Making It Count: Pilgrimage and the Enumeration of Publics
An activity that is widespread but rarely closely examined in studies of pilgrimage is the enumeration of pilgrims (and related visitors) to shrines and their environs. Such “biopolitics of hosting” can play a significant role in mobilising the religious imagination of shrine administrators, especia...
Saved in:
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2025-01-01
|
| Series: | Religions |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/16/1/57 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1832587636052590592 |
|---|---|
| author | Simon Coleman |
| author_facet | Simon Coleman |
| author_sort | Simon Coleman |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | An activity that is widespread but rarely closely examined in studies of pilgrimage is the enumeration of pilgrims (and related visitors) to shrines and their environs. Such “biopolitics of hosting” can play a significant role in mobilising the religious imagination of shrine administrators, especially in contexts of apparently growing secularity. Number can be deployed by professional hosts to represent undifferentiated visiting publics in terms of spiritual possibility. In these terms, precision in statistics is likely to be less useful than figures that can be viewed through a distanced lens of potentiality. These ideas are developed through an examination of the Christian pilgrimage site of Walsingham, in eastern England. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-46a283b46aeb4856b2ca91f4c1097d80 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2077-1444 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Religions |
| spelling | doaj-art-46a283b46aeb4856b2ca91f4c1097d802025-01-24T13:47:28ZengMDPI AGReligions2077-14442025-01-011615710.3390/rel16010057Making It Count: Pilgrimage and the Enumeration of PublicsSimon Coleman0Department for the Study of Religion, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5R 2M8, CanadaAn activity that is widespread but rarely closely examined in studies of pilgrimage is the enumeration of pilgrims (and related visitors) to shrines and their environs. Such “biopolitics of hosting” can play a significant role in mobilising the religious imagination of shrine administrators, especially in contexts of apparently growing secularity. Number can be deployed by professional hosts to represent undifferentiated visiting publics in terms of spiritual possibility. In these terms, precision in statistics is likely to be less useful than figures that can be viewed through a distanced lens of potentiality. These ideas are developed through an examination of the Christian pilgrimage site of Walsingham, in eastern England.https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/16/1/57biopoliticsCatholicismChristianityhostingnumberpilgrimage |
| spellingShingle | Simon Coleman Making It Count: Pilgrimage and the Enumeration of Publics Religions biopolitics Catholicism Christianity hosting number pilgrimage |
| title | Making It Count: Pilgrimage and the Enumeration of Publics |
| title_full | Making It Count: Pilgrimage and the Enumeration of Publics |
| title_fullStr | Making It Count: Pilgrimage and the Enumeration of Publics |
| title_full_unstemmed | Making It Count: Pilgrimage and the Enumeration of Publics |
| title_short | Making It Count: Pilgrimage and the Enumeration of Publics |
| title_sort | making it count pilgrimage and the enumeration of publics |
| topic | biopolitics Catholicism Christianity hosting number pilgrimage |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/16/1/57 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT simoncoleman makingitcountpilgrimageandtheenumerationofpublics |