Abstract

In this thesis I examine whether the pilgrimage typologies suggested by Victor and Edith Turner (communitas) as well as that of John Eade and Michael Sallnow (contestation) are useful tools for describing and analyzing non-locative pilgrimage practices. As these understandings of pilgrimage are based on locative examples of sacred journeying, there is a risk of them being reduced to pertaining solely to physical travel. I propose a clarification of these typologies using the phenomenological work of Maurice Merleau-Ponty, such that pilgrims are best understood as both biological and psychological beings whose perceptions and intellectual functions are not separate, but rather inextricably intertwined. In order to examine whether the typologies are suitable for discussing non-locative pilgrimage, I draw on a historical test case: Die Sionpilger (1492) written by Dominican Friar Felix Fabri. I demonstrate that the typologies are suitable for discussing non-locative journeys, in that many of the characteristics described by the Turners, and Eade and Sallnow are constituent elements present in the text Die Sionpilger.