Purveyors of One Health: The Ecological Imperative Driving the Future of Leisure Services (original) (raw)
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Thinking about leisure during a global pandemic
World Leisure Journal
The COVID-19 pandemic arrested the world in a dramatic manner as of March 2020. As countries placed themselves under lockdown to avoid the worst case scenarios expected from the novel virus, we witnessed economies shut down, and residents of the smallest communities to the largest cities 'shelter in place' as they could. Very quickly, a smorgasbord of disparities and privileges were highlighted and discussions, at local and global levels, began in earnest. This moment is significant in terms of providing us with insights borne of this unique opportunity to better understand diverse aspects of life on this planet, not least our knowledge of climate change and demographic vulnerabilities, but also about the state of leisure. The following Observation Paper presents a few leisure-related insights gained during the spring and summer of 2020 in Canada.
A People's Future of Leisure Studies: Leisure with the Enemy Under COVID-19
Leisure Sciences, 2020
To those of us who have been consistently critical of leisure, we have mapped our critique of leisure onto discussions of leisure as a concept, as a tool, or as a social construct in society that has had serious implications on the gendered, the racialized, and the classed as disposable. Leisure is a life-politic that hides: dominant lifestyles, harmful environmental engagement, and political regimes. But in the midst of pandemic, there are two enemies, at the mirco- and macro-level to the life of a person via leisure that are becoming exposed at this time: 1) Person to Person; and, 2) The State to Person. With the coronavirus pandemic, it reveals a need to depart from a happiness and titillation orientation of leisure, and more a collective life-giving requisite in our research, instruction, and advocacy. For with COVID-19, leisure (as it is predominantly conceived) is the enemy.
COVID-19 and Leisure: Directions for Policy Makers
Epictetus, the Greek Stoic Philosopher, once said “Happiness and freedom begin with a clear understanding of one’s principle. Some things are within your control; and some things are not”. In adopting Epictetus quote for the current COVID-19 world, it has become more important than ever to realize that freedom and happiness can be intrinsic states that come from within the individual. Leisure, also an intrinsic state, is linked with freedom and happiness, and when leisure, freedom and happiness are experienced, a healthy lifestyle can be under your control and achieved. The current paper presents the importance of experiencing leisure, freedom and happiness for physical and mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic era. COVID-19 is not only political, social and economic challenge, but also a citizen’s well-being challenge. For this reason, three directions for policy making from the current and post COVID-19 era are presented: 1) the promotion of a healthy lifestyle, 2) individual...
COVID-19 and Leisure: Directions for Policy Makers, 2020
Epictetus, the Greek Stoic Philosopher, once said "Happiness and freedom begin with a clear understanding of one's principle. Some things are within your control; and some things are not". In adopting Epictetus quote for the current COVID-19 world, it has become more important than ever to realize that freedom and happiness can be intrinsic states that come from within the individual. Leisure, also an intrinsic state, is linked with freedom and happiness, and when leisure, freedom and happiness are experienced, a healthy lifestyle can be under your control and achieved. The current paper presents the importance of experiencing leisure, freedom and happiness for physical and mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic era. COVID-19 is not only political, social and economic challenge, but also a citizen's well-being challenge. For this reason, three directions for policy making from the current and post COVID-19 era are presented: 1) the promotion of a healthy lifestyle, 2) individual and community activation and 3) empowering people.
Leisure and health: conjoined and contested concepts
Annals of Leisure Research, 2019
This paper explores the various ideas, notions and conversations that underpin the leisure/health nexus and focuses on identifying the interrelatedness and synergies between these concepts. There are competing understandings of ‘health’ that underpin the domains of leisure. Within these disciplines there are contrasting discussions involving biological, economic, environmental, historical, medical, political, psychological and sociological ways of constructing meaning. These occur in the domains of bio-medical treatment and health promotion framed within embodiment and embodiment practice. The bio-medical domain frames ‘health’ as the prevention of disease/illness/injury and views ‘leisure’ as a tool through which to reduce risk. While 21st century health promotion posits ‘health’ more holistically, ‘leisure’ still often focuses on issues related to individual’s physical ‘health’. In reality leisure and health are complex concepts that exist within a system of ebbs and flows that impact each other in different ways depending on your point of view.
Leisure meets health: important intersections and alternative discourses
Annals of Leisure Research, 2020
While it is generally accepted in the leisure field that leisure has a role, and arguably a key one in wellness and wellbeing, this is largely at odds with the operations and funding frameworks of contemporary healthcare systems. Governments spend much less on leisure which involves social aspects of health than they do on healthcare systems which are focussed on biomedical interventions. Yet, many leisure and healthcare practitioners and academics are aware of the intersections between leisure, health and wellbeing and the aim of this edition was to offer a forum for overtly presenting these intersections. Here we set the scene for the papers in this special edition, summarizing the contribution of each paper to progressing discussions regarding the intersections of leisure and health and suggesting future directions for exploration.
Annals of Leisure Research Leisure and health: conjoined and contested concepts
Annals of Leisure Research, 2019
This paper explores the various ideas, notions and conversations that underpin the leisure/health nexus and focuses on identifying the interrelatedness and synergies between these concepts. There are competing understandings of ‘health’ that underpin the domains of leisure. Within these disciplines there are contrasting discussions involving biological, economic, environmental, historical, medical, political, psychological and sociological ways of constructing meaning. These occur in the domains of bio-medical treatment and health promotion framed within embodiment and embodiment practice. The bio-medical domain frames ‘health’ as the prevention of disease/illness/injury and views ‘leisure’ as a tool through which to reduce risk. While 21st century health promotion posits ‘health’ more holistically, ‘leisure’ still often focuses on issues related to individual’s physical ‘health’. In reality leisure and health are complex concepts that exist within a system of ebbs and flows that impact each other in different ways depending on your point of view.
The Role of the Outdoor Recreation Discipline in Public Health: Nature as Preventative Medicine
The natural environment is being increasingly recognized as an essential component of human health. This literature review explores this relationship as it occurs in the scholarly literature, with particular emphasis on the ways that outdoor recreation as an academic discipline facilitates human-natural environment interactions. Salient theories from a variety of disciplines are tied to parks, protected lands and wilderness, and global trends are discussed. Ultimately, it is suggested that outdoor recreation and its parent discipline of recreation and leisure studies can be viewed as integral pieces of the emerging wellness model, and that interaction with natural environments may foster stewardship and health.