Abstract

This thesis sets out to improve our understanding of heritage tourism by articulating this type of tourism with what is known about pilgrimage as a social process. A critical discussion of Victor Turner's contribution to the field of pilgrimage studies establishes a theoretical frame for this discussion. The longstanding relationship between pilgrimage and religion is stripped away, redrawing pilgrimage as a multi-levelled social process. The historical and discursive connections between heritage tourism and pilgrimage are established. The exploration of the problematic that heritage tourism is a form of secular pilgrimage ends with an instrumental case study of The Pointe-du-Moulin Historical Park. The spatial and interpretive strategies of the park are discussed as a social drama, using Kenneth Burke's Pentad as an analytical tool.