RV camping with nature's betrayal: a consumer autoethnography in word

ABSTRACT Following earlier ethnographic research on experiential immersion in nature that probe consumer responses to the poignant risks and tensions of the nature harmony paradox (Canniford and Shankar 2013; Scholz, Joachim, and Jay Handelman. “Living in Harmony with Nature: A Post-Human Analysis of Consumers' Relationships with Nature.” In NA – Advances in Consumer Research, edited by June Cotte and Stacy Wood, Vol. 42, 668–669. Duluth: Association for Consumer Research, 2014), my goal with this paper is to understand the emotional dynamics embedded in this paradox while camping. By introducing new methodological tools for autoethnography, I integrate 22 years of introspective participant-observation as a seasonal RV (recreational vehicle) camper while reckoning with the contradiction between nature's extraordinary experiences and its betrayal. Transformational interactions with the forest and its creatures failed to balance escalating feelings of despair when rain, mold, mildew, fungi and mice invaded my space and belied the natural world's romantic appeal. This paper adds to the literature on consumer frustration by demonstrating the benefits of an autoethnographic methodology to discover, interpret and understand deeply felt emotions pervading the nature harmony paradox while camping.