A different style for this pod and a great start to the new year. We dive deep into pilgrimage, its origins and its resonance and what it means with particular focus on the American involvement in the First World War. Heather is a world leader on this subject and it was a delight to chat.
Heather's bio is impressive to say the least; Heather A. Warfield is a professor in the School of Counseling, Psychology & Therapy at Antioch University. Dr. Warfield’s research is broadly aimed at exploring the psychological and therapeutic dimensions of pilgrimage journeys. Over the past several years, her investigative focus has narrowed to the historical and contemporary pilgrimages to the Western Front of World War I. During academic year 2022-2023, she was a Fulbright Research Scholar at the Université de Lille where her research examined post-WWI pilgrimages to Belleau, France (book forthcoming in 2025). Prof. Warfield is the project director for the Yankee Division Virtual Pilgrimage and an affiliated researcher of the Institut de Recherches Historiques de Septentrion at the Université de Lille. She is also the series editor of Pilgrimage Studies (Peter Lang Oxford). Earlier in 2023, her book Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Pilgrimage: Historical, Current and Future Direction was published.