Sacred Journeys: Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

The latest research indicates that more than 400 million people embark annually on traditional pilgrimages in Saudi Arabia, India, Japan, and elsewhere, with the numbers steadily increasing. Pilgrimage is one of the most ancient practices of humankind and is associated with a great variety of religious and spiritual traditions, beliefs and sacred geographies. As a global phenomenon, these sacred journeys facilitate interaction between and among diverse peoples from countless cultures, occupations, and walks of life. In the 4th Global Conference held in Beijing, China, we explored the many personal, interpersonal, intercultural, and international dimensions of these often profound journeys. This included similarities and differences in the practice in Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, Judaism, Taoism, and other traditions, as well as secular pilgrimage. The Sacred Journeys project covers all aspects of this phenomenon, including the impact of the internet and globalization, pilgrimage as protest, and pilgrimage and peace building, and the concepts of the internal pilgrimage and the journey of self-discovery.

Other related themes are (1) pilgrimage and the marketplace; (2) the metaphor of the journey as explored by writers, artists, performers, and singers, including humanists, agnostics, atheists, and musicians; (3) pilgrimage and ‘miracles’ and the related topic of thanksgiving; and (4) ‘dark’ pilgrimages to sites of remembrance and commemoration.

Dear Colleagues,

The proposed special issue / E-Book will bring together 12+ of the best papers from the Sacred Journeys 4th Global Conference, which was held at the Indiana University Gateway in Beijing on October 26-27, 2017. Topics included pilgrimage, religious tourism, and study abroad, and included:

Pain and Delight on the Camino

Lady Walsingham and Contemporary Christianity

Lepers and Pilgrims in Assisi

Heretical Pilgrimage of Luzman

Walking Meditation on the Camino

Sacred Caves and Mountains in the Philippines

Commodification of the Dead

Peace Pilgrimages in Asia

Osaka’s 13 Buddha Pilgrimage

Seeing Study Abroad as a Pilgrimage

Experiencing and Teaching Pilgrimage

Don Juan Tenoso

Marketing Communications in Religious Tourism

Heritage Pilgrimage in NYC’s Lower East Side

Micropilgrimages

Plastination as Pilgrimage

Sacred journeys / pilgrimage is the fastest growing element of the global tourism industry. This set of papers will be of considerable interest to students, scholars, and practitioners of both tourism and religious and heritage tourism. It will also be of interest to those in the social sciences, in particular anthropology and sociology, and history and also heritage and cultural studies. A rich and diverse collection of interdisciplinary voices from across the globe are gathered together in this volume celebrating pilgrimage, one of humankind’s most ancient practices. It will be of interest to a global readership. Many publications on pilgrimage or religious tourism are either narrowly focused on specific sites, like the Camino in Spain, the Hajj in Mecca or the Kumbh Mela in India, or they tend to be the work of academics working in very focused areas. The distinguishing feature of our proposed special issue/eBook is that we have strong representation by scholars and practitioners alike from many walks of life, both from the developing and the developed world. We have writers who are strong in their faith, who see pilgrimage as an avenue for coming closer to their deity, and others who do not practice religion at all and yet see pilgrimage as desirable, meaningful, and life-changing.

 

Prof. Chadwick Co Sy Su
Prof. Dr. Ian McIntosh
Prof. Dr. Alexandria Egler
Guest Editors

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