The Department of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology, University of Szeged, in partnership with EASA’s Pilgrimage Studies Network, is pleased to announce a call for papers for the Soundscapes of Pilgrimage workshop, which will explore the vital role of soundscapes in shaping pilgrimage experiences across diverse cultural settings. The workshop seeks to explore new perspectives on an underexplored area of pilgrimage research by deepening our understanding of how soundscapes contribute to the ritual, social, and personal dimensions of pilgrimage. These dimensions may involve not only harmony but also dissonance, tension and competition as Michael Sallnow showed in his classic study, People of the Andes (1987).
Pilgrimage soundscapes encompass the sounds of nature (like wind, rain, animal calls, human-made sounds such as traffic, machinery, music), as well as silence and ambient noise all forming the auditory environment that shapes pilgrims’ sensory experiences. We aim to investigate how soundscapes, as culturally constructed acoustic environments, influence and reflect the beliefs, emotions, and identities of individuals and communities.
Call for papers open until 20 March 2025.
Scientific committee:
Kinga Povedák, John Eade, Mario Katić, Manoël Penicaud, Simon Coleman, Anna Niedźwiedź.