Abstract

This article o ers a re ection on the di erent ways in which woodcarvings of Santiago Apóstol, St. James the Apostle, have been used and treated in various contexts of the so-called Andean World. The article focuses on the context of active devotion in a small rural community as well as the context of museum activity in a larger town. The perspective follows a logic that is symbolic rather than chronological, given that these two phenomena exist on parallel planes, not in opposition to each other, as practices that are taking place in contemporary Latin America. The article elucidates the di erent values that di erent communities ascribe to votive gures that, in the past, belonged to a common cultural space. An appraisal of the changes that have occurred in the way these objects are used sheds light on a number of di erent aspects of the people who use and/or relate to these objects.