“Infrasecular” geographies and the multifaceted significance of a European shrine cathedral

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper explores how the significance of the pilgrimage shrine church, the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela is layered and multifaceted for its local community. This cathedral is more than a sacred and pilgrimage landscape. Utilizing “infrasecular” geographies as an analytical lens, this article provides greater insight into the multifaceted and layered significance(s) of the Cathedral for the local community. It focuses more specifically on how the Cathedral can be temporarily transformed by vernacular performances of everyday community life and social interactions to produce banal and, as examined in this article, Galician nationalist (regional) space. Recognizing the continuous processes of making and unmaking of “infrasecular” geographies shifts the focus away from a binary understanding of religious versus secular space to acknowledge the dynamic and overlapping meanings of sacred landscapes within society.