David Sandell (Texas Christian University )
This paper addresses expressive culture in a Mexican rancho and asks: How do the residents define their rancho and themselves in contradistinction to an elite discourse about ranchos and peasantry that sustains a nationalist ideology? The formal qualities of a figurine of Christ and procession—the way people bring together the spiritual and lifelike—heighten existentiality that resonates with activities of daily life. The paper pays attention to performance, inclusive of the spark of people’s activities and the process of carrying them out to achieve an aesthetic and ideological orientation, thereby giving their rancho and themselves definition.
Part of 03-05 Festivals and Celebrations [hybrid], Thursday, October 13, 2:30 pm–4:30 pm