James Lochtefeld is a professor of religion and Asian studies at Carthage College, who specializes in Hindu pilgrimage. His book God’s Gateway (2009) is about the north Indian pilgrimage city of Hardwar.

Russ Eanes is a writer, walker and cyclist from Harrisonburg, Virginia, a freelance publishing consultant and a travel coach and guide. He has written books on pilgrimage in Spain and Italy.

Miguel Astor-Aguilera is a professor at Arizona State University whose scholarship concentrates on religious studies, sociocultural anthropology, ethnography, material culture and archaeology focusing on Indigenous epistemologies within Latin America.

Babak Rahimi is director of the Third World Studies Program and associate professor of communication, culture and religion at the University of California San Diego. He co-edited the book with Muslim Pilgrimage in the Modern World with Peyman Eshaghi.

Michael A. Di Giovine is professor of anthropology at West Chester University and director of its Museum of Anthropology and Archaeology. His research in Italy and Southeast Asia lies at the intersection of global mobilities (tourism/pilgrimage and immigration), heritage, development, foodways and comparative religious movements.

Heather A. Warfield is a professor at Antioch University New England. After a career as a mental health therapist, she pursued research on the therapeutic value of pilgrimages. In the decade since, she has delved further into what motivates people to go on pilgrimages, the stories pilgrims share and the meaning pilgrims create from their journeys — […]

Deana Weibel is an anthropology professor at Grand Valley State University in Michigan. She has performed research in the French shrine towns of Lourdes and Rocamadour, on veneration of Black Madonnas, pilgrimage to space and the competition between pilgrimage and tourism.

Ruth Everhart is a pastor, author and speaker in Leesburg, Virginia. She has written three books, including Chasing the Divine in the Holy Land, a spiritual travel memoir.

The Ambedkar International Center (AIC), is a US-based non-profit think tank and advocacy organization that seeks to build a fairer, more egalitarian society based on the principles and philosophy of Bodhisattva Dr. B. R. Ambedkar.