A People's History of Leisure Studies: Leisure, the Tool of Racecraft (original) (raw)
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International Journal of the Sociology of Leisure, 2018
There is a great realization that a professor teaching an introductory or philosophical foundations course in the field of leisure studies comes to, if that professor may not be from the dominant culture of most Western societies. This realization is as stark as their numerical presence in their respective departments. Why are the philosophical foundations of the field devoid of the experiences, voices, and perspectives populations of colour, or even more broadly, the populations of the global majority? The objectives of this manuscript are: 1) to briefly categorize the research in the field on Race and ethnicity; 2) to outline the key canonical texts of the field; 3) to consider and reconceptualize a racially and ethnically inclusive foundation for the field utilizing W. E. B. Du Bois' (1899) The Philadelphia Negro: A Social Study as an example. Within the 520 pages of The Philadelphia Negro, the term leisure is mentioned 21 times. Recreation as a term is used 19 times; and, 4) to identify how the integration of The Philadelphia Negro could impact or realign the field's history and master narratives and master concepts. What we are granted in leisure studies through the addition of The Philadelphia Negro as a foundational text is quite possibly the first sociological study, the first empirical study, the first large sample study, and the first mixed methods designed study. Int J Sociol Leis (2018) 1:55-73 https://doi.
Dialogues on Whiteness, Leisure and (Anti)Racism
Journal of Leisure Research, 2009
This essay offers one response to recent calls for leisure studies scholars to more effectively integrate race into their analyses. Drawing from interdisciplinary scholarship within ethnic studies, cultural studies, and gender/women's studies the article initiates a broader dialogue about the possibilities and dangers of analyzing whiteness within leisure contexts. The article outlines several studies that demonstrate ways in which whiteness operates to advantage white hegemony. It suggests how the concepts of power evasiveness, normalization and intersectionality might be applied to leisure settings and concludes with a discussion of some problems associated with the study of whiteness. The ultimate aim of the essay is to provoke further dialogue as a step toward documenting and overturning inequitable social arrangements in the movement toward justice.
A People's History of Leisure Studies: Where the White Nationalists Are
Leisure Studies, 2021
What we are witnessing in these contemporary times isn’t just the interplay of a racialised-populist sentiment in the political sphere through the amassing of political influence (political parties, campaigns, and policies). What we are also witnessing is the increasing performance of racialised-populist political sentiments in the very physical, and public spaces of society. The aim of this manuscript is to discuss this performance within the United States at four historical junctures of animation of leisure space and White Nationalist activity in public and private-public spaces: 1) 1925 Ku Klux Klan March; 2) the 1939 German-American Bund Rally; 3) the 1977 National Socialist Party of America Rally; and, 4) the 2017 Unite the Right Rally. There is a complexity to the contestation of meanings and values ascribed to spaces. The political act of protesting is highlighted in its violation of the sanctum of these public and private-public spaces within the theoretical lenses of the White Genocide Conspiracy Theory or the Great Replacement Theory. Each highlights the impact of this growing White populism, and serves as a cautionary tale for appeals of counter activities and expressions of resistance with the animation, through protest and dissent, of public and private-public spaces.
A Comparative Analysis of Race and Mattering in Leisure Literature
International Journal of the Sociology of Leisure, 2021
The purpose of this thesis was to examine the progression of discourse on race within leisure studies scholarship through the lens of racecraft and the construct of mattering. The Journal of Leisure Research as well as Schole were examined within the periods of the 1990s (1989-2000) and the 2010s (2009-2019). Articles were chosen based upon their employment of the keywords of community recreation, youth development, and race within both time periods, yielding a total of 99 articles that were examined. A discourse historical approach (DHA) was utilized in assessment of the impact of the socio-political context on leisure research as well as the development of discourse on race. Through DHA techniques and the concept of racecraft, this project classified articles under five overarching themes: Faint mentions of race, racialization in the negative, improper terminology use, intentionality of race, and inadequate lens of problem/solution. Based upon the findings of this thesis, leisure literature has displayed minimal progression in its conceptualizations of race. Leisure studies scholarship reflects the dominant discourse through its latent ideology of racism that maintains marginalization of various racialized ethnic groups. It is posited that, without institutional examination and targeted mitigation efforts, the field of leisure will continue to uphold a detrimental racial order with an underdeveloped political and historical stance on race.
International Journal of the Sociology of Leisure, 2022
The fourth wave of leisure studies challenges researchers to investigate the social construction of race through leisure, in contrast to understanding race as a variable. Floyd (2007) challenged us to think about the future challenges and trends around race and ethnicity in leisure studies. Though significant progress has been made since the 1970s, we still have far to go in assessment of race and ethnicity in leisure. The objective of this manuscript is to answer the call made by Floyd for an anticipated fourth wave task of "understand[ing] how leisure practices create, reinforce, and perpetuate racist practices in contemporary America" (2007, 249). We apply a theoretical framework that centers racism and whiteness, drawn from race scholarship across fields: the sociology of race, Critical Race Theory (CRT), whiteness studies, settler colonialism studies, and Black and Native Studies. We apply this framework to investigate the storytelling at two National Park Service (NPS) monuments which we provide as case studies to analyze how spatialized historical storytelling consolidates structural white supremacy in the parks, despite a rhetoric of inclusivity. Only once we understand how racism and white supremacy are embedded in NPS narratives can we begin to make changes to reduce white supremacist storytelling in leisure practice.
