PilNet

EASA 2026 in Poznań – Call for Papers is now open! Consider submitting a proposal for the PILNET panel: P175: Pilgrimage through Conflict(s): Laterality, Movements and Scales. Convenors: Hannah Kristine Lunde, Anna Niedźwiedź; Discussant: Simon Coleman
https://nomadit.co.uk/conference/easa2026 #18351

The EASA will soon announce panels accepted for the Poznań 2026 congress. Stay tuned - and check for the PILNET panel when the Call for Papers is open!

We have received an incredible 369 panel proposal submissions for EASA2026 Poznań! The scientific committee will evaluate proposals throughout November.

10 November: Calls for films open
1 December: Calls for papers & labs open

Thank you for all your panel proposal submissions!

Soundscapes of pilgrimage – the PILNET workshop, 16-18 October 2025, University of Szeged.
Thanks to our host Kinga Povedák and other colleagues from Szeged, the Scientific Committee and all PILNET members who participated (also on-line!) and shared their research on various soundscapes. Köszönöm!!

In the Psychology of Pilgrimage YouTube podcast, Dr. Heather Warfield talked with our prominent member Prof. John Eade about his knowledge and influence in the field.

Episode 32: Keeping the Flame Going, with John Eade In this conversation, Heather A. Warfield speaks with John Eade, a prominent figure in pilgrimage studies. He shares his journey into anthropology and early ...

Some of the panel presenters and other PilNet members attending the IAHR World Congress in Krakow last week, including the new PilNet-convenors: Anna Niedźwiedź (second from the left) and Hannah Kristine Lunde (third from the left).

PilNet panel for the IAHR World Congress in Krakow, titled "Domesticating Pilgrimage: On Sense and Presence in Tracing Oikonomies of Sacred Travel".

Povodom Dana europske baštine i 20 godina Odjela za etnologiju i antropologiju, pozivamo vas na otvorenje izložbe "Jadranska maritimna hodočašća" 7. listopada s početkom u 17:00 sati u Muzeju betinske drvene brodogradnje.

PilNet panel on EASA Barcelona conference titled Doing anthropology of pilgrimages through images.

Some PilNet members in Barcelona before our panel

Pilgrimage Studies Network (PILNET) meeting in Facultat de Geografia i Història 302

On July 25, the double PilNet panel "Doing anthropology of pilgrimages through images" (P117) will take place in Barcelona during the 18th European Association of Social Anthropologists EASA Biennial Conference.

This face-to-face panel proposes to explore new ways of studying the polysemous phenomenon of pilgrimages through the mediation of still and moving images. It focuses on images – in a broad sense – produced by both social actors (e.g. pilgrims) and anthropologists.

Convenors : John Eade (Univ of Roehampton) and Manoël Pénicaud (IDEAS Institut d’ethnologie et d'anthropologie sociale, CNRS)

Location: Facultat de Geografia i Història, room 206, from 9am to 1pm

More info: https://nomadit.co.uk/conference/easa2024/p/14633 #

Long abstract:
The field of Pilgrimage Studies is closely connected to that of images, as Victor and Edith Turner's "Image and Pilgrimage in Christian Culture" (1978) already indicated. In keeping with a long tradition of thinking through images in anthropology, this panel proposes to explore new ways of studying the polysemous phenomenon of pilgrimages through the mediation of still and moving images. In order to embrace various interests, images are understood here in a very broad sense to include engravings, paintings, icons, postcards, photographs, videos, 3D pictures, GIS storymaps...

The panel deals with two main issues. The first focuses on the study of images that already "exist" during pilgrimages, in the sense that they are not produced by the researcher but by pilgrims, craftsmen, artists, photographers, filmmakers etc. They may be old documents, works of art, holy or sacred images or even images posted on social networks by pilgrims. The second issue concerns the images produced by anthropologists in the field. How are these images made? What are the specific features of pictures taken during a crowded pilgrimage? How are they then analysed and linked to written observations? They may simply be visual field notes, or they may become a form of publication per se.

Finally, this panel invites discussion of methodological techniques, tools, legal concerns and epistemological reflections when approaching pilgrimages through still and/or moving images.

Keywords: pilgrimages; images; visual anthropology; photography; videography; methodology

P117: Doing anthropology of pilgrimages through images [Pilgrimage Studies Network (PilNet)] This panel proposes to explore new ways of studying the polysemous phenomenon of pilgrimages through the mediation of still and moving images. It focuses on images – in a broad sense – produced by both social actors (e.g. pilgrims) and anthropologists.