The politics of domesticating the Eternal: the roadside shrines of Sicily

Abstract

This contribution proposes a new interpretation of roadside shrines located in city streets, refusing to place them in the category of the Enlightenment philosopher David Hume, who had politicised devotion, distinguishing that exercised by the bourgeoisie from that of the vulgar. The study focuses on roadside shrines set up along certain alleys in Sicily. The reflection undertaken is indispensable for tracing the origin of those ritual behaviours, which are not only individual but also communitarian, with a shift in the paradigm of the social drama of ritual from structure to processes, emphasising how simple rustic altars are windows onto an inner world that opens up in society, going far beyond institutions and politics.