“Infrasecular” geographies and the multifaceted significance of a European shrine cathedral

ABSTRACT

This paper explores how the significance of the pilgrimage shrine church, the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela is layered and multifaceted for its local community. This cathedral is more than a sacred and pilgrimage landscape. Utilizing “infrasecular” geographies as an analytical lens, this article provides greater insight into the multifaceted and layered significance(s) of the Cathedral for the local community. It focuses more specifically on how the Cathedral can be temporarily transformed by vernacular performances of everyday community life and social interactions to produce banal and, as examined in this article, Galician nationalist (regional) space. Recognizing the continuous processes of making and unmaking of “infrasecular” geographies shifts the focus away from a binary understanding of religious versus secular space to acknowledge the dynamic and overlapping meanings of sacred landscapes within society.

KEYWORDS:

• sacred
• cultural performance
• Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela
• “infrasecular” geographies
• postsecular
• nationalism

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 According to Warf and Ferras (2015, 6) “Contemporary Galician nationalism is often predicated on the region’s ethnic differences from other peoples of the Iberian Peninsula, its affinity with Portugal against Spain, and in the discourse of celtismo or pan-Celtic identity.”

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Trewartha International Research Award.