Call for Papers: International Conference: Walking with Saints

Op 24-26 mei 2018 wordt in Ronse (België) een internationaal congres gehouden over processies getiteld ‘Walking with Saints: Protection, Devotion and Civic Identity. The Role of the Landscape’.

Processies en ommegangen genieten als getuigen van immaterieel erfgoed de laatste jaren de belangstelling, zoals bijvoorbeeld blijkt uit het themanummer (96/2) dat Eigen Schoon en de Brabander in 2013 wijdde aan de bedevaarten en processies.

Naar aanleiding van de aanvraag tot erkenning voor immaterieel werelderfgoed bij de UNESCO van de Fiertelprocessie in en om Ronse organiseert het KADOC in mei 2018 met enkele lokale partners een internationaal congres. De oproep tot bijdragen, die loopt tot 10 december 2017, kan u hieronder raadplegen.

Alle info kan u nalezen op https://www.walkingwithsaints2018.com/

English version:
For centuries people in Europa and elsewhere have walked the landscape carrying the relics of martyrs and saints. By doing so they gave meaning to and altered the significance of the land, be it urban or natural, in more ways than we imagine. One of these aspects is the way in which the landscape is transformed by walking it, thus setting paths, reinforcing boundaries, strengthening a community’s identity in relation to a certain landscape or setting the pace of life according to the repetition of the traditional acts in time.

The International Conference “Walking with saints: protection, devotion and civic identity” focuses on the origin and evolution of procession rites with a strong link with the landscape. This conference, therefore, aims at studying the religious landscape, be it a specific spot or a larger territory, not as the mere spatial background for spiritual activities, but as an active agent in the shaping, transmission and transformation of the spiritual activity of human beings throughout time.

Though the starting point is an activity that is typical for Europe, we are interested in broadening the perspective to non-Christian and non-Western traditions that have an important connection with the landscape in which they are performed.

Please submit papers, no later than 10 December 2017, that deal with the following themes of the conference: Sacralisation of the landscape, Immaterial heritage, Perennial aspect of immaterial landscape, Immaterial heritage and community building, Healing saints in their territorial context, The influence of processions on the landscape and on the drawing of parochial and city boundaries, Processions, pilgrimages and the senses & Healing saints, magic and assimilation.