Coming to terms with staying, going, and returning: a rural community ethnography
Date
2012
Authors
Reinig, Lydia L., author
Aoki, Eric, advisor
Griffin, Cindy L., committee member
Carolan, Michael S., committee member
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Abstract
This thesis studies how people in a rural small town within the larger United States come to understand and talk about the dynamic processes of young people "staying" in, "going" from, and "returning" to their hometown. The exigency for this thesis is twofold. First, people from small towns must at some point face the question of whether to remain in or to leave their hometown. For the younger generation this question is typically answered during the transition into adulthood (i.e., high school graduation and one's 18th birthday), but often will be addressed many more times in their lifetime. While "staying," "going," and "returning" may be understood as a normative process, these actions have profound and distinct impacts on the future of the U.S. American rural small town. Second, the small town in middle America provides a unique and academically underappreciated location for inquiry. Understanding how both young people and other members of a community make sense of "staying" and "going" provides insights into rural community life. Grounded in the Ethnography of Communication this study takes up three broad research questions for analysis: RQ 1: How do people in a rural community make sense of young people's (i.e., 18-30 years of age) practices of staying, leaving, and returning to their hometown? RQ 2: What are the localized taxonomy of terms (Hymes, 1974) used by participants to describe the phenomenon of "staying," "going," and "returning?" RQ 3: What do participant discourses reveal about "coming to terms with cultures" (Philipsen, 2008)--the negotiation of two or more cultural codes in one's life? Using ethnographic interview procedures, supplemented by participant observation of the community, the narratives of 11 interlocutors--six young people and five older community members--are engaged in responses to research questions. Young people narrate the pinnacle moment of high school graduation as a catalyst opportunity to leave the community. Throughout interviews both young people and community members describe the importance of young people coming back to visit during the years that they are away at college and beyond. Moreover, not all young people intend to leave the community and never return. Those who do return, both to visit and to live, are situated as forever members of the community by older generations who take vested interests in the lives of young people. Three unique, interconnected taxonomies develop in participants' narratives regarding considerations: "you come back," "it's (like) family," and "everybody knows everybody." Interlocutors' negotiations of "everybody knows everybody" in contrast to "everybody knows your business" reveal tensions between autonomy and collectivity as interlocutors personally and communally engage in "coming to terms with 'staying,' 'going,' and 'returning.'" Ultimately, collective orientations towards family are privileged in motivating "staying" and "returning" practices. An underlying tension arose in narratives; how can the cultural code of collectivity, or code of "staying," be maintained when an individualistic narrative, or code of "leaving," is appropriated? While the default trajectory of "schooling" and jobs elsewhere explains why some young people leave indefinitely, young people's narratives are supplanted by their overarching commitments to stay and contribute to the community. Instead of focusing on the liminal experience, interlocutors elect to focus on their small town identities, creating a code of recognition that acknowledges the requisite need for education beyond high school. The requisite post-high school education means young people must leave and perhaps will subsequently relocate. That said, the code of recognition is firmly grounded in the collectivistic role of family and community in one's life. Ultimately, the code of recognition acknowledges the presence of individualistic and collectivistic ways of speaking and being. This thesis then explores "coming to terms with cultures" (Philipsen 2008) through the codes of "staying," "going," and "returning," making contributions to the study of U.S. American speech communities first called for by Philipsen in 1975.
Description
Rights Access
Subject
ethnography
code of recognition
coming to terms with cultures
rural community study
rural youth migration
U.S. American speech community