Adam Baker: Turner--Communitas

In Image and Pilgrimage, Turner discusses the concept of communitas, which he describes as “a relational quality of full unmediated communication..., which arises spontaneously in all kinds of groups, situations, and circumstances.” After we discussed the subject in class, I began to realize that communitas occurs more frequently than I would have thought, as people constantly come together in a variety of shared circumstances to converse and build off of each others’ experiences. Hiking is a wonderful opportunity for this spur-of-the-moment, unstructured socialization. Something about the experience—the task of conquering mountains and weathering storms in the company of previously complete strangers—is a motivating factor in itself. It is amazing how people from every background imaginable somehow instantaneously form a bond that lasts beyond the trail. Perhaps communitas is a direct result of the level playing field on which everyone is placed, regardless of their social status or standing. It is comforting to know that there are others in the same situation, and this forms almost an immediate family of sorts.