Conclusion

Of U.S. Angels and Ethnographers

Bibliographic Data

ID20073525
AuthorsCorinne G Dempsey (corresponding author)
Year2001
Pages156-162
Publication date2001-02-15
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeCHAPTER
VenueKerala Christian sainthood (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherOxford University PressNew York (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1093/0195130286.003.0006
OpenAlexW4230866644
ISBN9780195130287
LanguageEN
References cited75

Extract I began this book by warning the reader that its exploration of Kerala sainthood would stray, at times, from the subject of saints, and focus its attention on seemingly mundane issues such as identity formation, hybridization, and the complexity of power relations. This it has done and, moreover, when the discussion lingered more explicitly on saints and their cults, other themes invoked by cultural and ideological collisions and negotiations kept surfacing. Although Alphonsa's religiously pluralistic context and her mediation of gendered expectations propels the fourth chapter's discussion of hybridity and ambivalence, the theme of identity formation is also implicit on two levels. Most immediately, it appears that Alphonsa's expressed desire to achieve sainthood, which led her to follow yet subtly defy expectations for women, meant fashioning an identity for herself according to available models of holiness. On another level, hagiographical formulae likewise provide a framework from which devotional writings, songs, and oral accounts further help to form and conform Alphonsa's identity within preset parameters for female sanctity. These attempts at forging a particular identity—expressions that are neither entirely historical nor entirely fabricated—stand for a collective effort, past and present, of people trying to make sense not just of saintliness but of their world. More specifically, this larger "making sense" points to the ways these identity formations help those creating them narrow (or obliterate) the gap between the divine and mundane realms. The fact that Alphonsa conformed herself to a certain model of holiness makes surer her path for identifying/uniting with Christ and, for many of her devotees, the formation of a particular saintly identity assures them of earthly access to heavenly powers

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