It is a central contention of this special issue that an anthropological engagement with repetiti... more It is a central contention of this special issue that an anthropological engagement with repetition has the capacity to open up fertile fields of comparative ethnographic and historical work. In this introduction, we link our approach to past anthropological and philosophical works, connecting for instance to discussions of historiography, rhythm, scale, and the characterization of experience. We move on to consider the present and future uses of the concept of repetition, providing five 'dimensions' that we consider helpful in exploring its nuances as well as its potentialities. These dimensions we designate as matters of production, medium, anticipation, consequence and scale. Each might be recognized within the discourse of informants or ethnographers or both. What they are intended to do is to provide an operational framework through which to anatomize processes of repetition as observable in whichever 'field' we are investigating.
And behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem a... more And behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about three-score furlongs. And they talked together of all these things which had happened. And it came to pass, that, while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were holden that they should not know him. And he said unto them, What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another, as ye walk and are sad? And the one of them, whose name was Cleophas, answering said unto him, Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these days? And he said unto them, What things? And they said unto him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people: and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him. But we trusted that it had been he that should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this, today is the third day since all these things were done. Yea and certain women also of our company made us astonished, which were early at the sepulchre; and when they found not his body, they came, saying, that they had also seen a vision of angels, which said that he was alive. And certain of them which were with us went to the sepulchre, and found it even so as the women had said: but him they saw not. Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? And Pilgrim Voices
Ever since the anthropological study of pilgrimage developed in earnest from the late 1970s or so... more Ever since the anthropological study of pilgrimage developed in earnest from the late 1970s or so, it has been in constant debate with research on tourism. In their classic study of Christian pilgrimage, anthropologists Victor and Edith Turner famously-if ambiguouslyclaimed that "a tourist is half a pilgrim, if a pilgrim is half a tourist." 1 Pilgrimage is also generally assumed to have historically preceded modern tourism. 2 Luigi Tomasi discusses how pilgrimage evolved in Europe as a response to societal transformations that changed not only human travel but also the ways in which the sacred was approached. 3 As travel became a demonstration of "freedom and independence, " pleasure and exploration became crucial parts of the experience, 4 while the development of tourism was fuelled by the emergence of "free time. " 5 Certainly, both sub-fields have taken considerable impetus from increased interest in mobilities and the self-conscious making and marking of place. 6 However, while pilgrimage is often represented as serious, solemn and expressive of pious religious devotion, tourism may be designated as "petty, hedonistic, " 7 "superficial and frivolous. " 8 Yet, such crude binaries tend to pose more questions than they answer: Should we see visitors' attitudes as predetermined, unaffected by their experiences at sites? Whose criteria of "seriousness" and pious devotion should be adopted? And exactly what are pilgrims assumed to be devoted to, in a manner that apparently excludes tourists? We argue for a more nuanced understanding of the tourism-pilgrimage relationship by exploring ways in which these categories are both dynamic Historisch Tijdschrift Groniek, 215-Devotie
Ever since the anthropological study of pilgrimage developed in earnest from the late 1970s or so... more Ever since the anthropological study of pilgrimage developed in earnest from the late 1970s or so, it has been in constant debate with research on tourism. In their classic study of Christian pilgrimage, anthropologists Victor and Edith Turner famously-if ambiguouslyclaimed that "a tourist is half a pilgrim, if a pilgrim is half a tourist." 1 Pilgrimage is also generally assumed to have historically preceded modern tourism. 2 Luigi Tomasi discusses how pilgrimage evolved in Europe as a response to societal transformations that changed not only human travel but also the ways in which the sacred was approached. 3 As travel became a demonstration of "freedom and independence, " pleasure and exploration became crucial parts of the experience, 4 while the development of tourism was fuelled by the emergence of "free time. " 5 Certainly, both sub-fields have taken considerable impetus from increased interest in mobilities and the self-conscious making and marking of place. 6 However, while pilgrimage is often represented as serious, solemn and expressive of pious religious devotion, tourism may be designated as "petty, hedonistic, " 7 "superficial and frivolous. " 8 Yet, such crude binaries tend to pose more questions than they answer: Should we see visitors' attitudes as predetermined, unaffected by their experiences at sites? Whose criteria of "seriousness" and pious devotion should be adopted? And exactly what are pilgrims assumed to be devoted to, in a manner that apparently excludes tourists? We argue for a more nuanced understanding of the tourism-pilgrimage relationship by exploring ways in which these categories are both dynamic Historisch Tijdschrift Groniek, 215-Devotie
Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge. He is co-editor of the journal Religion and Society: Adva... more Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge. He is co-editor of the journal Religion and Society: Advances in Research and of the book series Ashgate Studies in Pilgrimage. He has carried out fieldwork in Sweden, the United Kingdom, and Nigeria. With Rosalind Hackett, he edited The Anthropology of Global Pentecostalism and Evangelicalism (New York University Press). With Dee Dyas and Marion Bowman, he is engaged on an AHRC-funded project investigating past and present uses of English cathedrals.
