Mother figured

Deirdre de la Cruz offers a detailed examination of several appearances and miracles of the Virgin Mary in the Philippines from materials and sites ranging from the mid-19th century to the present. By analysing the effects of the mass media on the perception and proliferation of apparition phenomena, she charts the intriguing emergence of new voices in the Philippines that are broadcasting Marian discourse globally. Based on two years of ethnographic fieldwork and hitherto unexplored archives in the Philippines, the US and Spain, she documents the conditions surrounding Marian devotion's modern development and tracks how it has transformed Filipinos' social and political role within the greater Catholic world.