Pilgrimage routes and shrines have always been deeply entwined with the markets, hostels, and eateries that serve the needs of pilgrims. Today, pilgrimage is a growth industry embedded in the political economies of nations.
- How do pilgrimage busses (the tourist bubble) reveal the relationship between moral economies and global political power? (Feldman and Hammoudi).
- Discuss shopping in either Medina or Bethlehem. How do commerce and pilgrimage intermingle?
- Discuss the colors of money in the Israeli pilgrimage industry (Feldman).
- Can pilgrimage disrupt preconceived ideas, or do people simply see what they are primed to see?
- Do the pilgrim’s intentions matter? (Hammoudi and The Way etc.)
- How might religious fundamentalism (that which endorses a literalist interpretation of sacred texts) serve political ends? (Hammoudi, Feldman)
- Optional Which politically prominent family is most closely associated with the Sufi pilgrimage town of Sehwan Sharif in southern Pakistan? How are they linked to both economies of salvation and political control?
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