Description
Festivals, Images, Powers
Book Summary
This work offers a deep ethnographic analysis of how images, artistic representations, and festive rituals act as vehicles for power and social agency. Through case studies in Calabria and Lombardy, Francesco Faeta explores the complex relationship between visual culture, religious traditions, and structures of authority. The reader will find an interdisciplinary reflection that connects art theory, social anthropology, and the sociology of customs, revealing how the symbolic and the festive shape dynamics of control and resistance in specific communities.
What is it about?
The book starts from a central question: how does the study of images and representations—whether in the form of art, rites, or simulacra—contribute to understanding relationships of power and agency? To answer this, the author presents a set of ethnographic investigations carried out in two Italian regions: Calabria and Lombardy. Through these cases, he analyzes how popular festivals, religious processions, and devotional images are not merely cultural expressions, but active devices in the negotiation of power. Faeta examines the role of the Baroque in the construction of collective imaginaries, the function of rituals in the affirmation of local identities, and the way in which visual representations can be both instruments of domination and contestation. The work combines ethnographic observation with historical and aesthetic analysis, offering an original perspective on the material and symbolic culture of southern and northern Italy.
Main Topics
- Anthropology of images and visual culture in ritual contexts.
- Relationships of power and social agency through festivals and representations.
- Ethnographic study of religious and popular traditions in Calabria and Lombardy.
- Influence of the Baroque style on the configuration of imaginaries and devotions.
- Sociology of customs and the construction of community identities.
Who is it recommended for?
This book is aimed at researchers, students, and professionals in social and cultural anthropology, ethnography, the sociology of religion, and art theory. It is also of great interest to readers specializing in visual studies, history of Baroque art, and analysis of contemporary rituals. Likewise, it may attract those who seek to understand how festive traditions and sacred images operate as mechanisms of power in local societies.
What this book contributes
- A theoretical and methodological framework for analyzing the relationship between images, rituals, and power structures from an ethnographic perspective.
- Detailed case studies that illustrate how festivals and visual representations mediate social and political relations.
- An interdisciplinary vision that connects anthropology with art history and the sociology of traditions.
- Conceptual tools to understand the agency of visual objects and festive practices in specific contexts.
- An original contribution to the study of popular and religious culture in Italy, with implications for other regions.
Technical Data
- Author: Faeta, Francesco
- Publisher: Sans Soleil Ediciones
- Language: Spanish
- Subject: ART THEORY, ART AND DESIGN STYLES: BAROQUE, LITERARY ESSAYS, CHRISTIANITY, SOCIOLOGY OF CUSTOMS AND TRADITIONS, ANTHROPOLOGY, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY, ETHNOGRAPHY
- Collection: PIGMALION
- Binding: Paperback
- Date of publication: April 2016
- Number of pages: 296
- Weight: 443 g
Editorial Assessment
This is a rigorous and specialized work that provides an original look at the intersection between visual anthropology and power studies. Its ethnographic approach, centered on two Italian regions with very different traditions, allows the reader to appreciate the diversity of ways in which images and rituals operate as social devices. It is a recommended reading for those who seek to delve into cultural analysis from an academic perspective, with precise language and a solid empirical base. Its value lies in offering conceptual tools applicable to other contexts, beyond the Italian case.