The Mediatization of Camino De Santiago: Between the Pilgrimage Narrative and Media Circulation of the Narrative

Abstract

In this article, we seek to analyze the mediatization of pilgrims’ narratives on Camino de Santiago. Centuries ago, pilgrims were deprived of contact with their homes for extended periods. The narrative of the experience was only shared with their loved ones once they had arrived home. In the 20th century, landline telephones, computers connected to the Internet, and smartphones gradually reduced the time necessary to share these stories with the outside world. Upon analyzing pilgrimage narratives published on the Internet (Facebook, blogs), we observe that the intimate experience of pilgrims has become a media product that, when circulated, interferes in both the storytelling and the actual pilgrimage experience.

Curating Post-hajj Experiences of North American Pilgrims: Information Practices as Community-Building Rituals

“…Depictions of hajj have existed for a very long time and remain relatively consistent in their representations of hajj-as-a-sacred place with its sanctity mostly untouched by capital, politics, and class divides (Cooke and Lawrence 2005). This is most evident in the retelling of stories about one's hajj, but also appears in the framing of online hajj narratives, such as through selfies-with their focus on the sacred sites and symbols and away from the rampant Meccan consumerism (Caidi, Beazley and Marquez 2018).…”

“…These other pilgrims gave me information: they told me about the Maqām Ibrāhīm and al-Ḥajar al-Aswad (Black Stone). (P6) Cooke and Lawrence (2005) point to the travel literature genre from the tenth to fifteenth centuries that emerged as a means of describing the hajj to those unable to otherwise perform it for themselves-an early form of a proxy (Sourdel and Sourdel-Thomine 2006). Social media provide an extension for this tradition in that they facilitate access to, and sharing of, hajj-related information as a means of perpetuating the collective imaginary about hajj (Caidi and Karim 2022).…”