Understanding the Experiences of African American Outdoor Enthusiasts
Understanding the Experiences of African American Outdoor Enthusiasts

Author: Drew Alan Cavin

Publisher:

Published: 2010

Total Pages:

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The study of race/ethnicity and leisure has been an area of great interest to researchers since at least the 1970s. Numerous studies have shown that differences exist in the ways people from different racial/ethnic groups participate in outdoor recreation. Most of these studies have found that racial and ethnic minorities (i.e. non-White groups) participate in many outdoor recreation activities at proportionally lower levels than do Whites. While these studies present numerous hypotheses to help explain this phenomenon, no study has been conclusive. In this dissertation, I present a theoretical framework and three empirical studies to investigate the nuances of this issue. The first study examines the theory of systemic racism (Feagin, 2006) and its utility to deepen our understanding of the factors that play into African Americans relationship with nature and outdoor recreation. The second study analyzes narrative and historical autobiographical accounts of African Americans from the three major racial eras in United States history in order to examine African Americans' relationship with nature over time. The third study examines the racially related constraints of African Americans who are involved in serious leisure pursuits of activities generally considered outdoor recreation, as well as African Americans who are involved in nature related careers. The constraints I found with this group are reservations of family and friends regarding being in "the woods," collective memory and fear, being the "only one," discrimination and "reverse curiosity," assumption of novice status, and balancing identity between being Black, and "acting White." In the fourth study I analyze this same study group, but explore their experiences of being involved in serious leisure and look at the negotiation schema that this group employed to sustain participation. These negotiation schema are childhood formative experiences, realizing deep connections to nature, transcendental experiences in nature, leaning on knowledge of nature, comfort with White people/places/groups, and positive experiences with White people in nature. The four studies in this collection represent a rethinking and deepening of our knowledge of African American participation in the outdoors.

Racial Disparity in Social Spatiality
Racial Disparity in Social Spatiality

Author: J. Terry Johnson

Publisher: VDM Publishing

Published: 2008-01-01

Total Pages: 100

ISBN-13: 9783836436007

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This study investigates the existence of an ethnic separation in different settings of leisure activities. The author examines the relationship between race, gender, socioeconomic status, and education with respect to the usage of popular cultural activities and high cultural activities to demonstrate the racial disparity occurring in both. A literature review pertaining to the usage of outdoor recreation, as in camping and hiking evidences the influence of racism on the disparity in Nonwhite participation. In contrast to out-door leisure activities, literature evidences the influence of class instead of race for the disparity in indoor leisure activities. Using the 1993 General Social Survey (GSS), the author is able to arrive at the conclusion that the type of leisure chosen by an ethnic group relates much less to the educational level, economic status or the place of residence as it does to the perception of the socially constructed settings. This book is addressed to individuals concerned with the relationship between racial and ethnic groups, and the dynamics that exist. This book is also directed towards those involved in statistical research, of which, half of this book is composed.

Leisure, Women, and Gender
Leisure, Women, and Gender

Author: Valeria J. Freysinger

Publisher:

Published: 2013

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781892132987

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Leisure, Women, and Gender is part of an ongoing examination that explores and elaborates issues of leisure for girls and women. The book is both an update of A Leisure of One's Own: A Feminist Perspective on Women's Leisure (1989) and Both Gains and Gaps: Feminist Perspectives on Women’s Leisure (1996) and a departure from these earlier works, in its process and structure. Specifically, in this volume, rather than writing about the research that others are doing, we invited some of those researchers to talk about how they came to study leisure, women, and gender; what they have learned from their research; and to reflect on directions for future research. Hence, organizationally and structurally it falls in the “middle ground” between a co-authored and an edited book: it mixes writing by the book’s editors with the voices of invited scholars, who contribute central and additional perspectives regarding the topics.