Title: Sunrike

General Information about Item:

• Verbal folklore: speech folklore
• Language: English
• Country: USA

Informant Data:

• The informant is a Dartmouth ’18 female. She is active in the Native American Community on campus, SPCSA, and Sigma Delta. She is a Government and Native American Studies modified with Anthropology double major from Martha’s Vineyard. She went on cabin camping in September 2014, but never led a trip or was on a croo.

Contextual Data:

• Social Context: students are typically introduced to the concept of a sunrike when they are at the Lodge. It is offered as an optional activity where students in the same section, regardless of their trip, can wake up early and hike Moosilauke in time to watch the sunrise together at the top. Within this initial context it is offered as a sort of shared, optional self-initiation ritual where students are meant to reflect on the “sunrise of their Dartmouth careers.”
• Cultural Context: Within the Dartmouth culture, upon student’s return to campus post-trips “sunrike” becomes a common colloquialism. When students plan to hike to see a sunrise, they tend to use sunrike to refer to their hike. This occurs in both casual groups organizing a hike and established campus organizations such a Greek houses and the outing club. Furthermore, students have been known to use the variant “sunsike” to refer to a sunset hike.

Item:

• Sun-rike refers to a sunrise hike. In practice, sunrike’s are typically hiked in the dark so that when hikers reach the mountaintop, it is just in time to view the sunrise.

Transcript of Informant Interview:

(At the lodge) they told us we could sunrike if we wanted to. And I couldn’t believe people hiked during sunrises here. Who on earth would do that? Exercise that early in the morning? So some people did that, but we, however (the cabin camping crew), were not as inclined to do so.

Informant’s Comments:

• The informant viewed the practice of sunriking at the lodge as another example of how “crunchy” Dartmouth trips makes new students view the school to be.

Collector’s Comments:

• It’s interesting that the informant viewed her decision to not participate in the sunrike as somewhat related to her identity as a member of the cabin camping trip. Earlier in the interview she mentions that the cabin camping group were self-selecting students who were not as outdoorsy, but was quick to distinguish herself by mentioning that she had requested kayaking. This might speak to the efficacy of trips in quickly making students feel like they are a part of a group. However, it also makes me wonder about whether or not the trips program perpetuates hierarchical or divided social structures at Dartmouth. For example, it establishes the tiny trip in-group that belongs to the larger trip section, which is a part of that class year and so on.

Collector’s Name: Clara Silvanic

Tags/Keywords:

• Sun-rike, Sunrike, DOC Trips, Lodge, Hiking