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Long trails and pilgrimages have long been part of many cultures around the world. In honor of Asian American and Pacific Islander month, join researcher Sarah Adams and Professor Katherine Zubko of UNC Asheville for an interactive discussion on two trails in Asia—the Shinetsu Trail of Japan (a 75-mile long trail in eastern Japan modeled after the Appalachian Trail) and the Braj Yatra (a 168-mile Hindu devotional pilgrimage connected to the god Krishna) —to explore the ways in which long trails and pilgrimage traditions engage with history, culture, religion, and evolving relationships to the environment.
Presenters:
Sarah Adams
Sarah Adams grew up in Dahlonega, GA, and serves as ATC’s North Georgia Community Coordinator. Spending time outdoors through hiking, birding, and gardening shaped her interests in the natural environment and human relationships to it. At Yale University, she majored in Environmental Studies. Her senior thesis examined cross-cultural connections between the A.T. and the Shinetsu Trail in Japan. She is interested in building stronger relationships between people and the A.T. through unique connections to history, culture, and other ties to the region.
Katherine C. Zubko, Ph.D.
Katherine C. Zubko (Ph.D. Emory University) is Professor of Religious Studies, Interim Director of the Humanities Program (2019-21), and NEH Distinguished Professor of the Humanities (2018-22) at University of North Carolina Asheville. Her areas of expertise include aesthetics, ritual, performance and embodied religion in South Asia. Zubko is the author of Dancing Bodies of Devotion: Fluid Gestures in Bharata Natyam (Lexington Books, 2014) and co-editor with George Pati of Transformational Embodiment in Asian Religions: Subtle Bodies and Spatial Bodies (2019), in addition to several articles. She also serves as the general editor of Equinox’s interdisciplinary journal, Body and Religion, as well as co-chairs the Body and Religion unit at the American Academy of Religion.