Research Description

Modern Pilgrims

Outdoor enthusiasts often describe their interactions with nature and wilderness in religious language. Borrowing vocabulary from Asian tradition, it is not uncommon to hear these individuals using phrases like nirvana, transcendence, enlightenment or fulfillment. Their pursuits involve incredible mental and physical exertion in challenging stimuli and, more often than not, they are conducted in isolation. As a result, these “pilgrimages” tend to breed existential query.

My research project centers on two groups of individuals who draw inspiration and fulfillment from trekking in the wilderness. I intend to analyze and conceptualize where they draw motivation, and why these pilgrims readily subject themselves to the dangers of the backcountry.

My research will focus specifically on thru-hikers of the Appalachian Trail (AT) and English-speaking “western” pilgrims to the Himalayan region of India. I intend to explore the gender, class and religious orientations of these populations, noting perceived gender disparities in particular, as the majority of individuals in these populations tend to be male, middle class and white. I will analyze the transformative processes in an “eastern” cultural context verses the “western” AT experience and note each group’s differing experiences. I also want to elucidate the ways in which western trekkers frame their experiences, determining, for instance, if they are informed by Buddhist and Hindu philosophies, and whether this differs distinctly from the manner in which AT thru-hikers frame their experiences.

In order to collect data, I have traveled with both of these populations. I spent more than a month on the Appalachian Trail and two and a half months in India conducting interviews and exchanging dialogue.