'Sharing without Solidarity: Politics, Heritage and Pilgrimage in a Divided European Society'

Project Information

T.A.MA

Grant agreement ID: 752103

DOI

10.3030/752103

Project closed

EC signature date 1 March 2017

Start date 1 September 2017

End date 31 August 2020

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 221 446,80

EU contribution

€ 221 446,80

Coordinated by

UNIVERSITY OF CYPRUS
Cyprus

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - T.A.MA ('Sharing without Solidarity: Politics, Heritage and Pilgrimage in a Divided European Society')

Reporting period: 2019-09-01 to 2020-08-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Drawing on work on religion, pilgrimage, heritage and conflict, the project asked how religion, politics and cultural heritage intersect in divided societies. It explored this question by examining the restoration of the Christian Orthodox Apostolos Andreas monastery in Turkish-occupied Karpas (Cyprus) and the revival of associated pilgrimages to the site. Cyprus has been geographically and ethnically divided ever since the 1974 Turkish invasion and subsequent occupation of the northern part of the island. In 2003, the opening of the checkpoints allowed people to cross and re-visit the places they had been forced to abandon. In this framework, formerly established Greek Cypriot pilgrimages to the monastery of Apostolos Andreas revived. The project had two main scientific objectives; to explore (a) What happens to a pilgrimage in the context of shifting and contested negotiations over access? In exploring this question, the project asked how the ongoing division affects different groups of pilgrims; their motives, their experiences of the pilgrimage and the meanings they ascribe to the pilgrimage journey and its destination, as well as the ways in which the latter two are represented in collective memory. (b) What happens to pilgrimage when its destination is discussed as heritage, the restoration of which is undertaken in conditions of ongoing division, via inter-communal attempts supported by international secular institutions (e.g. the United Nations)? How do the latter’s views of the conflict affect the restoration and what is their role in the management of conflict and the unfolding of inter and intra-communal relations? What discourses do they and other local ‘secular’ and ‘religious’ institutions articulate in relation to the pilgrimage, the monastery and its restoration, and how are these constructed in the context of the Cyprus Issue? How and to what extent do inter-communal restoration attempts help foster reunification?

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Data was collected during fieldwork in Cyprus through participant observation of pilgrimages, interviews with pilgrims and people involved in the running and restoration of the monastery, visual and archival research (photographs, newspaper articles, press releases and announcements of various local and international actors involved in the workings of Apostolos Andreas and in other related fields e.g. cultural heritage and conflict resolution). Data was analyzed in relation to the literature review which explored themes such as home and displacement, mobility, memory, heritage and conflict. The data formed the basis for presentations and publications. Presentations addressed international audiences in sociology and social anthropology, in North America (Canada) and Europe (UK, Sweden, Croatia): Performing Pilgrimage: Constructions of the 'Journey' in Greek Cypriot Pilgrimages to the Monastery of Apostolos Andreas in Cyprus [Pilgrimage Studies Network’s (of European Association of Social Anthropologists) 2019 Workshop, Approaching Pilgrimage: Methodological Issues Involved in Researching Routes, Sites and Practices. Zadar, Croatia 04-06.09.2019] Non 'religious' knowing and ignoring in pilgrimages to sacred sites: Greek Cypriot’s 'returns' to the monastery of Apostolos Andreas [Society for the Anthropology of Religion Conference, Politics of Religious Knowledge and Ignorance, Toronto 21-23.05.2019. Panel: ‘Knowing and Ignoring in Pilgrimage.’ Organizers/Chairs: Simon Coleman (University of Toronto), John Eade (University of Roehampton/University of Toronto), and Evgenia Mesaritou (University of Cyprus, University of Toronto)], The multiple temporalities of pilgrimage: space and time interaction in the movement of pilgrims [Association of Social Anthropologists of the UK and Commonwealth’s 2018 conference: Sociality, matter, and the imagination: re-creating Anthropology, Oxford, UK, 18-21.09.2018] Uncanny Pilgrimage: On the Experience of Unsettling [Presented with Simon Coleman at the 15th European Association of Social Anthropologists’ Biennial Conference, Staying, Moving, Settling, Stockholm, Sweden, 14-17.08.18] Pilgrimage, Heritage and Politics in a Divided Society [XIX International Sociological Association’s (ISA) World Congress of Sociology: Power, Violence and Justice: Reflections, Responses, Responsibilities, Metro Toronto Convention Centre, Canada, 15-21.07.18] Ruination and Restoration: Pilgrimage Sites as Traces of Conflictual Temporalities [Royal Anthropological Institute, the Department of Africa, Oceania and the Americas of the British Museum and the Department of Anthropology at SOAS Conference Art, Materiality and Representation, London, UK, 01-03.06.18]. Three publications and an edited special issue have been produced in the Fellowship's duration:
Mesaritou E., S. Coleman 2018. ‘On Distinction and Devotion: Shifting Boundaries between Pilgrimage and Tourism.’ Groniek, Number 215: 178-196
Mesaritou, E., 2020. ‘Non “Religious” Knowing and Ignoring in Pilgrimages to Sacred Sites: Greek Cypriot’s “Returns” to the Monastery of Apostolos Andreas (Cyprus).’ Journeys: The International Journal of Travel and Travel Writing 21(1): 105-133
Mesaritou. E., S. Coleman, J. Eade, 2020. ‘Introduction: Knowledge, Ignorance, and Pilgrimage.’ Journeys: The International Journal of Travel and Travel Writing 21(1): 1-18
Mesaritou E., S. Coleman, J. Eade (guest eds.) 2020 Special Issue ‘Knowledge and Ignorance in Pilgrimage,’ Journeys: The International Journal of Travel and Travel Writing 21(1): 1-144

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The data illuminates non-religious dimensions of pilgrimage, thus challenging the conventional view of the practice as a pious journey to a place deemed as sacred. It suggests that: (a) Motivations for involvement in the workings of a shrine may not have to do with religion per se but can involve confidence-building among different communities, interest in and protection of cultural heritage, remembering the past and the places in which its memory is rooted. (b) Pilgrimage appears to connect not only to other forms of movement such as displacement, and to other domains of peoples’ lives such as family and home, politics and history making. (c) Non-devotional acts enabling and enabled by pilgrimage may construct it as a politically-loaded and at times painful 'return' journey. (d) Pilgrimages may become mediums for the gaining, ignoring and transmitting of non-religious knowledge. (e) Pilgrimage may allow pilgrims to experience their losses on a level that goes beyond the domestic. This may not necessarily lead to healing but to reproducing past traumas. (f) Pilgrimage sites, in their various states of ruination or restoration, may become traces of different temporalities and concerns, which can afford different forms of action. They may therefore become indexes of wider issues related to conflict. The findings confirm the usefulness of the original analytical approach, which did not take religious motivation to be the default motivation for participation in the workings of a shrine. Research can benefit society by illuminating the impact of conflict on the ways in which religious and cultural heritage are perceived and experienced, as well as illustrating the effect of heritage’s ruination and restoration on conflict resolution initiatives. Such work can inform policies regarding religious and cultural heritage in conflict zones as well as highlight the positive potential of collaborations across dividing lines.

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