Week 1: Introduction: Pilgrimage to Mecca Old and New;

Readings:

1. What is Pilgrimage (Greenia)

2. Hong Kong Muslims on Hajj (O’Connor)

Case Study: Hajj

Presentation Link

Week 2: Pilgrimage/Tourism

Readings:

1. Theories, from The Tourist Gaze (Urry)

2. Religion and Spirituality in Tourism, from The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Tourism (Stausberg)

Case Study: Grand Tour

Week 3: Communitas: The experience of the Pilgrim

Readings:

1. Liminality and Communitas (Turner)

2. Dream Trippers: Global Daoism and the Predicament of Modern Spirituality (Palmer & Siegler)

Case Study: Kumbha Mela

Week 4: Sacred Places

Readings:

1. The Pilgrimage to Jim Morrison’s Grave (Margry)

2. Do You Believe in Pilgrimage? (Coleman)

Case Study: Sedlec Ossuary

Week 5: Secular Pilgrimage

Readings:

Secular Pilgrimage a Contradiction in Terms (Margry)

Case Study: New York

Week 6: Sport Pilgrimage

Readings:

1. Handrails Steps and Curbs (O’Connor)

2. Pilgrimage to Fallen Gods of Olympia (Digance)

Case Study: Pre’s Rock

Week 7: Dark Tourism

Readings:

1. JFK and Dark Tourism (Foley & Lennon)

2. Making Absent Death Present (Stone)

Case Study: Chernobyl

Week 8: Virtual Pilgrimage

Readings:

1. Virtual Pilgrimage on the Internet (MacWilliams)

2. Hurricane Katrina (Bowan & Bannon)

Case Study: Google Maps

Week 9: Political Pilgrimage

Readings:

1. Pilgrimage and Power, from Guests of God (Bianchi)

2. Holocaust Tourism in Post-Holocaust Europe (Allar)

Case Study: Camino

Week 10: Researching Pilgrimage

Readings:

1. Interviewing, from The Routledge Handbook in Research Methods in the Study of Religion (Bremborg)

2. Researching Pilgrimage (Collins-Kreiner)

Case Study: The Thesis

Week 11: Liminal States

Readings:

1. Fan Pilgrimage (Brooker)

2. Sex Pilgrims: Subjunctive Nostalgia, from Tourist Attractions (Mitchell)

Case Study: Harry Potter

Week 12: Conclusion

Readings:

1. Holy Movement and Holy Place (Taylor)

Case Study: The Body