Scholars
Sojourning
Our Pilgrimage Journeys
My scholarly engagement with pilgrimage began in 2008 when Gary Waller (New York Purchase) invited me to a conference addressing the cultural and literary significance of the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham. The conference, which was held in Little Walsingham on the grounds of the Shrine, redirected my research interests in very productive ways. I study early modern literature, and, at the time, I was doing search on images of the sacred virgin in post-Reformation England (the topic of my dissertation, which I had just completed in 2007). I was also studying early modern queenship. Visiting Walsingham transformed my scholarship. Over the past few years, I have given numerous talks and written chapters and articles about sacred virginity and the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham. Sharenda and I have had the opportunity to present research on pilgrimage at conferences in many parts of the world, including Beijing, Sydney, and Dublin. We are currently working on a book about the revival and adaptability of pilgrimage.
I first walked portions of the Camino de Santiago in 2017 with a group of interdisciplinary scholars. That experience completely transformed my teaching and scholarly work. As a Spanish professor, I had led a study abroad program during the summers for many years in Spain and had always longed to walk the Camino. Being in community and witnessing pilgrim hospitality during my first walk encouraged me to create a Pilgrimage to Santiago course and walk with students. Ten students and faculty walked in 2017 along the French route in Spain and it was incredible to see how group of “peregrinos” cared for each other. In 2019, I took another group of students on the Camino. Susan and I began talking about our shared love of pilgrimage since we both study and research early modern literature, and both Spanish and English works mention the importance of pilgrimage before the English Reformation. We started researching the connections between Spain and England and the routes that were destroyed after Henry VIII. Our first walk together in Walsingham was in 2018, and we were struck at how English pilgrimage was being restored and more people were walking in ancient paths. In 2019 we walked the Kerry Camino in Ireland as many pilgrims had for centuries on their way to Santiago de Compostela.
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My experience with pilgrimage is linked to my experience studying abroad in Spain and England. In the summer of 2018, I spent two months touring, studying, and living in a variety of cities in Spain. One of those cities was Santiago de Compostela, the ending destination for pilgrims walking the Camino. I got the opportunity to interview several groups of pilgrims about their experiences, and their journeys inspired me to pursue pilgrimage practices in my own life. The next summer, I traveled to England with a cohort of fellow college students. We learned from a pilgrimage-based curriculum, and I was able to design, implement, and analyze my own pilgrimage while living and traveling in England. I learned so much from my program’s academic connection with physical movement, and I was able to present my findings on the topic at William and Mary’s Annual Pilgrimage Symposium. Now, in the summer of 2020, I am assisting Dr. Barlar and Dr. Dunn-Hensley with their book project and summer research on pilgrimage’s adaptation to medieval and modern-day challenges.