Introduction: The Necromantic State

The introduction, “The Necromantic State,” presents the key concepts that ground the theoretical framework and the methodology that are fundamental throughout the book to understand the operations of Hugo Chávez’s specter as a political and social figure: necromancy, spectral remains, afterglow, and ghost h(a)unting. The discussion around these terms highlights the book’s contribution to theories of the magical state and ghostly matters in Latin America, and situates the reader in the sociopolitical context of contemporary Venezuela and in the national debates regarding the cult of Simón Bolívar and the relationship Chávez developed with it. The introduction also describes how the materials the book analyzes were gathered and selected, and underscores the book’s commitment to interdisciplinarity and vulnerability—both, it argues, necessary to engage with specters and ghosts as a “haunted scholar.” Lastly, it offers a summary of the book’s five chapters, interlude, and coda.