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| Papers
are invited on the following themes |
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Performing Leisure
Leaders:
Dr. Louise Mansfield
Dr. Dikaia Chatziefstathiou
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Recent critical approaches to
academic research have provided the opportunity to assess the
extent to which socially constructed understandings of individual
identity are shaped and (allowed to be) expressed within different
social, historical and cultural settings. Within the context
of leisure, it could be argued, that much of an individual's
ability to experience leisure activities is incumbent upon one's
ability to 'perform' in the appropriate manner. Therefore, social
factors such as class also need to be considered in relation
to gender, age, race, economy and (dis)ability. Read in this
way, embodied and social identities are made and remade through
specific forms of leisure activity whether, for instance,
this is through participation in a sports club or an adventure
holiday. This theme will attempt to explore the range of social
factors which contribute to the experience (or not) of leisure,
and as such overlaps with the Learning Leisure theme.
A focused stream 'Researching
Gender: Principles and Practices in Sport, Leisure and Physical
Education' will now form part of the theme 'Performing Leisure'.
In this stream, practitioners and professionals will come together
to share their knowledge and discuss practices, processes and
philosophies connected to researching gender in the field. The
aim of the stream is to develop understandings of gender and
intersectionality in leisure studies and possible themes may
include changes to what have traditionally been seen as masculine
or feminine sport and leisure spaces, methodological innovation
in gender studies of sport and leisure practices, and theoretical
advancements to feminist research in sport, leisure and PE.
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Learning Leisure
Leaders:
Dr. Ian Wellard,
Dr. Sacha Powell
& Angela Pickard
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This
theme explores the different leisure pathways available to people
and the extent to which people learn leisure, as well as policy
and provision strategies to cater for such pathways. Recent government
interest in the role of play in children's lives (for instance,
The Children's Play Council, extended schools and local authority
play strategies) demonstrates a growing awareness of (or concern
for) what young people do in their free time. Furthermore, over
£1 billion is being made available for (UK) PE and school
sport to help ensure that all members of society are offered
opportunities and encouragement to play, lead and manage sport.
Indeed, it is often the case that learning in these contexts
can directly influence engagement in leisure beyond childhood
and adolescence. However, for others, learning leisure is a lifelong
experience as people are introduced to or try new leisure experiences
as a result of various social, health, family and other factors
throughout the lifecourse. In this respect, learning leisure
is not just about young people and schools, but about lifelong
learning for leisure, sport, tourism and health activities. |
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Locating Leisure
Leaders:
Dr. Mike Weed,
Dr. Marion Stuart-Hoyle
& Jane Lovell
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Space
and place are geographical concepts related closely to people's
everyday leisure experiences and to more extra-ordinary leisure
or tourism experiences. Although issues of demographic constraints
on leisure, tourism and recreational have been well documented,
more general issues related to spatiality have largely been left
unexplored. Spaces routinely used for leisure may be formally
designated (such as parks or leisure centres) or may evolve informally
over time (such as the use of the urban landscape for rollerblading).
Other spaces may be so designated more temporarily (such as the
use of the streets of London for the London Marathon) or may
be adapted to become leisure places as a result of a particular
leisure, sport or tourism event. This theme relates to both the
extent to which the development of spaces as leisure places is
planned and provided for, or the extent to which they develop
as a result of the 'place-making' quality of leisure participation.
The theme is open to multiple interpretations of space and place,
varying from the impacts of cultural geography changes on urban
leisure to spatialized feminism and gendered spaces. |
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Risk and Leisure
Leaders:
Dr. Jim Butcher
& Suzanne Dowse
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Risk
is a significant phenomenon in leisure, whether it is experienced
as a positive and motivating factor (as in some aspects of adventure
sports tourism), or seen as a potential threat to be controlled
and protected against (as in health and safety or child protection
legislation). The control of risk may be seen as a positive factor
in ensuring that children are protected from harm (or, indeed,
that people are protected from antisocial children!), and that
leisure facilities and services are safe and fit for purpose.
Conversely, an elevated risk consciousness may in fact narrow
leisure opportunities and diminish leisure experiences. In this
respect, areas in which risk is seen as a positive and motivating
experience may become sanitised and commodified as providers
seek to sell a packaged form of risk (or at least the illusion
of risk) that provides a form of risk experience without "risking"
the provision of real risk and the potential legislative and
litigious consequences that may bring. |
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