The Folklore as Dispositif in the Canary Islands

Abstract

This text addresses the cultural conjuncture of the Canary Islands through the heterarchical lens of the folkloric dispositif, conceived as a conceptual and topological tool for analyzing the processes by which possible experiences are constituted in the archipelago. Drawing on a heterogeneous assemblage of elements –ranging from bodies of knowledge such as economics, anthropology, and archaeology, to institutional frameworks– the analysis explores spaces of overdetermination such as traditional popular festivals, fairs, and museums, as well as the juridical “state of exception” according to the distribution of bodies, the staging of simulacra, and the museification of the territory and its ways of life.