Mixed mobile methods for a mobile practice: inclusive research on pilgrimage mobilities

Maddrell, A. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2941-498X (2020) Mixed mobile methods for a mobile practice: inclusive research on pilgrimage mobilities. In: Buscher, M., Freudendal-Pedersen, M., Kesselring, S. and Grauslund Kristensen, N. (eds.) Handbook of Research Methods and Applications for Mobilities. Handbooks of Research Methods and Applications series. Edward Elgar, Northampton UK, pp. 194-202. ISBN 9781788115452

Abstract/Summary

We live in a world characterised by mobilities – international, national, regional and local. Mobilities are not just about travel – movements are shaped by economic, social, political, emotional and cultural processes to become journeys motivated by and coloured with particular practices, purposes and meaning-making. Pilgrimage, the focus of this chapter, is variously defined as a form of formal religious journeying to a holy site; as a more loosely defined spiritual practice; as a time-space-journey of reflection; or as a journey to the scared, however that is defined. In the context of this broader understanding of the practice, pilgrimage is a global phenomenon and has attracted a growing number of participants in early twenty-first century Western Europe.