DOUBLE CODING OF PILGRIMAGE AS A SOCIAL AND COMMUNICATION INSTITUTION IN THE CONTEXT OF MEDIATIZATION
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Abstract
In modern society, pilgrimage increasingly appears not only as a form of religious practice, but also as a social and communication institution, formed under the influence of mediatization processes (Panchenko & Rizun, 2025a). In this context, pilgrimage functions as a structured system of production, transmission and interpretation of meanings, which at the same time operates at the institutional and interpretive levels (Baggio, 2005; Butler, Suntikul, 2018). The aim of the article is to conceptualize pilgrimage through the prism of the concept of double coding, which allows us to capture the interaction between the explicit institutional-ritual code and the implicit interpretive-narrative code. The research is based on a social and communication approach, focused on the analysis of communicative practices, media representations and the circulation of pilgrimage narratives beyond the theological understanding of pilgrimage (Jirásek, 2011; Rizun, 2022; Ivanov, 2003; Kornieiev, 2016). The theoretical basis is classical pilgrimage studies and modern theories of mediatization and mediated communication. An illustrative case is the international Dual Pilgrim Program, which combines the Japanese Kumano Kodo route and the European Camino de Santiago (Ito et al., 2025; de Sousa & da Rosa, 2020). The analysis of this case demonstrates how formalized institutional mechanisms of pilgrimage recognition (routes, pilgrim ID, stamps) are combined with processes of individual meaning-making, narrative integration, and mediatized representation of personal spiritual experience (Are you a «Dual Pilgrim?»; Couldry & Hepp, 2017). As a result, it is proven that mediatization does not create a separate semantic level of pilgrimage, but rather enhances the interaction between explicit and implicit codes, creating conditions for interpretive drift and transformation of sacred meanings in the public social space (Lundby, 2014; Schulz, 2004). The concept of double coding allows us to consider pilgrimage as a dynamic communicative structure, where institutional stability is combined with openness to interpretive transformations, while ensuring the heredity and adaptability of pilgrimage practices in modern sociocultural conditions (Coleman & Eade, 2004; Couldry, 2012).
How to Cite
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pilgrimage, social and communication institution, double coding, mediatization, interpretive drift, Dual Pilgrim Program
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