Project Archivist

Roejen and Stephanie welcome anthropologist Dr. Kate Kingsbury to discuss her work studying the less well known aspects of Santa Muerte devotion. Images of and ideas about Santa Muerte have multiplied phenomenally in popular media, but the perspective of her women followers - some of the most influential - are little represented. We talk about Dr. Kingsbury’s time in the field with poor, Indigenous women devotees in Mexico learning about how people excluded from standard avenues of status in society work with Santa Muerte to empower themselves and their community. We discuss the development of new religious movements, activism in academia, working with people on the ground as an ethnographer, archaeological and colonial evidence of Santa Muerte’s indigenous roots, how anthropologists understand paranormal events in their social/ritual contexts, and more! Closing Music for The Show, Sepultura- Angel    Help Fund Dr. Kingsbury’s Research for her upcoming book “Daughters of Death” https://ca.gofundme.com/