This blog originated with the class Pious Publics and Accidental Pilgrims: Religion and Tourism, a course I offer at Gadjah Mada University's Graduate School in Central Java, Indonesia. Essays and articles posted here are inspired by discussions and research conducted by me and my students at the Center For Religious and Cross-cultural Studies.
In this course, we review anthropological theories on tourism and consider ethnographic studies that situate religious sites in conversation with theories of tourism, globalization, and identity. By considering the economic, social, theological and political that are ascribed to religious and sacred sites, we approach the analysis of these places as spaces of contestation that are embedded in larger national and international contexts. We also consider how the discourse and practices surrounding these sites is deployed in the creation of normative definitions of religion. We consider how to define the practice of travel to places of religious import. By focusing on the performative aspects of tourism in relation to the concepts of culture and authenticity in spaces identified as religious or sacred sites, we discuss how tourism adds new dimensions to debates surrounding ritual and religious practices.
Who are we? We are students, activists, journalists, scholars and religious practitioners who study religious life in Southeast Asia.
In this course, we review anthropological theories on tourism and consider ethnographic studies that situate religious sites in conversation with theories of tourism, globalization, and identity. By considering the economic, social, theological and political that are ascribed to religious and sacred sites, we approach the analysis of these places as spaces of contestation that are embedded in larger national and international contexts. We also consider how the discourse and practices surrounding these sites is deployed in the creation of normative definitions of religion. We consider how to define the practice of travel to places of religious import. By focusing on the performative aspects of tourism in relation to the concepts of culture and authenticity in spaces identified as religious or sacred sites, we discuss how tourism adds new dimensions to debates surrounding ritual and religious practices.
Who are we? We are students, activists, journalists, scholars and religious practitioners who study religious life in Southeast Asia.