Dwellers of the deep hollow: An existential -phenomenological exploration of integration, fragmentation, and communication in a Central Appalachian family

Jason E Combs, Purdue University

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore the ways whereby integration has occurred in a particular Central Appalachian family as a system in the wake of outmigration. Over the last half-century, millions of Central Appalachians have left their homeland and moved to cities elsewhere. This pattern of migration has been studied in terms of its economic, political, and ideological causes and consequences; however, little attention has been given to the experiential crisis that can result for Central Appalachians who choose to separate from family members yet hold to an understanding of family as being an extensive network of kinship, a feature of traditional Central Appalachian culture. In the present study, the author explored this crisis as it manifested in his own life, in an effort to understand the existential-phenomenological contours of the separation characteristic of his own family, now in the fourth generation of outmigration. Integration was found to occur through three primary mechanisms, all of which shared a foundation in the author's pursuit of identity through communication with family members. However, though these mechanisms counteracted to some degree the fragmentation that had arisen through outmigration, insofar as they were based in the pursuit of particular identities, they lacked the capacity to ensure any lasting integration of the system. The limitations of these mechanisms are discussed in light of the inherence of a particular form of selfhood in the author's existence with others. An alternative form of selfhood, not based in the pursuit of identity, is proposed as a possible solution to the ongoing problem of fragmentation.

Degree

Ph.D.

Advisors

Clair, Purdue University.

Subject Area

Communication|Philosophy|Social research|Families & family life|Personal relationships|Sociology

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