Faith,hope and love: doing family through consuming pilgrimage |
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Authors: | Leighanne Higgins Kathy Hamilton |
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Affiliation: | 1. Department of Marketing, Lancaster University Management School, UKl.higgins@lancaster.ac.uk;3. Department of Marketing, University of Strathclyde, UK |
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Abstract: | AbstractThe aim of this paper is to explore the consumption of Lourdes, a Catholic pilgrimage site in France. Based on a three-year ethnography, our findings focus on respondents’ ‘Lourdes stories’. Discussing themes of faith, hope and love, we illustrate the importance of the family in consuming Lourdes. Family members act as influencing agents in the initial and sometimes continuous consumption of Lourdes. Our findings differ from consumer research to date in that rather than furthering discussion of family structure or furthering discussion on family identity we suggest a new focus is the actual building of intimate family bonds and relationships – the ‘doing’ of family or ‘familying’ – with the context of the Lourdes pilgrimage offering consumers a unique setting comprising faith, fun and family. |
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Keywords: | family ethnography ‘doing family’ pilgrimage |
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