The Borders of Religion This volume of Religion and Society is marked by borders, boundaries, and... more The Borders of Religion This volume of Religion and Society is marked by borders, boundaries, and limits. The borders here are those that make religion operative and politically powerful, as well as those that are enabled and put into place by religious arguments and worldviews. All these dimensions of borders are included in the special section of this volume, coordinated by Valentina Napolitano and Nurit Stadler, entitled "Borderlands and Religion: Materialities, Histories, and the Spatialization of State Sovereignty. " The section includes articles by
From classical Greece to Graceland, people of all religions and cultures have made sacred journey... more From classical Greece to Graceland, people of all religions and cultures have made sacred journeys to confirm their faith and their part in a larger identity. This text is a guide through the vast and varied cultural territory such pilgrimages have covered across the ages.
Eventum: A Journal of Medieval Arts & Rituals, 1(1), 106–127. , 2023
Focusing on the restoration of material culture associated with pilgrimages, the authors examine ... more Focusing on the restoration of material culture associated with pilgrimages, the authors examine how a temporally distant period might be reanimated in the present – or, by contrast, retains potential to be animated but remains dormant. They compare two pilgrimage sites, both characterized by disruptive historical caesuras that define salient periods of destruction of valued eras from the past. In Walsingham (England), the key break is represented by the northern European Reformation. At this site, the medieval remains prominent in the present, where it is repeatedly re-enacted, though in the context of loss. In the Monastery of Apostolos Andreas (Cyprus), the significant caesura is more recent, referring to the de facto partition of Cyprus in 1974. Here, the fifteenth-century chapel contained within the site has not been translated into substantial signs of medieval presence or performance. Despite their differences, both cases studied in this paper demonstrate how a caesura designates the period to be recalled and given an ‘afterlife’.
This paper describes the work of Victorian artists and writers as they mediated between a politic... more This paper describes the work of Victorian artists and writers as they mediated between a political and cultural centre (Britain) and a religious centre (the Holy Land). It is therefore as much about symbolically and religiously 'central' landscapes that travel (in texts and images) as it is about travellers who recreate such landscapes. The paper aims to describe and analyse the re-contextualisation of landscape as it becomes a moving and translated, rather than a fixed, point of reference-in effect creating sacred journeys where lands, rather than just people, are mobile.
ABSTRACT The Book of Jerry Falwell: Fundamentalist Language and Politics. Susan Friend Harding. P... more ABSTRACT The Book of Jerry Falwell: Fundamentalist Language and Politics. Susan Friend Harding. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000. 336 pp.
It is a central contention of this special issue that an anthropological engagement with repetiti... more It is a central contention of this special issue that an anthropological engagement with repetition has the capacity to open up fertile fields of comparative ethnographic and historical work. In this introduction, we link our approach to past anthropological and philosophical works, connecting for instance to discussions of historiography, rhythm, scale, and the characterization of experience. We move on to consider the present and future uses of the concept of repetition, providing five 'dimensions' that we consider helpful in exploring its nuances as well as its potentialities. These dimensions we designate as matters of production, medium, anticipation, consequence and scale. Each might be recognized within the discourse of informants or ethnographers or both. What they are intended to do is to provide an operational framework through which to anatomize processes of repetition as observable in whichever 'field' we are investigating.
And behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem a... more And behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about three-score furlongs. And they talked together of all these things which had happened. And it came to pass, that, while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were holden that they should not know him. And he said unto them, What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another, as ye walk and are sad? And the one of them, whose name was Cleophas, answering said unto him, Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these days? And he said unto them, What things? And they said unto him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people: and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him. But we trusted that it had been he that should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this, today is the third day since all these things were done. Yea and certain women also of our company made us astonished, which were early at the sepulchre; and when they found not his body, they came, saying, that they had also seen a vision of angels, which said that he was alive. And certain of them which were with us went to the sepulchre, and found it even so as the women had said: but him they saw not. Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? And Pilgrim Voices
Ever since the anthropological study of pilgrimage developed in earnest from the late 1970s or so... more Ever since the anthropological study of pilgrimage developed in earnest from the late 1970s or so, it has been in constant debate with research on tourism. In their classic study of Christian pilgrimage, anthropologists Victor and Edith Turner famously-if ambiguouslyclaimed that "a tourist is half a pilgrim, if a pilgrim is half a tourist." 1 Pilgrimage is also generally assumed to have historically preceded modern tourism. 2 Luigi Tomasi discusses how pilgrimage evolved in Europe as a response to societal transformations that changed not only human travel but also the ways in which the sacred was approached. 3 As travel became a demonstration of "freedom and independence, " pleasure and exploration became crucial parts of the experience, 4 while the development of tourism was fuelled by the emergence of "free time. " 5 Certainly, both sub-fields have taken considerable impetus from increased interest in mobilities and the self-conscious making and marking of place. 6 However, while pilgrimage is often represented as serious, solemn and expressive of pious religious devotion, tourism may be designated as "petty, hedonistic, " 7 "superficial and frivolous. " 8 Yet, such crude binaries tend to pose more questions than they answer: Should we see visitors' attitudes as predetermined, unaffected by their experiences at sites? Whose criteria of "seriousness" and pious devotion should be adopted? And exactly what are pilgrims assumed to be devoted to, in a manner that apparently excludes tourists? We argue for a more nuanced understanding of the tourism-pilgrimage relationship by exploring ways in which these categories are both dynamic Historisch Tijdschrift Groniek, 215-Devotie
Ever since the anthropological study of pilgrimage developed in earnest from the late 1970s or so... more Ever since the anthropological study of pilgrimage developed in earnest from the late 1970s or so, it has been in constant debate with research on tourism. In their classic study of Christian pilgrimage, anthropologists Victor and Edith Turner famously-if ambiguouslyclaimed that "a tourist is half a pilgrim, if a pilgrim is half a tourist." 1 Pilgrimage is also generally assumed to have historically preceded modern tourism. 2 Luigi Tomasi discusses how pilgrimage evolved in Europe as a response to societal transformations that changed not only human travel but also the ways in which the sacred was approached. 3 As travel became a demonstration of "freedom and independence, " pleasure and exploration became crucial parts of the experience, 4 while the development of tourism was fuelled by the emergence of "free time. " 5 Certainly, both sub-fields have taken considerable impetus from increased interest in mobilities and the self-conscious making and marking of place. 6 However, while pilgrimage is often represented as serious, solemn and expressive of pious religious devotion, tourism may be designated as "petty, hedonistic, " 7 "superficial and frivolous. " 8 Yet, such crude binaries tend to pose more questions than they answer: Should we see visitors' attitudes as predetermined, unaffected by their experiences at sites? Whose criteria of "seriousness" and pious devotion should be adopted? And exactly what are pilgrims assumed to be devoted to, in a manner that apparently excludes tourists? We argue for a more nuanced understanding of the tourism-pilgrimage relationship by exploring ways in which these categories are both dynamic Historisch Tijdschrift Groniek, 215-Devotie
Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge. He is co-editor of the journal Religion and Society: Adva... more Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge. He is co-editor of the journal Religion and Society: Advances in Research and of the book series Ashgate Studies in Pilgrimage. He has carried out fieldwork in Sweden, the United Kingdom, and Nigeria. With Rosalind Hackett, he edited The Anthropology of Global Pentecostalism and Evangelicalism (New York University Press). With Dee Dyas and Marion Bowman, he is engaged on an AHRC-funded project investigating past and present uses of English cathedrals.
