Pilgrimage in the Marketplace

The study of pilgrimage often centres itself around miracles and spontaneous populist activities. While some of these activities and stories may play an important role in the emergence of potential pilgrimage sites and in helping create wider interest in them, this book demonstrates that the dynamics of the marketplace, including marketing and promotional activities by priests and secular interest groups, create the very consumerist markets through which pilgrimages become established and successful - and through which the 'sacred' as a category can be sustained.

Auteur

Ian Reader is Professor of Religious Studies at Lancaster University. He was previously Professor of Japanese Studies at the University of Manchester, and has worked at academic institutions in Japan, the UK, Denmark and Hawaii. His main research interests are on pilgrimage and on religion in the modern world.

Contenu

1. Pilgrimages in Department Stores and Airport Malls: Modernity, Commerce and the Marketplace 2.Of Swans, Lakes and Constructions of the 'Sacred' 3. Religious Authorities and the Promotion of Pilgrimages 4. Merchants, Transport, Guidebooks and the Democratisation of Pilgrimage 5. Pilgrims in the Marketplace: Shaping, Producing and Consuming Pilgrimage 6. Scrolls, Singing Toilet Roll Holders, Martin Luther's Socks and Other Sacred Goods of the Marketplace 7. Strawberries, Camel Coolers and Luxury Hotels: Heritage, Hiking, Holidays and the Consumer Rebranding of Pilgrimage 8. Concluding Comments