Making space sacred: Devotional capital, political economy, and the transnational expansion of the cult of la Virgen de Guadalupe

This ethnographic study examines the devotional practices, coded politics, and political economy of three shrines erected in honor of la Virgen de Guadalupe---the sacred space known as Tepeyac in Mexico, D.F. (est. 1531); its replica, the "Second Tepeyac of North America" in Des Plaines, IL (est. 2001); and a sidewalk shrine constructed by working-class Mexican nationals in response to an apparition of la Virgencita in Chicago, IL (2001). Through the optic of Guadalupan religious performance, I examine the production of sacred space among working-class and impoverished transnational subjects between Chicago, Illinois and central Mexico. Guadalupan communities in both countries may be viewed as microcosms of a global migration network, and thus a lens through which to engage the topics of international relations among Mexico, Central America, and the United States, transnational migration and informal economic networks, as well as post 9/11 policy shifts and citizenship issues.; Three and a half years of fieldwork with ethnoreligious communities in the Chicago area (2002-2004) and devotees in central Mexico (2004-2005) have shown me that Guadalupanas/os' economic practices and devotional performances---pilgrimage, prayer, and festival---develop, maintain, and legitimize sacred space. While producing sacred space, these ethnoreligious communities also shape and circulate conceptions of nation, history, and culture. Further, the interplay of Catholic devotion and commercial culture generates what I term "devotional capital." Using critical ethnography, historical political economy, and embodied research practices as my primary methodologies, I analyze three central phenomena: (1) the multiple ways sacred space is produced and sustained in Mexico and the Chicago area; (2) how embodied devotional performances influence socio-political and economic networks; and (3) the ways in which women, whose labor and devotion many times defines sacred space, translocally and transnationally re-imagine/reinvent their religious and secular practices.