Navigating the Outdoor Recreation Folk Group: A Functional Analysis of the Personal Narrative

Abstract

Among the participants of the outdoor recreation folk group, or people who participate regularly in human-powered outdoor recreation as a lifestyle, personal narratives are an integral and integrated part of interaction. This group is particularly rife with stories, because in the natural order of their lifestyle they regularly engage in activities filled with adventure and challenge. As members of this folk group engage in recreation together they share their personal narratives because it is the common tie between them, not only in interest, but in current participation and thus natural conversation. This common and simple tie sets the stage perfectly for the sharing of personal experiences, but more than that, within this folk group, the stories serve other crucial functions that play a role in the perpetuation of group dynamics, community development, community involvement, and social sorting within the group. This thesis discusses the findings of an analysis of 15 personal narratives, collected in natural context, and determined to play the primary roles of establishing or maintaining face, social sorting, and community building. I find myself at the top of a zip-line at the Olympic Park in Park City, Utah, waiting with a friend and my son for our race to the bottom of the mountain. I’m teasing my son about the fact that his excuse for losing the last zip-line race is that a “branch hit him” during the first phase of the race and slowed him down. My friend J.G. begins to tell a story, and because I have my phone with me I record his narrative. J.G.: Well speaking of branches, I was in Maui and we were mountain biking, actually we were on the island of Molaki, it’s on the desert side and we were descending down to the ocean. So, you’d be in these big areas that you just kind of roll over, and it was kind of single track that would weave through these meadows. And my buddy stopped and goes “Oh, I gotta remind you of something. Don’t...don’t run into those bushes. He said, you’re gonna see these bushes, they don’t look harmful, but they are really going to hurt. And I’m goin and I see one that looks really painful and I’m like, “Oh, I’m going to avoid that.” and then I run into the one doesn’t look painful.