Rugged practices: Embodying authenticity in outdoor recreation

Abstract

When people recreate outdoors, they value the quality of the experience. This study examines rhetorical practices that sustain or undermine perceived authentic outdoor recreation experiences. I conducted a rhetorical analysis of my fieldnotes gathered through participant observation and interview transcripts of online and in-person interviews. I suggest that practices of walking in outdoor recreation-such as staying on or going off a trail, running, and wearing inadequate footwear-communicate member status in an outdoor recreation subculture and construct expectations for authentic experiences. My analysis demonstrates how fluid, embodied, repetitive actions can produce or violate abstract constructs such as authentic experiences. © 2012 National Communication Association.