Los Círculos de Ánima en países iberoamericanos: Antropología de la muerte en el siglo XXI

Abstract

After a brief theoretical presentation on the studies on spirituality from the anthropology, our object of investigation is introduced: the Circles of Anima. These Circles are the rituals of the Anima Network, one of the networks of a non-profit group that began in 2009 in Barcelona, Spain, and that has spread to several Iberoamerican countries. The Circles of Anima are named after the group of people who, sitting in a circular way, meet to help the souls in transit, that is, people who, after their death, have not gone to the Light. Approached this research from the subdiscipline of the anthropology of death, the contributions of Louis-Vincent Thomas and Louis Dumont are presented. His dichotomous vision of societies (holistic and individualistic) serves as a paradigm of interpretation. The Circles of Anima represent a cultural manifestation of life-death that partially reaffirms the dichotomy, and partly subverts it. For this, three of its components are analyzed in this article: its development in postmodernity cities, its individualism and, thirdly, the high percentage of women both in the coordination of the group and in the realization of the rituals.