This article argues for the importance of geographic engagements with pilgrimage and its analysis through the lenses, considerations and sympathies of the mobilities turn. Pilgrimage is being increasingly recognised as a multifaceted sociocultural spatial practice that plays a significant role in the lives of millions of people and in numerous sites across the world. The geographies of mobilities' emphasis on movement and practices in shaping the world enable the formation of new understandings of pilgrimage. This article builds on the links being forged between the study of pilgrimage and the mobility f ield, by showing how pilgrimage, as an activity that is focused on performances in specific places, can be analysed as an embodied mobility. Pilgrimage is explored as a meaningful journey in which the performance entwines the outer physical and inner spiritual/emotion journey in a process that defines and shapes the people and places involved.
Perigrinatio, the Latin term for pilgrimage was at the heart of the medieval Celtic church, but was this was understood and practised not only as a journey to a shrine, but more broadly as a spiritual journey, which could lead to an isolated hermitage or peripatetic evangelistic mission. In this paper, we outline the beliefs and practices of the broad assemblage known as the Celtic church, particularly the interleaving of pilgrimage, asceticism and landscape poetics, and how these have informed continued and renewed pilgrimage practices to sites of the early Celtic church by particular denominations, ecumenical groups and those interested in broader spiritualities. These sacred mobilities are explored through vignettes of embodied-emotionalspiritual practices situated in the landscapes and faith communities of Lough Derg, Ireland and the Isle of Man. They share geographical marginality, a focus on multiple Celtic saints and an enduring belief in the immanence of God, expressed through embodied spiritual practice in the landscape. However, they differ widely in matters of institutionalised structure, regulation, discursive scripting and gendered hierarchy, reflecting situated and denominational preferences for the ascetic and aesthetic spiritual legacies of the medieval Celtic church.Keywords: Celtic; pilgrimage; spiritualities; embodied-mobilities; landscape Pélerinage celtique, passé et présent: de la géographie historique aux pratiques incarnées contemporaines Perigrinatio, le terme latin pour pèlerinage était au coeur de l'église médiévale celtique mais il était compris et pratiqué non seulement comme un voyage vers un lieu saint, mais aussi plus généralement comme un voyage spirituel, qui pouvait mener à un ermitage isolé ou une mission évangéliste péripatétique. Dans cet article, nous présentons les grandes lignes des croyances et pratiques du vaste assemblage connu sous le nom de l'église celtique, en particulier l'entrelacement du pèlerinage, de l'ascétisme et des poésies du paysage et de la façon dont ils ont inspiré, continué et renouvelé les pratiques de pèlerinage vers des sites de l'église celtique primitive par certaines confessions, groupes oecuméniques et par ceux qui s'intéressent aux spiritualités au sens large. Ces mobilités sacrées sont explorées à travers des vignettes de pratiques émotionnelles-spirituelles incarnées situées dans les paysages et les communautés croyantes de Lough Derg en Irlande et sur l'île de Man. Elles partagent la marginalité géographique, une focalisation sur de nombreux saints celtiques et une croyance durable dans l'immanence de Dieu, exprimées à travers la pratique spirituelle incarnée dans le paysage. Toutefois, elles diffèrent considérablement dans les domaines de la structure institutionnalisée, de la règlementation, de l'écriture discursive et de la hiérarchie selon le sexe, reflétant des préférences situées et confession- & Cultural Geography, 2016 Vol. 17, No. 2, 300-321, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14649365.2015 nelles pour les héritages ascétiques et esthéti...
Although podcasts have become a popular medium since the early 2000s, geographers' use of the format as a research and dissemination method is underdeveloped. This paper examines how audio podcasts can be deployed as geographical processes to explore place and convey spatial themes in an impactful and innovative inclusive manner. Using the case study of a short series produced to consider the role of a river in the life of a region, I show how field recordings, interviews, and historical sources can be woven together to examine a place in an evocative and accessible manner. Podcasting is a research and communication tool, which can dovetail with existing approaches, with the potential to understand different environments in new ways, let community voices speak for themselves, and reach broader audiences. The paper argues that podcasts present new opportunities to consider how we appreciate and use sound to tell the story of places in participative and evocative ways.
This paper advances the geographies of religion, spirituality and faith's limited attention to positionality by discussing the critical issues raised when using participatory approaches. Reflecting on three cases of participatory research, we foreground the dynamics of being a researcher with faith when working with participants from faith communities. Advocating participatory approaches as valuable methodologies that should be used more extensively to explore beliefs, faith practices, and social justice, we argue that greater attention needs to be given to the positionality of researchers undertaking this sort of research. Our cases raise three themes for discussion. First, the variety of ways in which faith positionalities influence how research is developed, conducted and concluded. Second, the intersections between our faith and other positionalities and how they shape our roles and relationships with research participants. Third, the fluid and multifaceted nature of faith positionalities and how they are changed, emphasized, and softened through the dynamics and entanglements of fieldwork. In doing so, we reflect on the complexities of being a researcher with faith, argue that faith positionality is a helpful dimension of their research rather than a limitation, and that all cultural, social and historical geographical researchers should reflect on their faith positionality.
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