility may... (More)
The purpose of this Thesis is to investigate the Mexican religious phenomenon of Santa Muerte and the mediatization that both simplifies and sensationalizes her. By investigating public Santa Muerte shrines and prayer cards in Guadalajara and Mexico City, by interviewing devotees in both cities, and by looking at media depictions of Santa Muerte, this project will explore how mediatization affects the production and reception of Santa Muerte devotional practices within Mexico and abroad. This project will argue that the sharing of Santa Muerte images online adds another domain of visibility to the devalued or disappeared bodies that, for some, Santa Muerte has come to represent. Yet it will also be argued that this new visibility may presage a subcultural and/or mediatized trend, framed by the sociology of deviance, which may mark Santa Muerte’s gradual transition into mass culture. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
LaGrone, Austin Daniel LU
supervisor
organization
course
KOVM12 20201
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
Santa Muerte, Mediatization, Social Deviance, La Calavera Catrina, Branding
language
English
id
9017405
date added to LUP
2020-09-14 08:17:29
date last changed
2020-09-14 08:17:29
@misc{9017405,
  abstract     = {{The purpose of this Thesis is to investigate the Mexican religious phenomenon of Santa Muerte and the mediatization that both simplifies and sensationalizes her. By investigating public Santa Muerte shrines and prayer cards in Guadalajara and Mexico City, by interviewing devotees in both cities, and by looking at media depictions of Santa Muerte, this project will explore how mediatization affects the production and reception of Santa Muerte devotional practices within Mexico and abroad. This project will argue that the sharing of Santa Muerte images online adds another domain of visibility to the devalued or disappeared bodies that, for some, Santa Muerte has come to represent. Yet it will also be argued that this new visibility may presage a subcultural and/or mediatized trend, framed by the sociology of deviance, which may mark Santa Muerte’s gradual transition into mass culture.}},
  author       = {{LaGrone, Austin Daniel}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Heretical Skeletons: Social Deviance & The Mediatization of Santa Muerte}},
  year         = {{2020}},
}