Description
Book SynopsisWomen and Pilgrimage presents scholarly essays that address the lacunae in the literature on this topic. The content includes well-trodden domains of pilgrimage scholarship like sacred sites and holy places. In addition, the book addresses some of the less-well-known dimensions of pilgrimage, such as the performances that take place along pilgrims' paths; the ephemeral nature of identifying as a pilgrim, and the economic, social and cultural dimensions of migratory travel. Most importantly, the book's feminist lens encourages readers to consider questions of authenticity, essentialism, and even what is means to be a "woman pilgrim". The volume's six sections are entitled: Questions of Authenticity; Performances and Celebratory Reclamations; Walking Out: Women Forging Their Own Paths; Women Saints: Their Influence and Their Power; Sacred Sites: Their Lineages and Their Uses; and Different Migratory Paths. Each section will enrich readers' knowledge of the experiences of pilgrim women. Readers' understanding will be further enhanced by the book's: · interdisciplinary nature: The contributors hail from a wide range of disciplines, including Anthropology, Political Science, French, Spanish, Fine Art, and Religious Studies; · uniqueness: The text brings together previously scattered resources into one volume; · feminist perspective: Much of the subject matter utilizes feminist theories and methodologies and argues that further research will be welcome. The book will be of interest to scholars of pilgrimage studies in general as well as those interested in women, travel, tourism, and the variety of religious experiences.
Table of ContentsPART I: QUESTIONS OF AUTHENTICITY 1: First-class or Coach? Women as Tourists and Pilgrims, 1888-1928. Maryjane Dunn. 2: Romeras, Rameras, and Royals: Female Pilgrims on the Camino de Santiago in Medieval and Early Modern Spain. Sharenda Holland Barlar. PART II: PERFORMANCES AND CELEBRATORY RECLAMATIONS 3: Sacred Queenship: Elizabethan Progress Entertainments and the Memory of Pilgrimage. Susan Dunn-Hensley. 4: Feminizing the Camino: How Festivals are Being Reimagined for Inclusivity. Alison T. Smith. PART III: WALKING OUT: WOMEN FORGING THEIR OWN PATHS 5: Pilgrimage and Piety: Alternative Paths to the Convent. Sarah E. Owens. PART IV: WOMEN SAINTS: THEIR INFLUENCE AND THEIR POWER 6: ‘All you need is Faith’: Sainte Foy, Furta Sacra, and Saint Mary Magdalene. Lisa F. Signori. 7: (Re)Thinking out Gobnait: Memory and Presence in Folklore and Landscape. Vivienne Keely. PART V: SACRED SITES, THEIR LINEAGES AND THEIR USES 8: Women Pilgrimage Artists and Their Lineages. Emma Rochester. 9: The Entwinement and Imprint of the Legendary Diviner-Healer Mantsopa and the St. Augustine Priory: The Complexities of Mantsopa Pilgrimages. Shirley du Plooy. PART VI: DIFFERENT MIGRATORY PATHS 10: ‘What One Does of Necessity’: Twentieth Century Irish Women as Seasonal Migrants and Working Pilgrims. E. Moore Quinn.
