Un/Mapping Sacrality in Kamakura: Towards a (Meaningful) Spiritual Cartography

I have a (short) paper on walking, un/mapping and sacrality in Livingmaps Review’s ‘Lines of Desire’ section. All content is open access and can be found here.

Un/Mapping Sacrality in Kamakura: Towards a (Meaningful) Spiritual Cartography

Abstract: This short auto-ethnographic paper seeks to examine the tension between meaning and encounter in the spiritual experience. Taking Japan’s historic coastal capital of Kamakura as a site for analysis, I problematise the practice of mapping sacred sites for economic gain and argue for the importance of counter methods in seeking out individual attachments to place. Whilst mapping and walking play a significant role in the touristic experience of Kamakura, with both actively promoted by the local government, the scale of visitation at the city’s sites of spiritual interest further complicates the potential to have meaningful encounters with place. This article works to demonstrate a process of un/mapping, whereby the identification and navigation of cartographic absences can lead to a more enriched experience of place and a redefining of its spiritual attributes.

| Grey Area @ RGS-IBG 2015 |

The collaborative project that I am undertaking with artist, Clare Parfree, has just had a proposal accepted for this year’s RGS-IBG Annual Conference, 1st-4th September at the University of Exeter, UK.

We will be taking part in the second of two sessions entitled Investigating the Anthropo-Unseen: Mapping the Paranormal, the Extraordinary and the Unknown, organised by Paul Kingsbury (Simon Fraser University) , Sara MacKian (OU) and Steve Pile (OU)

You can catch us on Thursday 3rd September in Session 4 (16.50 – 18.30)

Conference information and registration details available here.

Abstract below:

Feeling Strange: creative and exploratory practices in the research of enchanted geographies

James Thurgill (London College of Communication, UK)

Clare Parfree (-)

As interest in the incorporeal qualities of place continues to develop, notions of spectrality and enchantment have become ever more apparent in geographical writings. This paper will argue that a ‘creative toolkit’ is required for exploring the (im)material culture of enchanted geographies, demonstrating the need for a mixed-methodological approach in creating accurate representations of place’s strange and spectral workings. Using our ongoing collaborative research into place and folklore as a basis for this paper, we will identify some of the key physical and sensory methods that can be utilised in an analysis of the unseen elements of enchanted places (ghosts, uncanny resonances, strange affects).

Exploring the case of Chanctonbury Ring, Sussex (UK), a place of significant folkloric tradition (Simpson, 1969), this paper will navigate the complexity of a site that exists as an uneasy composite of the material and the immaterial. Our multi-faceted approach deals with Chanctonbury as a site of strangeness and haunting that demands a ‘deep’ sensory engagement. By positioning the multisensory body at the centre of our research practice, we will provide a platform on which to work with the ‘anthropo-unseen’, unveiling the invisible aspects of place through a collection of auto-drawings, writings, photography and sound.