“Diasporizing” Sainthood: Shaykh Ahmed, a Syrian Alawi Saint in Argentina

Abstract

From an ethnographic approach, I explore some aspects of the social dynamics of the sanctuary as a place for diasporic experiences. Based on fieldwork at the sanctuary and in ʿAlawi communities,3 I start by analyzing hagiographical oral narratives on the role of the saint as a healer and his power to perform miracles, both during his life and after death. Subsequently I try to show how the iconography of the sanctuary—made up of devotional artifacts such as ex-votos, gifts and symbols of long-distance nationalism—reveals a material culture marked by a “diasporic aesthetic”, condensing references to the homeland and to the one-hundred-year-long presence of ʿAlawis in Argentina.