RLST 179: SHOW & TELL GUIDELINES
AND SAMPLE WRITE-UP
On two occasions this quarter (January 11 and February 8) you are to bring some item to class as a pilgrimage "show & tell": it doesn't have to relate to the topic of discussion that day (although it can). It just needs to be something that relates to an aspect of pilgrimage that has struck your interest. It can be a physical object, a text, a concept (although you should find a way to illustrate this concept, even if it means drawing it on the board), a symbol, a newspaper article, an internet site, a photograph, an image: anything that you can bring to class and describe to your fellow students.
Pilgrimage, as an expression of religious identity that crosses so many religious traditions, is a remarkably "on the ground" phenomenon: people are constantly reinventing themselves through the material and spiritual practices of sacred travel, and constantly leaving their traces. With the advent of the internet, these expressions of religion "on the ground" are almost every where. So, in hunting for a "show & tell" piece, just look around you: newspapers, magazines, billboards, flyers. The internet is your friend: look through the news and image search engines of Google. Or you may follow up on a class reading: what resources do Japanese pilgrimages look for these days? Does the Vatican have a travel service to guide pilgrims through Rome? What do contemporary Muslims make of Sir Richard Burton, or Malcolm X?
Some examples of "show and tell" items might be:
This web page from an Arizona masjid that teaches children about hajj with the other five pillars of Islam.
An image from a book or magazine of a holy site, such as this picture of backpackers on the road to Santiago de Compostela (you could even do some imaginative work: who are these rugged backpackers, and why are they on the Camino?).
An article on pilgrimage, or holy sites, or religious conflict in time and space, such as this article on the dedication of a Christian pilgrimage site in India.
A symbol or custom that you find compelling: like putting prayers in the Western Wall or walking the "Via Dolorosa" in Christ's footsteps.
In addition to choosing an object, you need to produce a one-page write up of your "show-and-tell," which is due at the beginning of class. A sample "show and tell write up" is given below. It provides a basic description of the item, how it was found, why the student thinks it is interesting and/or significant, and what the student thinks it adds to our study of pilgrims and pilgrimage. (Note, this is based on a real object: ask the professor if you want to take a look.) The response is roughly 350 words long, or one typed page (double-spaced, 12-pt. Times New Roman font).
Jane R. Student
RLST 179: Pilgrimage
January 11, 2005
Show and Tell #1
My item for show and tell is a plastic and metal keychain, about an inch long and made of fairly thick plastic. The plastic is translucent, and there is a piece of paper inside. On one side of the piece of paper is a drawing of a man with a long white beard in long robes holding a cross; he's standing in a desert, with a white building in the background behind him, and he has a yellow halo around his head. On the back there is another cross and writing that looks like it is Arabic (apparently telling the name of the figure on the front; although I've discovered that the Arabic is printed backwards!).
The man in the picture is Shenoute, a Coptic (Egyptian Christian) saint, and he's standing in front of the monastery he was in charge of in the fifth century. Now it's called Deir Amba Shenouda; it's located in southern Egypt, near Sohag. I got the keychain from a friend of mine who is an expert in Coptic studies and she visited the monastery one summer to do research. She happened to be there on the feast day of Shenoute, and thousands of Coptic pilgrims came to pay their respects to him. My friend bought the keychain in the gift shop of the monastery, which had lots of interesting items including a life-size cutout of Shenoute that she took her picture with.
I think the keychain is interesting because it makes us think about the intersection of tourism and pilgrimage, and antiquity and modernity. The image of Shenoute is supposed to be holy, but here it's inside of a fairly mundane object (a keychain). It's also a very old drawing, put to a very modern use. But does this make it less sacred to the pilgrim? Or does it remind the pilgrim of a holy place and allow the pilgrim to step outside of everyday experience (like keys and keychains) when she holds it?