Religious monuments as a new type of object: genealogy and actuality of a form of catholic presence in public spaces

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.11606/issn.2525-3123.gis.2020.165595

Keywords:

Monuments, Catholicism, Memory, Antropology of objects, Materiality

Abstract

Based on an ethnographic scenario involving the recent construction of a statue of large proportions representing a catholic saint, this paper attempts to answer the following question: What constitutes a monument? This study articulates inspirations to guide the anthropology of objects with references that build a material approach of religion. The original role of Christ the Redeemer is taken into account as a prototype for a new kind of religious object. The presence of such objects denoting realist and colossal representations of religious figures is persistent given the crisis affecting monumental paradigms until the beginning of the twentieth century. The results imply these recent religious monuments of the sort function less as a memorial and more as a means to establish certain forms of catholic presence in public space.

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Author Biography

  • Emerson Alessandro Giumbelli, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul

    Full professor in the Graduate Program of Social Anthropology at Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul. He received a PhD in Social Anthropology from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro in 2000.

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Published

2020-08-24

Issue

Vol. 5 No. 1 (2020)

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Articles

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How to Cite

Giumbelli, Emerson Alessandro. 2020. “Religious Monuments As a New Type of Object: Genealogy and Actuality of a Form of Catholic Presence in Public Spaces”. GIS - Gesture, Image and Sound - Anthropology Journal 5 (1). https://doi.org/10.11606/issn.2525-3123.gis.2020.165595.