There are many different types of topics you could choose for your final project. You might choose:

 

There is nothing wrong with elaborating on a site, text, person, ritual, or incident found in the class reading. Your imagination may be sparked by something mentioned in our class reading that you want to investigate further: that's absolutely fine.

 

Some examples:

 

Sites of pilgrimage:

Medina (or a particular place in Medina, such as the Mosque of the Prophet)

Lourdes

National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception (Washington, D.C.)

Bodhgaya

Mount Wu-T'ai

Siripada (Adam's Peak--Sri Lanka)

You can also flip through the Pilgrimage book, and check the bibliography in the back.

 

Don't be afraid to think "outside the box" to sites that might not seem like "traditional" pilgrimage sites, but for which you might make an argument that they are a destination of "religiously motivated travel," such as:

 

Disneyland

Graceland

Vietnam Memorial Wall

 

 

Texts about Pilgrimage

In addition to any of the texts specifically about pilgrimage we have read in class:

The Book of Margery Kempe

Geoffrey Chaucer, Canterbury Tales

Texts collected in: Jerusalem Pilgrims Before the Crusades (unfortunately not available in Rivera: but available quickly through interlibrary loan) or Jerusalem Pilgrimage, 1099-1185

Theoderich, Guide to the Holy Land (12th century pilgrimage guide)

Benjamin of Tudela's 12th-century Itinerary (A Jewish traveler around the known world)

 

 

People on pilgrimage

individuals...

Malcolm X (sources beyond his Autobiography)

Richard Lion-Heart (British crusader)

Sir Richard Burton

or groups...

Mystic Jews in Galilee

Japanese Buddhists in Shikoku

Sufi Muslims in North Africa

Madonna

 

Pilgrimage rituals and customs

Hajj rituals in Mecca

Prayer at the Western ("Wailing") Wall

Bathing in the Ganges

Votive offerings

Reenactments

Artistic representation/veneration

Relics and relic-collection

 

Incidents/Events

1993 and 2002: Riots in Ayodhya (India)

1993: The Mahamastakabhishekha (Jain anointing of the statue of Gomateshvara in India)

2000: Ariel Sharon "tours" the Temple Mount

1095-1099: The First Crusade

 

Look through the syllabus and the readings and come up with a topic that interests you, and begin there.  But start looking soon: remember that your project proposal is due in-class on February 15!