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https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/14283
Title: | Place-making and environmental change in a Hindu pilgrimage site in India | Contributor(s): | Shinde, Kiran (author) | Publication Date: | 2012 | DOI: | 10.1016/j.geoforum.2011.07.014 | Handle Link: | https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/14283 | Abstract: | Many Hindu pilgrimage sites in India experience heavy influxes of pilgrims and are subject to considerable environmental impact. Existing literature on the study of the environment in pilgrimage sites, however, appears to follow two divergent directions: one emphasizes degradation of the physical environment while the other highlights the sacred character of the place and how that is compromised by contemporary visitor flows. The aim of this paper is to move beyond this divergence and to demonstrate how contemporary environmental problems are outcomes related to a historical process of environmental change that accompanies the making of a sacred place. This paper is based on a case study of Vrindavan, a Hindu pilgrimage site associated with Krishna worship in northern India. More than 6 million visitors visit Vrindavan annually. Using a historical geography approach and socio-spatial dialectic conceptual framework, the paper explains how this pilgrimage landscape was established in the 15th century, and how since then it has evolved into a religious-urban place comprising more than 5500 temples. Its development is categorized into three periods: pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial. In each period, the socio-spatial fabric showed significant transformations that resulted from the interaction of three critical factors: the influence of local and global socio-economic processes on the cultural economy of pilgrimage, the relationship of this economy to spatial change, and institutional controls that regulated the other two factors. It is argued that the environment of pilgrimage is simultaneously social, economic, cultural and religious and shaped by the need to maintain the place as sacred. This insight is useful for a better understanding of contemporary environmental problems so that they may be addressed effectively. | Publication Type: | Journal Article | Source of Publication: | Geoforum, 43(1), p. 116-127 | Publisher: | Pergamon Press | Place of Publication: | United Kingdom | ISSN: | 1872-9398 0016-7185 |
Fields of Research (FoR) 2008: | 150601 Impacts of Tourism 220406 Studies in Eastern Religious Traditions |
Fields of Research (FoR) 2020: | 350801 Impacts of tourism 500406 Studies in eastern religious traditions |
Socio-Economic Objective (SEO) 2008: | 900302 Socio-Cultural Issues in Tourism | Socio-Economic Objective (SEO) 2020: | 110402 Socio-cultural issues in tourism | Peer Reviewed: | Yes | HERDC Category Description: | C1 Refereed Article in a Scholarly Journal |
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Appears in Collections: | Journal Article |
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