Abstract

PINEDA, Yván. The social Representation System in "El tamunangue", of the Lara State, Venezuela . SAPIENS [online]. 2006, vol.7, n.1, pp.117-147. ISSN 1317-5815.

This paper is the result of an anthropological field research that covered a 20 years period and was carried out in the rural community of Sanare, Lara State, Venezuela. It focused on a religious and festive cultural expression to honour Saint Anthony of Padua. The festivity is called "Tamunangue" o "Son de Negros", the cult developed on a music and dancing suite structure. The study of the sincronic entries and their diachronic analysis enabled the underlying theory of the actions of the participants involved in the cultural expressions system to surface. The following were derived as partial results: a polar diagram model representing the comprehension of the community of the cultural personality of Saint Anthony, central image of the cult; and a perspective of the comprehension of the interactive relationships among the different aspects, such as health / sickness; Mithic/Ritual; Sex/Age among others. The methodology used was ethnographic and the techniques were: participative observation, phonogram and videogram registries and in-depth interviews.

Keywords : Cultural Anthropology; Popular Culture; Representation Systems.