Would you like to participate in a research project on relics?

Hello and thanks for checking out this webpage. It is part of my doctoral research project which I'm conducting in the Department of Anthropology at University College London (United Kingdom). The subject of my thesis - as you will have guessed - is relics.

Relics and religious life today

While there's a lot of material, both scholarly and popular, on the cult of saints and relics during the Middle Ages and the early modern period (up to about 1600/1700), little has been published about contemporary practices. I know there are a few titles around - you may, for example, know the books by Joan Carroll Cruz - but interesting as they are, many just provide an overview of saints and their relics and the place where one can find them. What I want to learn more about is:

• how do people today, Catholic faithful as well as non-believers, relate to relics?
• what do relics mean to them, if anything?
• what role do they play in their individual religious practice, their religious imagination, how do they "use" them?
• do they own relics privately, or are there relics in their parish that are in some way important to them?
• and how do these practices and opinions accord with (or differ from) official views - what are the experiences of lay people with the Church hierarchy and vice versa when it comes to relics?

Your opinion?

If you find these questions interesting and you'd like to express an opinion, send me an email or letter, or have a look at the more in-depth questionnaire. Also, if you've got any questions you'd like to ask me, do feel free to drop me a line!

Please also note the Research Information page, which is meant to ensure your informed consent. It contains details concerning your rights when participating in my research project as governed by the data protection regulations of the University of London.

My email address: j.geisbusch@ucl.ac.uk

My postal address: Jan Geisbusch, Department of Anthropology, University College London, 14 Taviton Street, London WC1H 0BW, United Kingdom