Suchergebnisse

One unexplored dimension of bridging divides and promoting peace is pilgrimage. Definitions matter. The way that we define a phenomenon impacts the way it is understood and practiced. When definitions channel our vision along paths that are culturally prescribed, what appears normal, tme and trusted by one person, can appear prejudiced or even incomprehensible to another. Peter Jan Margry (2008, 17), for example, defines pilgrimage, much as others do, as a journey to a place that is regarded as more sacred or salutary than the environment of everyday life. He says that pilgrims seek a transcendental encounter with a specific cult object at this place for the purpose of acquiring spiritual, emotional or physical healing or benefit. Many definitions of pilgrimage tend to emphasize this personal act of devotion as the journey's defining feature. However, emphasizing the role and experiences of the individual, while paying scant attention to the social and cultural context of the pilgrimage, is the product of a specific cultural lens. Emphasizing the transformative journey of the solitary traveler severely limits our ability to consider motivations or impacts from other vantage points. It is impossible to contemplate the impact for peace, for example, beyond the perspective of the transformed individual. In this book, we are calling for a paradigm shift in pilgrimage and religious tourism research through the development of newer definitions that recognize that pilgrims and pilgrimages are embedded not just within religions and economics, but in ever-changing cultures, societies, and political systems. Individuals may be seeking growth, healing, or blessings through their sacred journeys, but the societies in which these pilgrimages are embedded have their own specific interests, needs and agendas. Victor Turner (1969), for example, discussed how "anti-structural" pilgrimage practices, as evidenced by communitas (equality and unity in diversity), are developed by cultures in order to generate and maintain cohesion. Yet this relationship between the individual and society is not referenced in standard definitions of pilgrimage. We cannot consider the motives or desired outcomes of one without the other: the pilgrim and the pilgrimage, the seeker and the system, are tw o sides of the one coin. Our goal, through fifteen case studies, is to demonstrate one dimension of this broader vista: how pilgrimage and religious tourism, under the right circumstances, can have a transformative role beyond the level of the individual, especially in the realm of peace-building. ; peer-reviewed