This ethnography describes RV [recreational vehicle]
seasonal migration as an adaptive, transhumant strategy. The
study population is retired, transhumant migrants, who are
members of a nation-wide, membership camping organization.
Fieldwork was conducted over a period of seven months at two
sites located on the West Coast. These sites reflect
northern and southern locations corresponding to seasonal
migration patterns.
Standard scholarly orientations to the study of retired
RV seasonal migrants manifest ethnocentrism and a tendency
to stereotype RVers as amenity-migrants. An original and
primary objective of the present study was to reach beyond
these conceptualizations and popularized images through
first-hand, descriptive accounts collected within the
context of the culture.
This research expands on two existing studies focusing
on social and cultural aspects of RV seasonal migration. In
contrast to these accounts, the present study provides
cultural description of the daily life of retired RVers
focusing on the distinctive ways that members of this
subculture express mainstream American cultural values
underlying their adaptive strategies.
This study proposes an alternative conceptualization of
RV seasonal migration, derived from the culture itself. The
conclusion is that these adaptive strategies reflect
patterns of social organization, patterns of resource
management, and patterns of social, familial, and
interpersonal relationships, that are congruent with
mainstream American cultural values of self-reliant
individualism, equality, and material comfort; values that
have historical, philosophical roots in the Protestant Work
Ethic.
The RVers' identity derives from maintaining membership
in a temporary, fluid, mobile community. They have cohesive
social networks with well-defined boundaries, which they
defend against threats to group identity. This study
contributes to an understanding of what RV seasonal
migration means to the participants themselves, and by
extension, to their families, to communities, and to our
aging society. / Graduation date: 1996
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ORGSU/oai:ir.library.oregonstate.edu:1957/34680 |
| Date | 05 December 1995 |
| Creators | Williams, Diane |
| Contributors | Brandt, Jeanette |
| Source Sets | Oregon State University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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