Events of the Pilgrimage Studies Network
Upcoming Events
Call for Papers: Soundscapes of Pilgrimage
October 16-18, 2025
University of Szeged, Department of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology
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.
Papers could discuss the following topics
- Soundscapes and Cultural Memory:
How do soundscapes evoke emotions, memories, and cultural associations, offering insights beyond visual elements in the pilgrim experience? - Perception and Interaction:
How do pilgrims interact with and perceive the soundscapes around them? How do these sounds contribute to spiritual states, community connections, recollections of past experiences, dissonance and tensions? - The Non-Representational Perspective:
Rather than focusing on how pilgrims make sounds, how do sounds make pilgrims? - Soundscapes as Acoustemologies: Steven Feld's Concept of acoustemology - The study of knowledge gained through sound provides a framework for examining sound as a medium of knowledge, belonging, and sacred experience. How can we capture and interpret the ambient sounds of pilgrimage sites and routes to uncover culturally embedded knowledge?
- The Role of Musicking in Pilgrimage:
How do specific auditory elements like chants, congregational songs, prayers, bells, and moments of silence shape the sensory and spiritual landscape of pilgrimage? In what ways do these elements contribute to shared rituals and create an atmosphere conducive to transcendent experiences? To what extent can they create dissonance, tension and competition? - Technology's Impact on Soundscapes:
How do modern technologies such as amplified sounds, recorded prayers, and portable music devices reshape long established pilgrimage soundscapes and add new dimensions of meaning? To what extent do they contribute to dissonance, tension and competition? - Deep Listening:
How can researchers practice 'deep listening' (Oliveros 2005) in the field, preparing and interpreting sonic fieldnotes effectively? - Silence within Soundscapes:
What role does silence play within pilgrimage soundscapes, and how can it be meaningfully analyzed as part of the auditory environment? - Digital Communication:
What impact has the development of online pilgrimages had on soundscapes?
We invite submissions from anthropology, ethnomusicology, religious studies, cultural studies, sociology, and other relevant disciplines. Contributions may address any pilgrimage tradition or location around the world, with a particular interest in ethnographic, theoretical, and multi-sensory approaches to soundscapes.
Proposals of up to 300 words, accompanied by a short bio, must be submitted to soundscapesofpilgrimage(at)gmail.com by 20 March 2025. Notification of acceptance will be sent by 10 April 2025.
In case you have any questions, please feel free to contact Kinga Povedák at povedak.kinga(at)szte.hu.
Scientific committee:
Kinga Povedák, John Eade, Mario Katić, Manoël Penicaud, Simon Coleman, Anna Niedźwiedź
Past Events
Doing Anthropology of Pilgrimages Through Images
EASA2024 Panel P117, 25 July 2024
Network Meeting
24 July 2024 15:00 CEST, Barcelona
The meeting took place at the EASA2024 Conference.
The Sacred Sea: Religious Practices in Maritime Context
Zadar, 2-5 May 2024
University of Zadar, Department of Ethnology and Anthropology
Pilgrimar project of Croatian Science Foundation
With this conference we want to gather scholars interested in both past and present religious practices within a maritime context, so that we can discuss, combine and compare different approaches, problems and perspectives towards the study of the connection between saints and the sea. We do not want to focus on any particular geographical and religious context, or moment in time, and we welcome different disciplinary approaches.
PilNet Workshop: From Antistructure to Infrastructure
New Materialities in Pilgrimage Studies
26-27 May 2023
Convenor:
Simon Coleman, U of Toronto and Clare Hall; simon.coleman(at)utoronto.ca
Location:
Richard Eden Suite, Clare Hall, Herschel Road, Cambridge, CB3 9AL
EASA2022 conference panel P167:
The Transformation of Pilgrimage Studies: Moving Beyond Dominant Paradigms at EASA2022: Transformation, Hope and the Commons, Belfast/UK. 26-29 July 2022.
Convenors: Mario Katić, John Eade
PILNET MEETING 2021
"Pilgrimage and the Politics of Presence and Absence:
Anthropological Horizons on Sacralizing Locality, Visibility and Invisibility in the
Contemporary World" &
"Pilgrimages in Times of Pandemics. Crises, Regulations, Innovations"
Aix-en-Province, 23-25 September 2021
EASA2020 conference panel P013:
Coleman, Simon and Mesaritou, Evgenia (convenors): Pilgrimage and the Politics of Presence and Absence: Anthropological Horizons on Sacralizing Locality, Visibility and Invisibility in the Contemporary World Panel at EASA2020: New anthropological horizons in and beyond Europe, Lisbon/Portugal. 21 - 24 July 2020.
PILNET 2019 Workshop
Approaching Pilgrimage: Methodological Issues Involved In Researching Routes, Sites and Practices
4th-6th September 2019, Zadar
This workshop aimed to create a facilitative environment for the discussion of the different approaches towards pilgrimage but also, more importantly, setting the stage for future pilgrimage research.
Download the workshop program A4 format 
here
Download the workshop program as a foldable booklet here
The Pilgrimate Studies Network convened a panel entitled "Changing Face of European Pilgrimage" at the EASA2018 conference in Stockholm, Sweden.
Visit here to see the panel abstract.
