An Anthropology of
How Adventure Can Alleviate
Bio
Join Justin Bailey —anthropologist, backpacker, and author—as he examines the relationship between fear and adventure in our society. After receiving his B.A. in anthropology and history from Indiana University in 2014 he set out on an excursion on the Appalachian Trail recording his observations and stories of the people wandering along America’s most cherished long-distance trail. He noted something peculiar about the perspectives of modern adventurers and what that could mean for our society’s current unrest. Read an excerpt from the first chapter and be sure to sign up for my newsletter Those Who Wander.
““Whatever goal or dream one imagines pursuing, make it a reality because pure imagination alone can never fathom the truth and beauty of something left undone.” ”
The Book
Cynicism is in vogue. We are all currently shrouded in a culture of fear and misinformation. Like an odorless noxious gas wafting abundantly in the breeze, we see the damaging effects without understanding its origins. What’s more, society has produced few ideas on how the individual can cope and overcome such seemingly dystopic times.
What if the antidote to alleviating some of these anxieties is to do what we’re afraid to do the most? Could our most longed-for adventures be that antidote?
The book links our modern fears and unrest to a lack of adventure in our lives. It synthesizes research on the sciences of fear in contemporary society and demonstrates how our culture of fear influences that lack of adventure. With a background in anthropology, insight is given through a narrative lens from the personal experiences my wife and I had on the Appalachian Trail to illustrate the contrast between the perceived fears our culture instills in us to the actual risks one is more likely to encounter on a modern adventure.
Read a free excerpt from the book and sign up for my newsletter Those Who Wander.
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