Madison Lessard ’22, a student assistant in the History Department who is double-majoring in History and Theology, received an Honors Summer Research Fellowship this year. One Thing after Another thought it would be a great idea to ask her about the experience.
Q: What brought you to study history at Saint Anselm College?
A: I entered Saint A’s as an undeclared freshman in the fall of 2018. I thought at the time that I would likely be a Politics major since I’d enjoyed government classes in high school. I enrolled in two introductory Politics courses for my first semester, but I soon discovered that Politics wasn’t a good fit. Luckily, I also had History in mind, and my undeclared advisor happened to be a professor in the History Department. I enrolled in two History classes for the next term and declared the History major during the spring of my freshman year. It’s been smooth sailing ever since. The History Department is the best, and I couldn’t be happier with my choice of study since history has been dear to my heart since I was in elementary school.
Q: Why did you choose to apply to the Honors Summer Research Fellowship?
A: I actually applied for the Honors Summer Research Fellowship twice— first during my sophomore year with a proposal that, in hindsight, wasn’t refined enough. I applied again during my junior year, and was accepted for this past summer. Applying to the program is an option for students of any major in the Honors Program, and it’s a fantastic opportunity to do intensive research as your summer job. Because I have an interest in independent research and hope to attend graduate school, I knew that I wanted to participate in the program, so I’m glad that it wound up working out.
Q: Your research interest is in the Way of Saint James, which you first encounterd thanks to a History Department faculty research assistantship. Could you tell us about that?
A: The Way of Saint James, or Camino de Santiago in Spanish, is a pilgrimage route to the city of Santiago de Compostela in Spain, which is the supposed burial site of Saint James, one of Jesus’ Twelve Disciples. Still a very popular pilgrimage today, the route dates back as early as the ninth century, and it experienced a “golden age” of growth during the eleventh and twelfth centuries. My original experience with the Camino was thanks to a paid research position I had with Professor Perrone when he was the Jean Chair during my sophomore year—one of the History Department’s many student job opportunities. For the original research position, I worked with Professor Perrone and a few other students using spatial history mapping software to create maps of the pilgrimage in the twelfth century. It was a great experience since it not only introduced me to research work but also helped foster my own interest in the subject matter.
Q: What was your focus during the research program this summer?
A: This summer, I wrote a research paper that served as an overview of the history of the pilgrimage route, from its origins to the modern day. I argue that the presence of the pilgrimage as well as a sense of religious national identity under the patronage of Saint James were major factors in the growth of northern Christian Spain during the medieval period and into the modern era. The project this summer served to create a foundation for my senior thesis, which I’m working on this semester. With the grasp of the material I obtained this summer, I’ll be better able to focus my thesis which zeroes in on the eleventh and twelfth centuries in particular for the pilgrimage.
Q: How does your double major in History and Theology tie into your research interests?
A: Every time I explain my research interests during a presentation or even during casual conversation, I like to point out that studying a medieval Catholic pilgrimage is more or less the perfect intersection of my two majors. I declared my Theology major a bit later than my History major, but I often find that my academic interests complement one another perfectly, as I love to focus on historical topics in theology and religious topics in history. I’ve been pondering lately just what branch of theology the idea of pilgrimage might fall under, but I find that my study of this one pilgrimage route alone has raised many historical, theological, and even anthropological questions. My research feels interdisciplinary in a lot of ways, and for me as a double major, it really helps me tie all my interests together.
Q: Do you hope to apply your research experience to potential future paths after graduation?
A: Yes, absolutely! I hope to attend graduate school, and I’m still deciding exactly what path I want to go down with regard to a further degree. But I would love for it to have something to do with my interest in pilgrimage and devotion in medieval European Catholic society. We’ll see where I wind up, but I’m very excited to begin the process of searching for my next steps.
One Thing after Another 