Performing Piety Making Space Sacred ith the Virgin of Guadalupe [Paperback]

The Virgin of Guadalupe, though quintessentially Mexican, inspires devotion throughout the Americas and around the world. This study sheds new light on the long-standing transnational dimensions of Guadalupan worship by examining the production of sacred space in three disparate but interconnected locationsat the sacred space known as Tepeyac in Mexico City, at its replica in Des Plaines, Illinois, and at a sidewalk shrine constructed by Mexican nationals in Chicago. Weaving together rich on-the-ground observations with insights drawn from performance studies, Elaine A. Pe?a demonstrates how devotees ritualspilgrimage, prayers, and festivalsdevelop, sustain, and legitimize these sacred spaces. Interdisciplinary in scope,Performing Pietypaints a nuanced picture of the lived experience of Guadalupan devotion in which different forms of knowing, socio-economic and political coping tactics, conceptions of history, and faith-based traditions circulate within and between sacred spaces.

Elaine A. Pe?ais Assistant Professor of American Studies at George Washington University.

List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments

Introduction: Locating Transnational Devotion

Part I. BUILDING
1. Virgen de los Migrantes: Transposing Sacred Space in a Chicago Suburb

Part II. WALKING
2. ?Qu? risa me da! (Oh, how it makes me laugh!)
3. Feeling History: Calambres, Ampoyas y Sed (Muscle Spasms, Blisters, and Thirst)

Part III. CONQUERING
4. Devotion in the City: Building Sacred Space on Chicagos Far North Side

Conclusion: Making Space Sacred

Appendix: Pilgrimage Repertoire
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Piety is not something you talk about, it is something you do, writes Elaine Pe?a towards the beginning of this excellent bookitself a wonderfuldoing. Pe?a participates actively as an engaged scholar. This is necessary reading for schlã