Paper short abstract:

This paper explores the political uses of spontaneous shrines built in the aftermath of the March 11th terrorist attacks in Madrid. The public performances of grief at the train stations, together with anti-terrorist demonstrations, constituted an arena for public debate and political change.

Paper long abstract:

This paper explores the political uses of spontaneous shrines using as a case study the ethnographic fieldwork conducted in the aftermath of March 11th terrorist attacks in Madrid. The goal of this paper is to explore the strategies developed during those performances of grief. In the case of Madrid, the mourning rituals performed at various train stations, together with public anti-terrorist demonstrations, constituted an arena for public debate and political change. To what extend are spontaneous shrines creating a space for the intertwinment of religion and political debates? By whom is the performance of grief --as a tool for social cohesion--controlled; and what is the level of the performers' agency to provoke actual change?