The Borders of Religion This volume of Religion and Society is marked by borders, boundaries, and... more The Borders of Religion This volume of Religion and Society is marked by borders, boundaries, and limits. The borders here are those that make religion operative and politically powerful, as well as those that are enabled and put into place by religious arguments and worldviews. All these dimensions of borders are included in the special section of this volume, coordinated by Valentina Napolitano and Nurit Stadler, entitled "Borderlands and Religion: Materialities, Histories, and the Spatialization of State Sovereignty. " The section includes articles by
From classical Greece to Graceland, people of all religions and cultures have made sacred journey... more From classical Greece to Graceland, people of all religions and cultures have made sacred journeys to confirm their faith and their part in a larger identity. This text is a guide through the vast and varied cultural territory such pilgrimages have covered across the ages.
Eventum: A Journal of Medieval Arts & Rituals, 1(1), 106–127. , 2023
Focusing on the restoration of material culture associated with pilgrimages, the authors examine ... more Focusing on the restoration of material culture associated with pilgrimages, the authors examine how a temporally distant period might be reanimated in the present – or, by contrast, retains potential to be animated but remains dormant. They compare two pilgrimage sites, both characterized by disruptive historical caesuras that define salient periods of destruction of valued eras from the past. In Walsingham (England), the key break is represented by the northern European Reformation. At this site, the medieval remains prominent in the present, where it is repeatedly re-enacted, though in the context of loss. In the Monastery of Apostolos Andreas (Cyprus), the significant caesura is more recent, referring to the de facto partition of Cyprus in 1974. Here, the fifteenth-century chapel contained within the site has not been translated into substantial signs of medieval presence or performance. Despite their differences, both cases studied in this paper demonstrate how a caesura designates the period to be recalled and given an ‘afterlife’.
This paper describes the work of Victorian artists and writers as they mediated between a politic... more This paper describes the work of Victorian artists and writers as they mediated between a political and cultural centre (Britain) and a religious centre (the Holy Land). It is therefore as much about symbolically and religiously 'central' landscapes that travel (in texts and images) as it is about travellers who recreate such landscapes. The paper aims to describe and analyse the re-contextualisation of landscape as it becomes a moving and translated, rather than a fixed, point of reference-in effect creating sacred journeys where lands, rather than just people, are mobile.
ABSTRACT The Book of Jerry Falwell: Fundamentalist Language and Politics. Susan Friend Harding. P... more ABSTRACT The Book of Jerry Falwell: Fundamentalist Language and Politics. Susan Friend Harding. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000. 336 pp.
The Discipline of Leisure: embodying cultures of 'recreation', 2007
The burgeoning social scientific study of tourism has emphasized the effects of the post-industri... more The burgeoning social scientific study of tourism has emphasized the effects of the post-industrial economy on travel and place. However, this volume takes some of these issues into a different area of leisure: the spare-time carved out by people as part of their everyday lives - time that is much more intimately juxtaposed with the pressures and influences of work life, and which often involves specific bodily practices associated with hobbies and sports. An important focus of the book is the body as a site of identity formation, experience, and disciplined recreation of the self. Contributors examine the ways rituals, sports, and forms of bodily transformation mediate between contemporary ideologies of freedom, choice and self-control.
The Seductions of Pilgrimage explores the simultaneously attractive and repellent, beguiling and ... more The Seductions of Pilgrimage explores the simultaneously attractive and repellent, beguiling and alluring forms of seduction in pilgrimage. It focuses on the varied discursive, imaginative, and practical mechanisms of seduction that draw individual pilgrims to a pilgrimage site; the objects, places, and paradigms that pilgrims leave behind as they embark on their hyper-meaningful travel experience; and the often unforeseen elements that lead pilgrims off their desired course. Presenting the first comprehensive study of the role of seduction on individual pilgrims in the study of pilgrimage and tourism, it will appeal to scholars of anthropology, cultural geography, tourism, heritage, and religious studies.
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