Dr. Bradd Shore (Department of Anthropology
& MARIAL Director, Emory University) and Nathaniel Kendall-Taylor
(MARIAL, Emory University)
Salem Camp Meetin': A Theatre of Family
Memory
Oxford College of Emory University, Williams Hall
Tuesday, Janruary 29, 2002, 7:00 p.m.
Since 1828, a large number of families with roots
in Newton and Rockdale Counties have been making an annual pilgrimage
to Salem Campground for the annual Camp Meeting. A venerable
Methodist tradition, Camp Meeting is a very distinctive combination
of religious revival and family reunion. Salem Camp Meeting
is now an interdenominational annual event that is an important
continuing part of the lives of participants. For two years
a number of researchers from the Emory Center for Myth and Ritual
in American Life have been participating in Salem Camp Meeting
in order to understand the source of its powerful effects on
those who regularly attend, and its contribution to family identity.
In this presentation, using interviews and images from 2000
and 2001 Salem Camp Meetings, we will discuss some of the ways
in which the Camp Meeting is structured to systematically alter
participants' memories of self and family.
---
Dr. Bradd Shore is Professor of Anthropology at
Emory University and Director of Emory's Center for Myth and
Ritual in American Life. He is the author of three books and
numerous articles on the anthropology of myth and ritual. While
his early research was carried out in Western Samoa, his work
more recently has been studying the role of ritual in the lives
of Southern middlle-class families.
Nathaniel Kendall-Taylor is a recent graduate
of Emory University, where he received his BA in Cultural Anthropology.
Presently working with Dr. Bradd Shore at the MARIAL Center
as a research assistant, he will be attending graduate school
next fall studying medical anthropology.
---
Open to the public
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DIRECTIONS TO OXFORD
Take I-20 east (towards Augusta) about 30 miles
(past Conyers). Exit at the first "Historic Covington" exit
(there will be a small sign for Oxford College before the exit).
Bear right onto 278 as you exit. At the third traffic light,
turn left onto Emory Street/81. Go north one mile on Emory Street
and there will be a sign for Oxford College on the left. Turn
left, go one block: the college will be in front of you; there
is parking to the left, near the Tennis Courts. The chapel is
the small neoclassical building at the far end of the quadrangle,
directly ahead of you as you enter campus.
