Religion 331TP - Advanced Topics in Religion: 'Tourism, Travel, Pilgrimage'

This seminar explores travel as a project of moral formation, asking how people use travel to form a sense of identity to purify themselves of what they consider to be morally evil, and to develop a sense of self that is in alignment with what they consider to be morally pure. This includes not just where we go but how we go there. The label 'tourist' is often deemed inauthentic, and yet it's hard to say what is different between tourism and a more substantive form like 'travel,' or how it is different from religious pilgrimage. This course draws on sociology, religious studies, and anthropology, as well as methodological readings and student research assignments, to answer these questions.

Prereq: 8 credits in Sociology or Religion.