Diversity and Unity within an Appalachian Adventure Sport: Whitewater Kayaking and Tension between Competition, Technology, and the Environment.

Abstract: This presentation examines how technological and cultural changes within the uniquely Appalachian sport of American whitewater paddling altered participants’ experience with nature, and divided them into different rhetorical positions during the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. It examines insider literature (Donnelly & Young, 1988), including the Appalachian Mountain Club’s (AMC) journal, Appalachia, instructional books, guidebooks, and journal articles from American Whitewater (published in Culhowee, NC), to demonstrate the diversity and unity of voices in regards to environmental challenges and growth of the sport. While traditional literary texts often display a strong, intimate connection between paddling a boat downstream and an appreciation for nature (think in terms of Thoreau, Twain, Hemingway, Zwinger, Least-Heat Moon, MacLean, McPhee) those who are heavily involved in the whitewater paddling community, either as a “core participant” (Wheaton, 2004), or professional, understand that this isn’t always the case, and it’s not always so black and white. The community has not always been harmonious, tensions exist, and interactions and perceptions of the environment perhaps are altered more by the changing social / cultural dynamics and technologies of the sport more so than the actual river itself (Wheaton 2004, Ford & Brown 2006). Key Words: Eco-Rhetoric, Rivers, Technolog