Discovering the Deep Motivators of Spring Gatherers in Southern Appalachia
Loading...
Authors
Michel, J.T.
Issue Date
2023-04-28
Type
Presentation
Language
en_US
Keywords
Scholarship Sewanee 2023 , University of the South , imagined community , deep motivators , ethnography , personal history , spiritual belief
Alternative Title
Abstract
Situated within a spacious wooded neighborhood in Sewanee, Tennessee is Hat Rock Spring, where a built structure supports the flowing waters of a perennial spring. Individuals from local and regional municipalities travel to this source to gather water for domestic consumption. Through ethnographic data collected in the form of informal interviews and spontaneous focus groups, I contend that the individuals who visit this spring site form an “imagined community” and hold “deep motivators” for spring visitation. The people who compose this imagined community demonstrate their unity through the construction and continual maintenance of the spring site, in addition to their vibrant activism to protect the integrity of the spring waters in the face of adversity. Expanding current scholarship on spring use, and based on my ethnographic evidence, I propose a new understanding of deep motivators for spring visitation related to personal history and spiritual belief. My research employs the anthropological concept of “religious creatives” to explore how individuals pull from various cultural ontologies and religious beliefs concerning sacred waters and incorporate them into their current practices of water collection at Hat Rock Spring.
Description
Citation
Publisher
University of the South