Discursive performativity of the miracle in popular Mexican retablitos

Abstract

This paper discusses some of the essential elements of discursive performativity involved in the notion of miracle, represented in the so-called "popular Mexican retablitos" one of the most unique religious manifestations of Mexico. These small paintings on wood or copper foil have been placed in temples for centuries, by any devotee who wants to thank a saint or divinity for some favor received. I show that, regardless of ecclesiastic officers, the retablitos populares function as counter flow devices of religious beliefs, and that without official authorization, the devotees set their own veridiction mechanisms for deciding when a miracle that favors them has occurred. I analyze how the performativity of the miracle in popular retablitos realizes an intersection between an iconic-visual speech of constative character with conventionalized religious procedures. Finally, I show that in the notion of miracle in the retablitos, the perlocutionary force is very important, that is, the phenomenon of sensory effects that help establish secret agreements at the level of beliefs assumed as facts among people of a community. The work is novel because traditionally popular retablitos have only been studied from historiography, but not from the analysis of discourse and even less from the Pragmatics.