The Epic Pilgrimage: The Way of the Ascetics of El Capitan

El Capitan and its related environs constitute the ‘holiest of holies,’ the ‘center of the universe,’ or the ‘mecca’ of the rock climbing world. Big walls are simply the tallest, steepest, and most challenging rockfaces on the planet. For the tribe of big wall climbers, El Capitan, which stands nearly 1000 meters above the Merced River in Yosemite National Park in California, has a mystique and allure unmatched by any other location. In previous work, I establish the concept of climbing on El Capitan as ‘vertical pilgrimage’ (Shultz, 2020), and in this paper, I focus specifically on climbing efforts as pilgrimage asceticism. The research presented here is part of a larger effort focused on contemporary serial climbers on El Capitan, individuals who structure their entire lives around the cliff, and who return to the challenge again and again. The methods employed are generally ethnographic with elements of auto-ethnography. I consider whether two seminal theories of asceticism, Harpham (1992) and Valantasis (2008), survive out-of-sample testing with specific data from serial El Capitan climbers. To construct the analysis, I first, carefully consider the basic character of key movements of the pilgrimage from start to finish, including elements that are particularly austere in nature. Secondly, I consider, in detail, the language and interpretations of the El Capitan pilgrimage employed by four well-known ascensionists. Specific use of the term epic, which is ubiquitous in climbing discourse, is shown to hold significant meaning with respect to big wall asceticism. I conclude that these theories not only pass this out-of-sample test but can be shown to have significant descriptive utility with data related to these climbers. In particular, the ideas of Harpham and Valantasis potently describe how the culture of this famous rock arises from ascetic endeavors. Overall, this work demonstrates the tremendous potential of using an ascetical lens for analysis in the budding field of pilgrimage studies

Pilgrimaging Through Time: the Theoretical Implications of Continuing Journeys on the Shikoku Henro

Fantastic growth in the field of pilgrimage studies raises real questions about whether our theories and methods are up to the task of describing increasingly diverse phenomena. Herein, I maintain that the future of the field lies not with articulating some vague generalisations in an attempt to somehow maintain universals, but to consciously ponder the variability found with respect to pilgrimage. I argue that pilgrimage analysis needs to be more ground-up with a methodological focus on how key variables shape the fundamental meaning of pilgrimage. I demonstrate such methods by looking at the relativity of time in the context of contemporary journeys to the 88 sacred places on the Japanese island of Shikoku, or Shikoku henro. The henro is one of the great pilgrimages of the world, and the 1400 km journey exemplifies the complexities of such a large social system. More specifically, I consider a diverse sub-set of pilgrims linked only by their noteworthy tendency to remain pilgrims for a significant portion of their lives and to traverse the circuit of Buddhist temples again and again. Analysis of continuing pilgrimage demonstrates that time is a key variable that is inextricably linked to the construction of an entire spectrum of meanings of what is described as ‘pilgrimage’

The “Gaijin Henro” : Outliers, Discrimination, and Time Variability with Pilgrimage in Shikoku

The diaries of foreign pilgrims on the Shikoku henro provide us with exceptional data to understand the experience of the pilgrimage. These narratives feature unique approaches, religious interpretations, and social interactions while walking the 1200 km journey. In particular, they curiously shed light on perceptions of discrimination while navigating the henro trail. I argue that the accounts of foreign pilgrims, like many of those by Japanese pilgrims, demonstrate that time-related factors are primary drivers of the pilgrimage experience. Time features of these lengthy religious journeys offer a potent area of analysis for the global field of pilgrimage studies

Selecting Books for School-Age Children.

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Black swans in white clothing : outliers and social scientific theory considered through a case study of the Shikoku Henro

At a basic level, this article considers the construction of social scientific theory. In particular, drawing from the ideas of Taleb (2007), I examine the place of outliers, or "black swans," in the analysis of a long-standing and evolving social system. Pondering the role of outliers with respect to Japan\u27s most famous pilgrimage, the Shikoku henro, I argue that rare behaviors and/or beliefs either cause pilgrimage theories to fail outright or force descriptions to become so open-ended and vague that they no longer fulfill the function of reductive analysis. I conclude that historical methodologies, though limited in producing a more niversal description, are better suited to preserve the diversity, even extremity, found with respect to pilgrimage

Vertical Pilgrimage : Japanese Mountain Religious Experience and American Big Wall Climbing

Looking carefully at the most popular contemporary pilgrimage in Japan, the Shikoku henro, and Japanese mountain ascetic traditions more generally, we can probe an intriguing mode of sacred travel that I characterize as“ vertical pilgrimage.” I demonstrate that religious training centered on holy mountains and rocks can be seminal in the making of a Japanese Buddhist saint and is instrumental in the formation of long-standing pilgrimage institutions. I argue that vertical pilgrimage in Japan, which is structured on ascetic emphasis, repetition, and risk-fueled concentration, can offer theoretical orientations that have real utility in other mountain pilgrimage contexts. To illustrate this analytical efficacy, I introduce the case of vertical pilgrimage on El Capitan in Yosemite, California

Gastrointestinal Helminth Parasitisms of Dairy Cattle in South Dakota

During 1981-82, four studies on gastrointestinal helminth parasitisms of South Dakota dairy cattle were conducted. They were as follows: 1 . Survey of parasitisms in South Dakota dairy show cattle during 1981. 2. Study of seasonal trends in parasitisms in two Brookings County, South Dakota, dairy herds during 1981-82. 3. Study of parasitisms in selected Black Hills dairy herds during 1981-82. 4. Survey of parasitisms in Dairy Herd Improvement Association (DHIA) cows in eastern South Dakota during 1982

New Cooperative Development Issues

This article briefly reviews the increased interest in new cooperative development, factors for successful cooperative development, and strategies to improve the performance of new and emerging cooperatives. The article highlights issues identified by a panel of cooperative leaders, USDA specialists and academic expertsCooperatives, New Cooperatives, Developing Cooperatives, Agribusiness, P13, L22, L43,

Science, Math, Social Studies, and Language Arts Achievement of High School Students in Complete Programs of Agriscience Education

The purpose of this descriptive and comparative study was to describe the academic achievement of FFA (Future Farmers of America) members in a complete program of agriscience at Jackson County Comprehensive High School (JCCHS). A secondary purpose was to compare science, math, social studies, and language arts achievement of senior agriscience students/FFA members to the achievement of all seniors at JCCHS. The findings indicate that senior agriscience students/FFA members had a higher percentage of students achieving at the highest level (Pass Plus) of Language Arts on the GHSGT (Georgia High School Graduation Test) than the remaining student population at JCCHS. Senior agriscience students/FFA members also had a higher passing rate in comparison to all seniors at JCCHS on the social studies portion of the standardized test. The researchers postulate that further research needs to be conducted to identify the correlations between agriscience participation and performance on language arts and social studies standardized tests – areas where little or no research has been conducted. The researchers also recommend that other public school systems perform similar studies to determine the impact of secondary agriscience programs on student performance