Notes From A Leisure Son: Expanding An Understanding of Whiteness in Leisure
Journal of Leisure Research, 2009
Whiteness is a fundamental aspect of American society and because of this leisure research is as troubled as our own racialized identities. Whiteness becomes a problematic dimension in our discourse if unchallenged by not critically examining race within the context of power. Taking a stance that Whiteness exists in five politically based racial projects, enables leisure research to uncover the apparent and invisible ways that power exists in professional practices, public policy development, and accepted research paradigms in published works. Inspired by Notes From a Native Son and serving as a rejoinder to previous discussions on Whiteness and race, the aim here is to address Whiteness in leisure with a brief analysis of history, contemporary issues, and policy. With an expanded understanding of Whiteness, leisure research could be a liberating tool for social justice to usher new conceptions, new theories, and new approaches to instruction, programming, and understanding in the field.
2009
This special issue of the Journal of Leisure Research focuses on critical race theory and social justice perspectives on whiteness, difference(s) and (anti)racism in leisure studies. Drawing on Floyd's (2007) previous work articulating waves of race research in leisure studies, we argue this special issue helps to advance a fourth wave. As part of this fourth wave, papers in this issue address the limitations of essentializing race, advance arguments around the social construction and deconstruction of racial categories, re-examine race and racism within broader theoretical frameworks, and connect power, ideology and white hegemony, to illustrate how whiteness is perpetuated and internalized. In this wave, race is also understood as performance. Authors examine the racialization of space and call for a rethinking of justice to address racism and ideologies inherent within policies and practices. This fourth wave also invokes a call for the use of more diverse methodological app...
(Re)Theorizing Leisure, Experience and Race
Journal of Leisure Research, 2009
Leisure scholars have attempted to examine experience through a socialpsychological lens that locates the individual and her/his interpretation of leisure experiences at the center of discussions about leisure, leisure experience and identity. However, this primarily social-psychological perspective lacks an accompanying discussion about the ideologies and discourses that structure those experiences. The purpose of this paper is to examine how "leisure experience" has been conceptualized and how individuals have been represented in terms of race in the Leisure Studies literature. It is not a call to abandon Leisure Studies' focus on individuals and their experiences of leisure. Rather, it is an attempt to offer alternative strategies for how to (re) conceptualize and conduct kinds of research that account for individual experiences within broader discourses of ideology and power.
Leisure and the “White-Savior Industrial Complex”
Journal of Leisure Research
Representation of, and service to, "underrepresented" and "disadvantaged" groups often denote goals sought by leisure researchers and practitioners. The motivations behind these goals are varied, often harkening themes of social justice and equity. As a potential counternarrative to these motivations, the writer Teju Cole, posited the "White-Savior Industrial Complex." While originally positioned in the context of Western humanitarian aid, Cole's thesis that White, hegemonic groups seek to do good while also satisfying their own emotional needs can also apply to leisure research and practice. Through parallel analyses employing Cole's framework, we identify the enactment of White Saviorism in three exemplative leisure practices: (1) international volunteer tourism, (2) diversification efforts in outdoor recreation, and (3) youth development programming in urban communities. Ultimately, our aim is to encourage leisure researchers and practitioners to engage in a critical reflection in how the field pursues equity and social justice work, and to assess conscious and unconscious biases that influence questions asked and services provided.
A People's History of Leisure Studies: The Great Race and the National Parks and U.S. Forests
Journal of Park and Recreation Administration, 2020
For some time, researchers have discussed the relationship of the National Park Service (NPS) and other parks, parks and recreation, and outdoor recreation entities’ cultural engagement through a lens of needed and improved management that emphasizes culturally diverse outreach programming, but that also is aimed at a greater awareness of social marginality and the preponderance of racial preferences. While Santucci, Floyd, Bocarro, and Henderson (2014) particularly explored the potential influence of the organizational culture of the NPS for maintaining a traditional culture resistant to diversity-related changes as an effort on truly diversifying its staffing, programming, and outreach, there has never been a call to examine the historical influences of the culture of the NPS, the United States Forest Service (USFS), the overall environmental movement, and even our very conception of outdoor recreation within the leisure studies and recreation service provision literature. What is presented here is a discourse-historical approach of authored texts as primary sources of conservationist, preservationist, and interpretation legends, Gifford Pinchot, Madison Grant, and Charles M. Goethe (among others). The article calls into question as to how their natural history, biological anthropology, and preservationist ideological lens influenced their philosophical articulation of conservation, preservation, and interpretation. In particular, Grant worked on matters of preservation synergistically in tandem with his eugenics beliefs, as chiefly articulated in the eugenicist tome, The Passing of the Great Race (1916a). This seminal eugenics text informed Western interests in racial nativism, and highlighted the intersection of conserving “the best” in nature and among humanity. While Grant and Goethe’s relationship with eugenics has had more exposure, there has not been a reckoning of their views, as well as the views of Pinchot within leisure research and recreation practice. It is evident in taking a discourse-historical approach in examining these primary sources that the purity of race, enforced reproductive encouragement of the fit and the reproductive restriction of the unfit along racialized gender lines, were the most important factors in determining the fate of populations and the environment (The National Conservation Commission, 1909). The aim here is to highlight Pinchot, Grant, and Goethe and to focus on the social injustices that they advocated as a basis to highlight the calls of social justice through this special issue and by way of the work of others who have championed the need for social justice perspectives within leisure studies and parks and recreation service delivery against their various ideals.