Abstract

LOPEZ PEREZ, Laura Neftaly. The plasticity of the civil sphere: the religious performances of family members of disappeared persons in Coahuila, Mexico. Intersticios sociales [online]. 2023, n.25, pp.309-336.  Epub Apr 27, 2023. ISSN 2007-4964.

Faced with the failure to search for disappeared persons by the Mexican state, the families of disappeared persons have formed organizations to lead various search efforts. One of the recurring activities among these organizations is the collective performance of religious ceremonies. This research analyzes, from a sociocultural perspective, the way in which a group of relatives of disappeared persons and members of the Catholic Church in Coahuila, Mexico, carry out religious ceremonies as part of their public demand for justice. It was found that this group modifies and intervenes in religious ceremonies to introduce meanings, symbols, and activities related to the disappearance of persons, public denunciation efforts, search requests, and demands for justice. The relatives of disappeared persons and religious actors introduce in these cultural performances the civil significance of denouncement of the State’s responsibility in the problem of disappearance of persons, and the demand towards State institutions for the continued search. This civil demand is displayed in different forms of imbrication or tension with the non-civil significances related with mercy, penitence, affective links and the conception of civil demands as the accomplishment of a religious precept. The production of religious performances is a privileged moment for the construction of meaning about a problem that affects over ninety thousand families in Mexico; the many distinct narratives constructed upon the disappearance of persons, framed in also distinct civil and religious significance, constitute a cultural base towards different social actions related to this phenomenon.

Keywords : disappearance of persons; family members of disappeared persons; religious performances; civil significance; non-civil significance.