1,721,018 research outputs found
Landscapes of Leisure: Space, Place and Identities
No full text• The leisure landscape is a complex and diverse one that is both natural and built, dark and light, safe and dangerous, contained or without boundary, and profoundly influences the manner in which leisure is performed and experienced. These leisurescapes are increasingly becoming significant sites for the construction of individual and shared frameworks in which people orient themselves and act in wider society. Drawing on international contributions by leading researchers in the field this book aims to map out the complex relationship that leisure has with place. A key signature of the text will be to illustrate the transdisciplinarity of this key feature of leisure studies, and by doing so offer, for the first time, a more rounded and inclusive approach to the study of leisure and place. It also aims to explore and elucidate the extent in which leisure places and spaces form, affect and influence personal, social and collective identitie
Reading Landscapes::Articulating a non-essentialist representation of space, place and identity in leisure
No full textThe decision to use the word landscape in the title of this volume was not taken lightly. It is, after all, a famously awkward term to pin down, and like place, space and location, has many interpretations and meanings. The primary reason it was chosen was that it illustrated the breadth and variety that particularly space and place play in our experiences of leisure. Of course the problem with taking this viewpoint is that many definitions of landscape imply that landscape can only be encountered from the outside and usually from a distance. But in order to gain some kind of perspective we need to step back and appreciate the complexity of the vista. In the same way that space and place can be understood and analysed from both subjective and objective stances — so too can landscape. Therefore, although the idea of landscape suggests distance, it also encourages reflection and exploration. ‘Landscape’ as Tuan so eloquently puts it, ‘allows and even encourages us to dream. It does function as a point of departure. Yet it can anchor our attention because it has components that we can see and touch’ (1977:101). Furthermore, we can travel through landscapes and encounter the many spaces and places they hold, whilst gazing back to the landscape from which we came. This interaction between leisure spaces and places and its consequent impact on identity acts as the primary focus of this text, but requires further discussion in order to reveal its many implications
Phenomenology and Extreme Sports in Natural Landscapes
No full textHusserl reminded us of the imperative to return to the Lebensweldt, or life-world. He was preoccupied with the crisis of Western science which alienated the experiencing self from the world of immediate experience. Immediate experience provides a foundation for what it means to be human. Heidegger, building upon these ideas, foresaw a threat to human nature in the face of ‘technicity’. He argued for a return to a relationship between ‘authentic self’ and nature predicated upon the notion of ‘letting be’ in which humans are open to the mystery of being. Self and nature are not conceived as alienated entities but as aspects of a single entity. In modern times, separation between self and the world is further evidenced by scientific rational modes of being exemplified through consumerism and the incessant use of screen-based technology which dominate human experience. In contrast, extreme sports provide an opportunity for people to return to the life-world by living in relation to the natural world. Engagement in extreme sports enables a return to authenticity as we rediscover self as part of nature
Nature Sports: Concepts and Practice
No full textThis book represents the first international collection that challenges current thinking and research in the emerging field of nature sport. Owing to its inherent connections with fields such as business, leisure, health, tourism, and education, this emerging field has attracted perspectives from a wide range of theoretical viewpoints – much of which are discussed within this collection.
In simple terms nature sports refer to a group of sporting activities that predominantly take place in natural and rural areas. Participation can be both competitive and recreational, with the primary aim to work in relation to nature, where participants seek harmony rather than the quest to conquer it. Within this book, experts from around the globe consider the very essence of nature sport(s), including numerous practical examples of it in action, offering invaluable insights to those both familiar and new to the field. Driven by an increase in non-traditional sports, coupled with growing concerns about the environment, nature sports have experienced significant expansion and interest in both participation and academic debate
Nature Sports: A unifying concept
No full textNature sports serve as the contextual reference for this special issue. These sports, also labelled action sports, adventure sports, alternative sports, Californian sports, extreme sports, gravity sports, lifestyle sports, nature challenge activities, new sports, outdoor sports, panic sports, risk sports or whiz sports, among others, comprise a group of physical activities that have the potential to challenge participants in a novel way and provide an alternative to the traditional ways of seeing, doing and understanding sport. Nature sports activities emerged in recent decades, especially after the flourishing of a new sport paradigm that had its origin in North America in the 1960s and 1970s. The importance of nature sports is also evidenced by the growing attention given to other sectors, including, leisure, tourism, the environment, health and education. In this regard, this chapter explores the relationships between nature sports and these various sectors
Nature Sports: Current Trends and the Path Ahead
No full textEvolving in a unique historical conjuncture, especially associated with global communication, corporate sponsorship and transnational entertainment industries, nature sports have experienced an exceptional growth, both in participation and their increased visibility across public and private space. Since their emergence in the 1960s, these new forms of sport spread around the world much faster than most traditional sports. The growth and development of some nature sports activities has led to a process of sportivisation, resulting in the incorporation of these activities into the Summer and Winter Olympic Games. The rapid expansion of nature sports has been accompanied by a cultural fragmentation that supports a new profile of participation. This chapter focuses on the benefits and outcomes of nature sport participation through selected case studies. For example, it highlights the meaningful and challenging experiences of participants across numerous activities, ranging from surfing, mountain climbing, ultramarathon running and BASE jumping
Olympic heritage : past, present and future
No full textWhile there is not the space to adequately explore the more intricate nuances and lessons that lave emerged from the collection of chapters brought together here, there remains a clear message about the necessity for future research that continues to probe the relationship between heritage and the Olympics. For us, this leads almost to a sense of impatience as we wait to see how the 2016 Olympics are constructed and remembered. Like London 2012, Rio 2016 will once again present a fruitful research opportunity to think through the ways in which heritage and the Olympics become together and ignite the world, if only for a short period of time. Between then and now, however, it is easy to imagine that new frames of thinking will emerge, new theorizations of heritage, and new ways of identifying the touch points between the two concepts. And so in addition to our impatience, we are keen to also close this volume with a sense of excitement: excitement over the multiple and no doubt challenging ways of contextualizing, presenting and understanding the myriad possibilities that continue to open up around Olympic heritage
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