The Work of Nails: Religion, Mediterranean Antiquity, and Contemporary Black Art

Author:

Nasrallah Laura Salah1

Affiliation:

1. Laura Salah Nasrallah, Department of Religious Studies and Yale Divinity School, Yale University , P.O. Box 208287, New Haven, CT 06520 , USA

Abstract

AbstractThis article contributes to the study of religion by investigating the ritual significance of the ancient nail, focusing on its material power in piercing curse tablets (defixiones, sing. defixio) in Mediterranean antiquity. It thus brings a humble object and the gestures and labor associated with it more centrally into the study of religion in antiquity. The article also contributes to the study of religion more broadly by developing a theoretical framework derived from contemporary artistic, material practices. I interpret these ancient ritual objects—the materiality and aesthetics of defixiones and the function of the nail—by engaging contemporary artworks by Valerie Maynard, Renée Stout, and Titus Kaphar. In the racial condition of the United States, these artists materialize theory regarding aesthetics, history, and justice, drawing in part from Kongolese minkisi minkondi, which were nailed and pierced to mark rituals of justice.

Publisher

Oxford University Press (OUP)

Subject

Religious studies

Reference100 articles.

1. “Nails for the Dead: A Polysemic Account of an Ancient Funerary Practice.”;Alfayé Villa,2009

2. “Autour des morts: Rites et croyances du paganisme au christianisme dans le Département de l’Essonne.”;Bailliot;Cartes archéologique de la Gaule,2004

Cited by 2 articles. 订阅此论文施引文献 订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献

1. Making Justice: Justin Martyr and a Curse From Amathous, Cyprus;Zeitschrift für Antikes Christentum / Journal of Ancient Christianity;2024-05-30

2. Theory, History, and the Study of Religion in Late Antiquity;Elements in Religion;2023-01-19

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