Mapping the Visible and Invisible Topographies of Place and Landscape Through Sacred Mobilities

Abstract

Mapping the visibe and invisible topgraphies of place and landscape through sacred mobilities 'This is how we live our lives -through places, through the body' (Nast and Pile 1998:1).

Constructing and deconstructing the sacred geography of Hebron: Movement and pilgrimage in and around the Tomb of the Patriarchs

“…At the same time, their 'liminality' enables them the exclusive right of moving horizontally between the two sides of the building. Such liminality is an essential part of Protestant theology of space, focusing on the horizontal movement of journeying as a transformative experience rather than on arrival at a specific sacred focal point, 'implicit to a belief in the immanence of God who can be found in the everyday and surrounding world' (Maddrell anddella Dora, 2013: 1109).…”

“…The references to the site’s peacefulness are evocative of Maddrell’s work on pilgrim’s experiences of a religious past on the Isle of Man: The beautiful carved stone generates an aesthetic-spiritual experience in this particular place, with its assemblage of historical sacred artifacts which engender a spiritual atmosphere in the present, as well as creating a virtual bond, across time, to the forebears of faith in this place (2019: 139).…”

“…For non-Muslim visitors, the costume is often perceived as a mark of liminality and foreignness creating a sense of discomfort and artificial movement, and marking the site firmly within the grip of a foreign religious tradition. Such ambivalence and discomfort are a reminder of the way in which sensory experiences ‘are all evident in various participants’ embodied-emotional-spiritual experiential accounts’ (Maddrell, 2019: 140). In this case, walking through the space of the mosque may be seen as a form of ‘involuntary performance’, generating a sense of self-awareness among the tourists, within a carefully managed stage (Edensor, 2001: 77).…”

“…As the New Mobilities Paradigm suggests, ‘places’ and ‘people’ should not be perceived as ontologically separate but rather as categories emerging through dialectical interaction: ‘places traveled to depend in part upon what is practiced within them … many such performances are intermittently mobile “within” the destination place itself’ (Hannam et al, 2006: 13). The fluidity of space construction is particularly true with regard to sacred sites and routes (Gale et al, 2015), constructed through ‘movement freighted with meaning, experienced through the body and senses’ (Maddrell, 2019: 138).…”