Apprenticeship Pilgrimage

Reviews / Votes

Apprenticeship Pilgrimage opens new ground for research, and indeed it will have a strong influence in coming studies of tourism and mobility. . . . the value of Apprenticeship Pilgrimage resides in having opened our eyes to a new form of mobility in the modern world. It obliges us to rethink the meaning of concepts like pilgrimage, community and communitas, tourism, and identity. It is a tour de force in the anthropology of tourism and mobility, and a book from which one learns that the flow of culture, objects, music, and bodies moves in innovative, refreshing, and unpredictable ways. * Journeys: The International Journal Of Travel and Travel Writings * Apprenticeship Pilgrimage presents an exciting new theoretical roadmap for understanding travel to develop embodied expertise. Drawing on participant observation and deft analyses of interviews with capoeira practitioners, ballroom dancers, and students of martial arts who travel to gain embodied knowledge and legitimacy in their chosen activities, Griffith and Marion's book is theoretically sophisticated, wonderfully insightful, and engagingly written. This is a volume that merits a place on the "must read" list of all students and scholars of tourism and mobility studies, expressive culture and dance. -- Kathleen M. Adams, Loyola University Chicago; author of <i> Art as Politics: Recrafting Identities, Tourism and Power in Tana Toraja, Indonesia </i> In Apprenticeship Pilgrimage: Developing Expertise through Travel and Training, Griffith and Marion theorize that traveling to enhance physical skill transforms the pilgrim's sense of self and improves his or her status in a community of practice, increasing social connections and perceived expertise. The authors rely on personal experiences, and those of other capoeiristas and ballroom dancers, as well as yoga practitioners and martial artists, and richly examine existing literature in travel studies, performance studies, and anthropology. Among the book's many strengths are the authors' thoughtful treatment of the economic and cultural tensions of educational travel and a history of such pilgrimages, from guild-related tramping, to the Victorian "grand tour," and to contemporary study abroad. -- Ann Dils, The University of North Carolina at Charlotte