The Camino as Spiritual Hike - Jeffrey KEEFER - ISAN 2023

This autoethnographic research study used narrative to explore and bring meaning to an 8-day spiritual hike, or pilgrimage, along the Chemin de Saint Jacques de Compostelle, also known as the GR 65 hiking route through rural France and more widely known as the #Camino de Santiago in Spain. While often spoken about as a single path, in reality, there are numerous pilgrim paths that all lead to the Spanish city of Santiago de Compostella, the Medieval terminus for those seeking forgiveness of sins and the blessings of Saint James who, tradition holds, is buried in the cathedral there. The numerous paths are often considered literally, yet spiritually they are more complex.

Autoethnographic #inquiry (Adams & Jones, 2014; Allen, 2015; Cooper & Lilyea, 2022; Ellis et al., 2011) was used to problematize aspects of this event—the path was along a thousand-year-old Catholic pilgrimage route, yet it was traveled by a Modern Druid who walked to experience the natural religion along the journey rather than as a far-away destination. This study explores how the Chemin helped me to experience the gods along the route, even when, on paper, the path focuses only on a single deity. Richness was found through this diversity of belief. The value of telling this story via #autoethnography is intended to broaden the literature while connecting to readers who are conflicted in their call to travel a spiritual path where the external does not match the internal. The journey is the destination.

📝 This presentation is my offering in the 2023 International Symposium on Autoethnography and #Narrative (#ISAN) iaani.org/

I welcome questions or comments about this video in the Comments!

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Jeffrey Keefer, Ph.D., is a Transformational Strategist.

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