La Santa Muerte has been presented as one of the most important religious phenomena in Mexico over the last decades. Much has been written already so we must ask what an anthology can offer us in this regard. Foremost, it offers a broad panorama of how La Santa Muerte has been investigated, contrasting with the more one-dimensional research on the cult published so far, such as Andrew R. Chesnut's Devoted to Death (Oxford University Press, 2012). La Santa Muerte in Mexico: History, Devotion, and Society is a polyphonic academic work collected from both Spanish- and English-based scholars; some of them with a long trajectory of studying this cult (e.g. Judith Katia Perdigón Castañeda and Regnar Kristensen). The authors’ diverse theoretical and methodological backgrounds present us with an unusually comprehensive view of the research today (ethnographic, sociologic, historical).
The strength of being multi-faceted could easily have become the anthology's weakness if it had not been for its introduction: ‘La Santa Muerte: History, Devotion, and Societal Context’. The introduction is longer and ‘thicker’ than normal for an anthology (56 pages), and probably the most comprehensive review on the research of this cult. Editor Wil G. Pansters reviews and meticulously discusses the research and scholarly debates of the last decades. First, he presents the main characteristics of the Santa Muerte phenomenon and its possible origins; second, he makes a critical reading of the studies carried out so far, offering a complete panorama of the current state of the field of study; third, he examines the main debates in this field and, finally, he presents how the studies contained in the book's chapters contribute to these discussions. An excellent introduction for researchers, students or curious lay people who want to know what the cult is about, how it manifests itself and how it has been studied.
In Chapter 2, ‘Saints and Demons: Putting La Santa Muerte in Historical Perspective’, Benjamin T. Smith takes a historical approach to worship, starting from two points: the relationships of the Catholic Church with popular devotions emerging from colonial times and religious revitalisation movements in their encounter with other social activities, shaping ‘moral economies’. Covering the political, economic and religious history of different Mexican Indigenous groups and regions, it provides the necessary context to better understand the place and role of the Santa Muerte cult today, showing the historical parallels it has with other radical heterodox movements of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, such as Juan Soldado and Jesús Malverde.
In Chapter 3, ‘Dances of Death in Latin America: Holy, Adopted, and Patrimonialized Dead’, Juan Antonio Flores Matos discusses the imaginary of death in Latin America, from the comparison and contrast of La Santa Muerte with the cultural heritage of death in other Latin American regions, including the ‘miraculous dead’ and the selection and adoption of anonymous dead in Colombia. Interestingly, this text is conceived as a musical and dance opus typical of the Baroque, very much in keeping with the theme it deals with.
Chapter 4, ‘La Santa Muerte as Urban Staging: Notes on the Images and Visibility of a Transgressive Performance’ by Anne Huffschmid, focuses on the excesses generated by the visual culture of terror related to drug trafficking in Mexico, and how they differ from the excesses related to the public performance linked to La Santa Muerte. Her focus is directed towards Santa Muerte as a visual and spatial experience, and the text is enriched with excellent photographic material. In Chapter 5, ‘Moving In and Moving Out: On Exchange and Family in the Cult of La Santa Muerte’, Kristensen taps into the popular Catholic nature of the cult and the gift-giving that devotees have developed with their images. Based on an analysis of hitherto unpublished ethnographic findings dating back to the cult's first public years in Mexico City, he argues that due to the complicated consequences of these exchanges family-like relations developed between devotees and their images. La Santa Muerte became, on the one hand, part of the popular Catholic family, while the organisation of the diverse street altars became a family affair, on the other hand. Through complex popular Catholic schemes of exchange, devotees gathered and copied the family-like organisation of the public altars, distinguishing this cult from other popular Catholic-saints cults by its strong intimacy.
Chapter 6, ‘Devotion That Goes Skin Deep: Tattoos of La Santa Muerte’ by Perdigón Castañeda and Bernardo Robles Aguirre, addresses the description and analysis of the embodiment of the cult of La Santa Muerte in one of its most intense aspects: turning one's own body into an altar through tattoos, a process that is described from the experience of devotees and tattoo artists.
Finally, the afterword, ‘Interpreting La Santa Muerte’ by Claudio Lomnitz, addresses the paradoxical dynamics of showing or hiding the devotion in correspondence with the social group to which one belongs, and weaves together ideas expressed by the other authors and his own distinguished historical research on death in Mexico, suggesting the cult distinguishes itself from other cults by being a ‘secular’ devotion where devotees are exchanging favours rather than seeking salvation.
Although I would have enjoyed another chapter concerning the influence from Cuban Santeria in the cult, the polyphonic chapters are very useful for researchers and students to appreciate the different theoretical and methodological perspectives involved. New and old topics can be (re)visited, for example: the history of the cult, its relationship with other Latin American beliefs about death, the family dimension that is established between non-human entities and their devotees, religious spaces or the body and faith. It contains, moreover, a remarkable introduction serving as a comprehensive review of former research, and a most valuable bibliography; almost all authors who have studied the cult are mentioned. Therefore, it is highly recommended reading for undergraduate and postgraduate students, scholars and others who are interested in this fascinating, fast-growing cult.
