Ritual, social change and secularization. A case study on Jujuy at the end of the colonial period

Abstract

This work proposes to analyze the relationship between ritual and social change delving in transformations in burial rituals and religious celebrations of the secular cabildo at colonial jurisdiction of Jujuy at the end of the XVIII century. The scope of the ecclesiastical policies implemented by the Bourbons is studied, considering how they affected the dynamics of these ritual practices. In this sense, the so-called process of “Bourbon secularization” is explored from documentary sources in order to ask about the role of ritual in the processes of reformulation of “the religious” in different fields of social life.