X395 Course Syllabus and Itinerary
Professor Shannon Gayk
English
X395:
Pilgrimage:
Walking the Camino de Santiago
May
5-14, 2019
“The real voyage of discovery
consists not in seeking new landscapes,
but in having new eyes”
- Marcel Proust
Pilgrimage is experiencing a modern resurgence, as
travelers rediscover the art of slow travel, exploring the world on foot and
bike. This course aims to introduce
students to the long and fascinating history and art of pilgrimage and to give
them an opportunity to experience and write about pilgrimage themselves. In
this one credit course, students will walk the final 112km of the most famous
of medieval pilgrimages, the Camino de Santiago, gathering each day for lectures
on and discussion of writings about pilgrimage and the medieval monuments we
encounter along the route. Over the course of the class’s eight days, the
Camino itself will be our classroom, providing much of the content for our
shared reflection on the experience of pilgrimage in both the past and in our
own world and on the uses and meanings of medieval ideas, art, and culture.
Upon the successful completion of the pilgrimage, students will receive the
Compostela, an official document issued by the pilgrimage office in Santiago
marking the accomplishment.
Required Course Materials:
· Selected
essays, poems, and historical contexts are all on Canvas.
· You
will need to bring some device (tablet, ipad, small computer) on which you can
read these selections and type and post your blog entries.
Course Work:
· We
will meet each morning for a brief lecture before we begin the day’s walk and
will reconvene each evening over dinner for approximately an hour of discussion.
You are expected to have read any assigned texts before the evening meeting.
· Your
written work for this course will focus on preparing several pieces of travel
writing. You will be responsible for posting five short blog pieces (400-750 words each) during our pilgrimage
to our course blog (https://iucamino2019.blogspot.com/)
and a final essay of 5-6 pages due on Saturday, May 18 to Canvas.
Grading:
Participation in daily
discussions 20%
Blog Essays (10% each) 50%
Guidelines
are available on Canvas.
Final Essay 30%
Guidelines
are available on Canvas.
Course
Schedule and Itinerary:
May
5:
Depart from your preferred airport
Before
you depart, please watch The Way, and
read Gitlitz and Davidson, “Introduction” and David Whyte’s entry on “pilgrim”
(Canvas); I also recommend that you familiarize yourself of Victor and Edith
Turner’s notions of “liminality” and “communitas” (in recommended reading on
Canvas).
May
6: What is the Camino de Santiago? What
is Pilgrimage?
Morning:
Arrivals; Travel from Madrid Airport to Chamartin station/hotel
11:15: Meet in the lobby
of the WeAre Chamartin Hotel
Travel from Madrid
to Sarria via train
Reading:
On the train, please read the opening to Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, and “A Culture of Pilgrimage” and “Preparing for
Pilgrimage” from Ashley and Deegan, Being
a Pilgrim (Canvas)
Writing:
Consider journaling about your expectations for the coming week. Why are you taking this class/ going on
pilgrimage? What do you hope to gain
from it? What do you fear? What
questions are you bringing with you?
9:07: Arrive in Sarria;
will be met by minivan that will take us to our hotel
May
7: Reading the Road: Romanesque Art and Architecture
8:30:
Gather to begin our first day on the Camino!
We will walk from Sarria to Portamarin (11.74 miles)
Late
afternoon tour of Romanesque church of San Nicolas
Evening:
Class meeting over dinner
Reading:
Selections on the iconography of the Camino & Romanesque art; Selections
form the Liber Sancti Jacobi, pp.
84-107 (Canvas).
May
8: Medieval Pilgrim Guides
8:30:
Gather to begin our walk to Palas de Rei (15 miles)
Evening:
Class meeting over dinner
Reading:
Selections from the Liber Sancti Jacobi, pp.
108-133 (Canvas)
May
9: Legends, Folklore, and Miracles
Morning to early
afternoon: Walk to Castañeda (14.9 miles)
Evening:
Class meeting over dinner
Reading:
“Legends, Folklore and Miracles,” from Ashley and Deegan, Becoming a Pilgrim (Canvas)
May
10: Pilgrim Society and Sociability Today
Morning
to early afternoon: Walk to Salceda (10.5 miles)
Evening:
Class meeting over dinner
Reading:
Selections from Rudolf, Pilgrimage to the
End of the World (Canvas)
May
11: Modern Pilgrims on the Camino
Morning
to early afternoon: Walk to Lavacolla (10.9 miles)
Evening:
Class meeting over dinner
Reading:
Choose and read only TWO of the uploaded selections from modern pilgrim memoirs
(Canvas)
May
12: The Art of Arrival
Morning:
Walk to Santiago (6.2 miles)
(Optional): Observe Pilgrims’ mass
at cathedral
4:00
pm: Guided tour of Santiago; meet guide in hotel lobby
Evening:
Dinner on your own
Reading: “Arriving
in Santiago,” from Being a Pilgrim (Canvas)
May
13: At the End of the Earth
9:30
am – Depart for day trip by bus to Finisterre
Evening:
Concluding pilgrims dinner with final course discussion and reflections
Reading: Whyte,
“Finisterre” and selected poems by R.S. Thomas and T.S. Eliot (Canvas)
May
14: Depart
Your
final papers should be submitted to Canvas by
Saturday, May 18th at 5:00 pm EST.
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