The sensory web of vision: Enchantment and agency in religious material culture

Scholars can interpret images as historical artifacts that perform enchantment. I will define enchantment as the action that images perform as part of a network of other things such as people, other images, and places. To this group of agents, we may add other actors such as lore, ritual, and the physical setting in which people encounter images. Taken together, these components form the ecology of vision. An image does not operate alone, but as part of an extended network or assemblage that engages viewers. One of the primary ways in which the assemblage is engaged is as a system of exchange, or intercession. Devotion to the Veil of Veronica will serve as a case study to show all of this at work.

Duke Scholars

Author David Morgan Religious Studies