Journal article
Heritagizing Margery Kempe on the Camino Inglés
Postmedieval a journal of medieval cultural studies, Vol.16(1), pp.89-116
03/2025
DOI: 10.1057/s41280-025-00361-6
Abstract
Margery Kempe is the only fifteenth-century English woman who left an account of her pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. She is constructed as an intangible heritage resource on the route she followed, the Camino Inglés (English Way). This article studies two recent heritage items that commemorate Kempe’s pilgrimage, with particular attention paid to how they depict her racial and religious identity. A fundamental question it explores is the relationship between medievalism and the current construction of the Camino as an inclusive, welcoming space for walkers and tourists of various nationalities, races, religions, and genders. These two heritage items depict Kempe’s Catholicism implicitly rather than overtly, creating room for various readings of her identity. Ultimately, I argue that these secularized Kempe depictions accommodate multifaceted tourism on the Camino Inglés; nonetheless, the insistent medievalism of the Camino currently limits its racial and religious inclusivity.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Heritagizing Margery Kempe on the Camino Inglés
- Creators
- Denise K. Filios
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Postmedieval a journal of medieval cultural studies, Vol.16(1), pp.89-116
- DOI
- 10.1057/s41280-025-00361-6
- ISSN
- 2040-5960
- eISSN
- 2040-5979
- Publisher
- PALGRAVE MACMILLAN LTD
- Grant note
- University of Iowa Office of the ProvostCollege of Liberal Arts and Sciences, International ProgramsDepartment of SpanishMuseum of Pilgrimage
The author wishes to thank the University of Iowa Office of the Provost, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, International Programs, and the Department of Spanish and Portuguese for their support, as well as the Stories of Lynn museum and the library of the Museum of Pilgrimage and Santiago for making their resources available. Additional thanks to the members of the Obermann Center's Circulating Cultures working group who read and gave feedback on an earlier version of this article, especially Elke Heckner, and to Jonathan Wilcox for his infinite patience and advice. I am deeply grateful to Shazia Jagot, Rebecca De Souza, Nicola Estrafallaces, and the peer reviewers for their thoughtful guidance and advice. All mistakes are my own.
- Language
- English
- Electronic publication date
- 02/12/2025
- Date published
- 03/2025
- Academic Unit
- International Programs; Spanish and Portuguese
- Record Identifier
- 9984790996702771
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