Engaging Sacred Space: Experiments in the Field

Abstract

This article reflects on the experience of theorizing sacred space through field practice as part of a fieldtrip to Barcelona. In particular, it focuses on the critical analysis of different approaches to sacred space as applied to various sites in the city. The article opens with a brief review of three mainstream approaches to sacred space: the ‘structuralist’, the ‘postmodern’ and the ‘more-than-representational’. It then reflects on the limits of and possibilities opened by these approaches in a fieldwork exercise and on students' responses to sacred space. It concludes with some critical comments in the light of students' feedback and suggestions for possible further development.

Keywords:

• Sacred space
• geographies of religion
• fieldwork
• field diaries
• Barcelona

Acknowledgements

The author would like to acknowledge colleagues J.D. Dewsbury, Maria Fannin, Mark Jackson and Naomi Milner for their precious inputs and feedback on this exercise; three anonymous referees for their valuable suggestions on the first draft of this article; Avril Maddrell for her thorough editorial guidance; Francesca Rose for granting permission for the reproduction of Figure 5 and all the 2009 and 2010 second year human geography students for such a wonderful and stimulating time in Barcelona's sacred spaces.

Notes

¹ With notable exceptions. See, for example, Bassett (2004); Dummer et al. (2008); Davidson (2009); Moran & Round (2010).

² City notebooks are available for the following cities:

Europe: Amsterdam, Athens, Barcelona, Berlin, Bruxelles, Copenhagen, Dublin, Firenze, Frankfurt am Main, Hamburg, Istanbul, Lisbon, London, Madrid, Milan, Moscow, Munich, Paris, Prague, Rome, Saint Petersburg, Stockholm, Turin, Venice, Vienna, Zurich.

North America: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Montreal, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle, Toronto, Vancouver, Washington.

Asia: Bejing, Hong Kong, Kyoto, Tokyo.

³Indeed, it was not until the late 1980s that archaeologists identified this site with a synagogue—the oldest, they claimed, in Spain and Europe. And it was not until 2002 that this basement room re-opened as a synagogue and museum after several centuries of use for other purposes.