Pilgrimage mobilities: a de Certeauian perspective

Abstract

Post-secular constructions of space and re-configurations of traditional sacred places are examined inspired by de Certeau’s conceptual quadrant of space, place, strategy and tactics. De Certeau’s theorization enables us to draw out the subversive or disruptive spatial practices of post-secular pilgrimages as instances of pedestrian rhetorics, pilgrimage as a space of enunciations and as the double other of both secular and sacred terrains, as well as ‘proper' practices. The article is based on interviews conducted on and off-season with pilgrims in the region of Galicia (Santiago de Compostela and Fisterra). Beyond an intervention in the geography of religion, this paper is also a contribution to the post-secular debate, post-secular geographies and the blurring of the boundaries between the secular and the sacred elicited by philosophers and social scientists.