“Take Me to the Water”—Community and Renewal among Aging Women: A Case Study of Social Interaction and Exercise among the “Polar Bears” of Martha's Vineyard

Abstract

This article describes the values and practices of a water exercise group of middle-class, middle-aged and senior female predominantly African American vacationing members of the Polar Bears of Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. It focuses on their holistic approach to health—physical, emotional, and spiritual—and their implementation of this approach through mentoring, play, and the use of certain African American cultural retention practices. It is based on 11 years of summer ethnographic fieldwork (participant observation) and in-depth interviews. It suggests the importance of a cultural approach to exercise in the promotion of health-enhancing behavior for African American women.

Keywords:

• aging
• African American
• African American cultural retention
• community
• exercise
• health promoting behavior
• liminality
• mentoring
• religion
• ritual
• social interaction
• social support
• spirituality
• women