How Pilgrimage Persists: Integrated Learning from the Camino de Santiago

Abstract

This study examined how U.S. undergraduate university students who studied abroad in Spain integrated their learning one year after returning home to the United States. Using in-depth interviews with seven participants whose summer months included a 200-mile pilgrimage along the Camino de Santiago, I examine the interplay of pedagogy and community in prompting the retention of psychosocial benefits that endured after reentry into their former routines in the U.S. The sampling revealed that the pilgrimage produced learning outcomes that continued long after the students reintegrated to their campus environment. I suggest implications for pedagogical practice, including strategies for educators to encourage integrative learning along the Camino that persists well beyond the initial formative pilgrimage.