The Way of Sant James

The S.A. de Xestión do Plan Xacobeo is going to take part next Saturday, October 1st, in Washington in the scientific meeting “Workshop on Pilgrimage Studies”, where the phenomenon of pilgrimages and the Way of Saint James are going to be discussed.

The event is being organised by the S.A. de Xestión do Plan Xacobeo in collaboration with the US Congress Library, the Spanish Embassy in Washington, the American Film Institute, and the William and Mary College of Virginia. The manager of the S.A. do Plan Xacobeo, Camino Triguero, will attend the meeting, where she is going to keep up contacts with the people responsible for the Congress Library with the aim of establishing collaboration channels between the entities.

More than 40 universities from the US and Canada will attend the “Workshop on Pilgrimage Studies”. Some of these universities are considered to be among the best 100 centres in the world, such as University of California – Los Angeles, Purdue University, University of Michigan, University of Florida, Washington University of Saint Louis, University of Minnesota, and Fordham University. These centres are part of a consortium of universities that are developing a program about the Way of Saint James and the phenomenon of pilgrimages in general, carrying out researches and experiences about the Route of Saint James in different fields, such as religion, Hispanic studies, anthropology, and history of art, medieval history, or sociology. The consortium is planning for their students a seminar that will be held in Santiago in 2012, between May 21st and June 29th.

Within the context of this “Workshop on Pilgrimage Studies” the film "The Way" will be shown both to the attendants and to the journalists. This movie was filmed along the Way of Saint James, counting on the collaboration of Galician government (Xunta de Galicia), and it is being opened these days in the US. Emilio Estévez, the director, and his father and protagonist of the film, Martin Sheen, both of Galician origin, are going to attend the premiere.