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Title: Pilgrimages to the Western Front of World War I

Pilgrimages to the Western Front of World War I

Historical Exemplars & Contemporary Practices

by Heather A. Warfield (Volume editor) Stephane Michonneau (Volume editor) Franck Viltart (Volume editor)
Edited Collection 434 Pages
History & Political Science
Series: Pilgrimage Studies, Volume 4

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Summary

The book introduces a multidisciplinary exploration of battlefield pilgrimages and situates these pilgrimages within the broader field of pilgrimage studies, examining their historical, cultural, and spiritual dimensions. The authors highlight how battlefield visits serve as transformative journeys for reflection, commemoration, and the construction of collective memory. Chapters reflect the structural conceptualization of pilgrimages as interactions of sites, actors, and practices, and cover diverse topics, from the symbolic evolution of sites like Verdun and Vimy to the intersection of mourning and national identity at cemeteries and monuments. The book emphasizes the continuity and adaptation of pilgrimage practices, their role in fostering connections with the past, and their influence on contemporary rituals and tourism. The volume contributes to our understanding of how humanity engages with sites of war, trauma, and reconciliation, shedding light on the global phenomenon of battlefield pilgrimages.

Details

Pages
434
ISBN (PDF)
9781803745114
ISBN (ePUB)
9781805840640
DOI
10.3726/b23032
Language
English
Publication date
2025 (November)
Keywords
Pilgrimage pilgrim battlefields First World War World War I war and memory war commemoration France battlescape funerary practices military military cemeteries military monuments Second World War World War II
Published
Oxford, Berlin, Bruxelles, Chennai, Lausanne, New York, 2025. vi, 428 pp., 98 fig. b/w.
Product Safety
Peter Lang Group AG

Biographical notes

Heather A. Warfield (Volume editor) Stephane Michonneau (Volume editor) Franck Viltart (Volume editor)

Heather A. Warfield is a Full Professor at Antioch University and a specialist of pilgrimage studies, with research focused on the psychology of pilgrimages. She is the series editor of Pilgrimage Studies (Peter Lang) and editor of the 2023 volume Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Pilgrimage: Historical, Current and Future Directions. In addition to academic publications, she has written articles about contemporary battlefield pilgrimages for US military publications and serves as a battlefield pilgrimage expert for military staff rides and other related educational programs. Stéphane Michonneau is a Full Professor at the University of Paris-Est Créteil. He has worked on contemporary Spain and, more generally, on the relationship between memory and history in the context of the formation of European nationalisms. He is particularly interested in War Studies and the links between history and narratives. He has recently published, Franco. Le temps et la légende (Paris, Flammarion, 2025), Belchite, villagefantôme de la Guerre d’Espagne (Paris, CNRS Éditions, 2020) and Un récit mémorable (Paris, Presses de la Sorbonne, 2017). Franck Viltart is an historian and specialist of remembrance practices, war heritage, remembrance tourism and war museography. He is Head of the Mission Patrimoine de la Première Guerre mondiale for the transnational (France-Belgium) serial property of Funerary and memory sites of the First World War (Western Front), inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List in 2023.

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Title: Pilgrimages to the Western Front of World War I