Skrzyżowane itineraria – antropolodzy i pielgrzymi
Cross-Cutting Itineraries: Anthropologists and Pilgrims

Summary/Abstract: This paper presents selected discourses on pilgrimage which shaped both historical approaches and contemporary anthropological research. The relatively modest presence of studies on pilgrimages in the “traditional” anthropological domain is discussed and leads on to a discussion of Polish pilgrimage, research during the 19th and first half of the 20th century. This discourse is analyzed as an example of a national perspective. I then consider the central anthropological debate concerning pilgrimage which was mainly shaped by the Turnerian communitas paradigm (1978) and Eade and Sallnow’s contestation discourse (1991). Examples of more recent studies are presented with their emphasis on pilgrimage as a polymorphic and polyphonic phenomenon. The concepts of multivocality and relativity of space as well as a focus on the kinetic aspect of pilgrimage are significant topics in contemporary anthropological studies. These cross-cutting itineraries of anthropological thinking and pilgrims’ practices are depicted within the framework of the changing perspectives in studies on pilgrimage. These perspectives have significantly turned away from understanding a “pilgrimage” as an ideal and definable concept towards revealing the complexity and plurality of “pilgrimages” as well as focusing on “pilgrimaging”.

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