Corey W. Johnson

Contextualizing Leisure Research to Encompass Complexity in Lived Leisure Experience: The Need for Creative Analytic Practice

Many qualitative manuscripts published on the phenomenon of leisure remain post positivist privileging the traditional scientific method as the way of conducting and representing research. Such traditional approaches to research lead to debates about whether interpretative accounts can accurately, adequately, directly, or completely capture, depict, describe, or portray social life. In response to this crisis of representation, many leisure scholars have adopted creative analytic practice (CAP), which allows for the creation of imaginative and creative representation including autoethnography, fiction stories, visual images, poetry, experimental media, and performance. CAP reflects a deliberate attempt to demonstrate that the processes and products of qualitative inquiry are inextricably linked. CAP purposefully engages issues connected to subjectivity, authority, authorship, reflexivity, and representational form.

Rocky Mountain National Park: History and Culture as Factors in African-American Park Visitation

Abstract This investigation examined experiences of the African-American population living in the Denver area about their visitation to Rocky Mountain National Park. Using qualitative semi-structured interviews with 36 participants, and archival techniques, the authors identify the historical and cultural factors that resulted in low use of the park by African-Americans. Consequently, the authors suggest the use of Bourdieus “cultural capital” and “habitus” as mechanisms for assisting researchers and practitioners in better understanding and meeting the needs of marginalized people in the United States.

Consuming media, making men: Using collective memory work to understand leisure and the construction of masculinity.

Abstract Parents, educators, researchers and policymakers have sought to identify the root causes of male youth violence by looking at medias influence on young people. Grounded in social constructionism, this study uses collective memory work to explore that relationship. The findings are presented in terms of two levels of analysis: individual/micro messages and societal/macro messages and revealed that through media consumption, men actively constructed and maintained impressions of masculinity based on notions of heroism, violence, and ‘macho’ images. This process gave participants an opportunity to both solidify and challenge their own thinking in relation to what it means to be a man and is a first step toward demonstrating some of the “problems” associated with leisure contexts, media consumption and hegemonic masculinity.

“But it's not that easy”: negotiating (trans)gender expressions in leisure spaces

Leisure research has a long history of exploring relationships between leisure and gender, typically using feminist approaches. However, the vast majority of this literature depends on dichotomous distinctions of male and female with little regard to more diverse expressions and embodiments of gender. In this article, authors blend narratives of self to situate their subjectivities with those created with “Amy,” a self-identified transgender woman, to explore more diverse notions of gender, leisure space and social justice. Five themes were identified: creating safe leisure space for self via masculine leisure performance; creating comfortable space for others by performing social drag; negotiating safe leisure spaces for self and others during preferred gender expression; leisure space as a site for (trans)gender affirmation and transformation; and constructing inclusive leisure community space. A critical gender approach is recommended to more safely position diversely gendered voices.

Leisure research for social justice: a response to Henderson.

Leisure research based on critical theories is an effective path to social justice for groups and communities that are marginalized or oppressed by those in power. In response to Henderson (2011), who frames our work as postpositivist, we argue critical theories are a more appropriate research paradigm to reflect our philosophical positions. Our inquiry into leisure is informed by an emancipatory vision for social change that aims to enact social justice. In this response, we detail our rationale for embracing critical theories as an effective research-based approach to affect social justice. We conclude by suggesting that paradigm proliferation enables researchers to enhance social justice within their communities of concern.

Don't Call Him A Cowboy: Masculinity, Cowboy Drag, and A Costume Change

Abstract Informed by feminism and theories of masculinity and space, this ethnography explores how gay men negotiate hegemonic masculinity in a country-western gay bar, focusing specifically on how the bars clientele use dress as a marker of hegemonic masculinity and how bar patrons change their dress (and consequently their masculinity) as they migrate to other bars in the city. By examining social practices and cultural descriptions, the author is able to discern how gay men engaged in a negotiation process that included both acquiescence and opposition to heteromasculine ideologies which simultaneously reinforce and challenge hegemonic masculinity but always remain connected to symbolic power, strength, and self worth as gay men.

Living the game of hide and seek: Leisure in the lives of gay and lesbian young adults

Abstract Little attention has been given to gays and lesbians in leisure research. Increased understanding of the issues surrounding gay and lesbian people can enhance the leisure of individuals of non‐dominant sexual orientations and allow them to construct positive, self‐expressive leisure experiences. Using a symbolic interactionist approach, this study explored how gay and lesbian young adults assign meaning to their leisure and what role leisure plays in their identity development. Interviews were conducted with 19 gay and lesbian young adults. Three major themes were identified through constant comparative data analysis: negotiation of comfort within leisure, the experience of homophobia, and a desire for group enclosure in leisure. Implications and suggestions for eliminating heterosexism in leisure are discussed based on these findings.

It's complicated: collective memories of transgender, queer, and questioning youth in high school.

Using the qualitative participatory action methodology, collective memory work, this study explored how transgender, queer, and questioning (TQQ) youth make meaning of their sexual orientation and gender identity through high school experiences. Researchers identified three major conceptual but overlapping themes from the data generated in the transgender, queer, and questioning youth focus group: a need for resilience, you should be able to be safe, and this is what action looks like! The researchers discuss how as a research product, a documentary can effectively “capture voices” of participants, making research accessible and attractive to parents, practitioners, policy makers, and participants.

Writing Ourselves at Risk: Using Self-narrative in Working for Social Justice

I have recently been thinking of how to be “virtuous” as I engage in doing qualitative research for social justice. In this essay, I explore the complexities and risks involved in representing the researcher-self amidst competing (and perhaps false) dichotomies of the personal/professional life and the scholar/activist. To do so, I deconstruct places in my scholarship where I was willing (consciously and unconsciously) to take risks, where I took risks but was socialized to conform, where I am still unwilling to take the risk and where I am currently writing the risky. The goal is to create a dialogue about the perplexities that surround representing the “researcher self” with goals for social justice.

What a man ought to be, he is far from: collective meanings of masculinity and race in media.

Abstract The products of popular culture not only provide pleasure but also impart information about our gendered and racial identities. In line with feminist and critical race theories, we used collective memory work to encourage young men to recall, examine, and analyze their earliest memories of media to connect their individual experiences to shared experiences of similar and/or different groups in society. We present the mens memories interwoven with analysis and interpretations focusing on four major themes: (a) media perpetuates violent/aggressive expectations of men and women as objects; (b) mens leisure is marked by racial stereotypes; (c) men use media to construct racial identity; (d) media can be used as a catalyst for understanding White male privilege. The process also gave participants an opportunity to engage the “crisis of representation” as they solidified and challenged their own hegemonic thinking in relation to what it means to be men of different races.