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Religion and Place pp 75–93Cite as

Myth, Miramiento, and the Making of Religious Landscapes

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Abstract

This chapter examines the production of embodied religious landscapes in the high provinces of rural Peru. I begin by outlining two trends in the study of religious landscapes: one focused on the social relations surrounding built landscapes and the other engaging with the lived or embodied religious landscapes, including the narratives and stories which construct them. I then consider the ways that embodied religious landscapes in Peru contribute to a particular kind of provocation (Massey, J Mater Cult 11(1–2):33–48, 2006) or “myth” which suggests that religious change and the growth of Evangelical Protestantism are linked to economic success. I conclude by suggesting that these stories and symbols are essential for understanding fully the social production of religious landscapes.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Casey (1993, 1996) suggests that there is no “place qua place,” where space is in fact derived from place rather than the other way around. The emplaced body, according to Casey, is the means for retrieving place.

  2. 2.

    I acknowledge that this is a problematic assertion in the context of spiritualism (see, for instance, Holloway 2006), but even spiritualism will have landscapes that are linked to processes of identity formation or, from external perspectives, to identification.

  3. 3.

    These include Sherman (1997), Annis (1987), Muratorio (1980), Coleman et al. (1993), Brusco (1995), and Gill (2004), among others.

  4. 4.

    Article 86 of the Constitution of 1979.

  5. 5.

    See for example Annis (1987) on Guatemala, Muratorio (1980) on Ecuador, and Beams (2001) on Peru.

  6. 6.

    This is presumably a reference to the number of independent churches or groups of worship, though Armas does not clarify or provide a citation for his data.

  7. 7.

    http://www.WorldChristianDatabase.org

  8. 8.

    It is not possible to review the evidence here, but an in-depth survey of households revealed that perceptions of economic difference were primarily based on: (1) the higher proportion of Evangelicals who were migrants into the region and had converted to Evangelical faiths while working at mines and earning a wage which they were able to invest into their farms; (2) the geographic location of particular Evangelical annexes of the community, which required them to rely on animal husbandry rather than subsistence crops, thus focusing their production on trade at regional markets; (3) lack of spending on alcohol among Evangelicals; and (4) popular impressions that Evangelicals had more international links than Catholics.

  9. 9.

    All places and persons have been given pseudonyms in this paper.

  10. 10.

    This is likely a reference to the Virgin Asunta, another saint of Hanocca.

  11. 11.

    The bishop of one prelate was advised that the southern Andes should send representatives to episcopal meetings in Rome in order to defend themselves from charges of supporting leftist politics and movements.

  12. 12.

    Carlos Pojul, 16 January 1998 ABC Literario  (http://www.javiermarias.es/PAGINASDECRITICAS/criticasmiramientos.html).

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Acknowledgements

This research for this study was funded by a dissertation improvement grant from the National Science Foundation, and support for writing was provided through a fellowship from the Center for Humanities and the Arts at the University of Colorado. Special thanks to Timothy Oakes, Anthony Bebbington, Rachel Silvey, and Peter Hopkins for their comments on earlier versions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Saunders Hall, 3220, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 27599–3220, USA

    Elizabeth Olson

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Correspondence to Elizabeth Olson .

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  1. , School of Geography, Politics and Sociol, Newcastle University, Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, United Kingdom

    Peter Hopkins

  2. , Department of Geography, National University of Singapore, Arts Link 1, Singapore, 117570, Singapore

    Lily Kong

  3. , School of Geosciences, The University of Edinburgh, Geography Building, Drummond Street, Edinburgh, EH8 9XP, United Kingdom

    Elizabeth Olson

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Olson, E. (2013). Myth, Miramiento, and the Making of Religious Landscapes. In: Hopkins, P., Kong, L., Olson, E. (eds) Religion and Place. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4685-5_5

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