From invisibility to visibility? The appropriation of public space through a religious ritual: the Filipino procession ofSantacruzanin Padua, Italy

Abstract

Mainly employed as domestic workers and care providers since the 1980s, Filipino migrants have been, and still are, largely invisible in Italian public space. Since 1991, once a year, on the last Sunday of May, they transform the streets of Padua, city of Saint Anthony, into their own temporary ‘sacred space’ celebrating the finding of the Holy Cross (Santa Cruz). Based on ethnographic research and in-depth interviews, the paper analyses the preparation of the ritual and the embodied performance as a means to interpret the Filipino local and transnational territorialisation in the Italian context. The discussion underlines how the Italian setting affects the relationship between the sacred and the secular and between majority and minority religions in the urban texture. Urban space being the symbolic arena where identity and the process of boundary making are inscribed, we consider public space as a social process constituted by three levels: accessibility, temporary appropriation and visibility. Drawing on this immigrant religious ritual, we apply this perspective to look at the interactions between local society and newcomers and the blurring boundaries between religious and non-religious in the ambiguous Italian public space

Flores de Mayo in Rehovot

“…The cross and the crown: A ritual presence I agree with the many scholars who read the diasporan Filipino Santacruzan parade (Liebelt 2013;Saint-Blancat and Cancellieri 2014;Tondo 2009) or other globalized religious practices (David 2012;Peña 2011;Tweed 1997) as a political means that migrant workers use to gain visibility within the social context of a foreign country by sacralizing the public space (Kong 2005). Their studies develop out of ideas that critical and postcolonial theorists have put forth, such as "hybridity" (Bhabha 1994), or "diasporic identity" (Hall 1990), or "transnational culture" (Gilroy 1993), which I do not discuss here.…”

Changing constructions of religious visibility: The case of an African American Muslim community in South Central LA

“…In an effort to establish a community and make a place in the urban spatial landscape, groups will often try to raise their profiles. Public religious performances become a way to make claims on public space (Saint-Blancat and Cancellieri, 2014). In the case of Temple #15 and the Nation of Islam, going into the streets to sell newspapers, running Muslim-owned businesses, and serving as an urban army to instill order in pockets of the city ignored by the municipality constituted the means by which believers sought to enact public performances of religious identity.…”

« Nous, maintenant, on veut poursuivre cette occupation de la rue » : les catholiques attestataires entre contre-culture, mission et défense patrimoniale

“…Ensuite, elles illustrent le caractère poreux des frontières entre séculier et religieux (Cloke et Beaumont, 2012 ; Kuppinger, 2014), notamment lorsque les initiatives des groupes religieux visent une contestation politique dans l’espace urbain (Çavdar, 2016) ; parmi maintes illustrations d’une sémiologie religieuse instillée dans les veillées, on peut ainsi s’attarder sur la construction des Veilleurs en « martyrs ». Ce motif victimaire s’articule au coût du seuil d’accès à l’espace public (Saint-Blancat et Cancellieri, 2014) : les veillées ne sont pas déclarées en préfecture, de sorte qu’elles présentent invariablement une scène de négociation avec les forces de l’ordre dépêchées sur place. La veillée de juin 2017, intitulée « Martyre et don de soi », explicite cette articulation :La veillée prend place devant l’Assemblée nationale.…”

“…En dépit d’une forte différence formelle et topographique, ce catholicisme intransigeant s’approprie dans les deux cas des dispositifs narratifs et performatifs de la protestation de rue parmi les plus modernes. Dans les deux cas encore s’observe la relation entre travail de « place taking » et de « place making » (Knott, 2005a ; Saint- Blancat & Cancellieri, 2014). Enfin et de manière transversale, l’ensemble de ces activistes cherche à investir la périphérie de la capitale, projetant actions et alliances en direction de ces territoires fortement altérisés 2 – c’est-à-dire caractérisés à leurs yeux par la présence des « autrement croyants » (Lamine, 2004).…”