ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the cult of La Santa Muerte within the context of sovereignty. It argues that the cult of La Santa Muerte and its followers pose unique challenges to both the Mexican state and Catholic Church. The chapter offers a discursive interpretation of the divinity of La Santa Muerte that examines her power and authority by discussing their ramifications for both state and church. In respect of the political-religious economy in which she is located, however, La Santa Muertes growing popularity raises fundamental questions about issues such as power, authority, and control. The chapter draws on a range of theoretical frameworks and bouts of ethnographic research and employs a host of names to describe the goddess in order to situate and amplify a specific narrative or discourse pertaining to this deity. As an instrumental divine force, the Deity of Death offers hope to people living on the margins and those abandoned or left behind by the system.
