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Paper short abstract:

Using ethnographic studies of Nordic pilgrim culture as a starting point, this paper presents the term ‘stumbling’ as a potential tool for understanding walking practice(s). The paper explores stumbling in relation to ethnographic methodology, virtuality, and future(s).

Paper long abstract:

In recent decades, European pilgrimage trails have become the subject of renewed public interest. Every year, thousands of pilgrims or travelers walk trails toward destinations such as Santiago de Compostela in Spain, or Nidaros Cathedral in Norway. This phenomenon presents an opportunity for increased scholarly reflection not only on pilgrims’ walking practice, but also on destination-oriented walking more generally. This paper presents one such reflection by using the term ‘stumbling’ as a tool or metaphor for understanding both pilgrim walking practice and the methodological potential(s) of walking as an ethnographic tool. More specifically, the paper will build on the author’s previous studies of trail-goer experiences along the S:t Olavsleden pilgrimage trail in Sweden/Norway to illustrate a paradoxical dynamic that is characteristic of modern pilgrim walking. This dynamic is one in which the journeyer simultaneously moves along an imagined and pre-determined path, and also continually strays from this path, spinning into ‘portals of sensation’ that constantly re-make the journey. Using ‘stumbling’ as a rhetorical summation of this dynamic, the author moves beyond the subject of pilgrim experience, arguing for the relevance of stumbling in understanding how walking works as a world- and knowledge-making tool in ethnographic research. Specifically, the paper argues for how stumbling (and walking) can help scholars work with — dance with — the dynamic between actuality and virtuality, and unforeseeable futures.