O santo e a cura: performances e subjetividades no mausoléu de Sidi ‘Ali ben Hamdouche, Marrocos

• Main Author: Bruno Ferraz Bartel
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universidade Federal Fluminense, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Antropologia 2020-04-01
• Series: Antropolítica : Revista Contemporânea de Antropologia
• Subjects: islam; morocco; ritual; performance; subjectivity
• Online Access: https://periodicos.uff.br/antropolitica/article/view/41994

This article analyzes the operational principles in the healing practices of the fuqaha (Islamic religion specialists) at the Sidi “Ali ben Hamdouche” mausoleum, situated in the Fez-Meknes region of Morocco. The arguments presented here show that—beyond the symbols and ritual actions of healing paired with the pilgrims’ sensory, emotional and cognitive dimensions—, the use of objects (material) and feminine conceptions (gender) indicate disputes over what is understood as an available “tradition”, given the different levels of mobilization developed by religious specialists using their perceptive forms of efficacy and devotion. This is possible since there is a multiplicity of opinions, feelings and practices mobilized not only by orthodoxy concerning the cult of saints in Morocco, but also by the presence of ambiguity or moral (im)perfection in the subjects.