Felice Yuen

Building community and social capital through children's leisure in the context of an international camp.

The purpose of the study was to explore the extent to which participation in leisure activities directed towards cooperation and effective communication affected the development of social capital and sense of community in a group of children at an international camp. Methods of data collection included participant observation and focus groups, which included drawings as a part of the focus group procedure. Through an inductive analysis of qualitative data gathered from 32 eleven-year old campers, leisure was observed to provide a common ground for the childrens relationship building and the development of shared meanings. The findings suggest that leisure can provide a foundation for the development of shared meanings through the process of participation and social learning, which in turn is conducive to the emergence of social capital and community.

It was fun...I liked drawing my thoughts: using drawings as a part of the focus group process with children.

Little research in leisure studies has involved the use of drawings as a method of data collection with children. When involving children in qualitative research, one of the major challenges is for the adult investigator to capture the experiences and meanings from the childrens perspective. This article discusses four contexts in which drawings can contribute to the research process when conducting focus groups with children: 1) to facilitate a relaxed atmosphere, 2) to gain insight into the childrens perspective, 3) to provide structure and focus the discussion, and 4) to recognize and reduce the potential of group-think. The manuscript concludes by recommending that drawings can be used as a methodological technique to help elicit meaningful responses from children.

Leisure as a Context for Justice: Experiences of Ceremony for Aboriginal Women in Prison

Abstract The purpose of this paper is to examine the leisure experiences of Aboriginal women in a Canadian federal prison as they engaged in traditional ceremony. Conceptualized as leisure, these ceremonies were examined in the context of justice by exploring the womens resistance to oppression and loss of identity rooted in colonization. The findings of the study suggest that through ceremony, Aboriginal womens identities and understanding of being Aboriginal evolved from pain and shame to pride and connection with cultural values and traditions. Through cultural ceremonies, the women experienced liberation from a colonialized Aboriginal identity. In this process of liberation, women resisted and refocused the dominant conceptualization of justice based on white ideologies of crime and punishment, to encompass Aboriginal forms of justice, as manifest in the collective maintenance of harmony and balance.

Social justice and women leaving prison: beyond punishment and exclusion

Questions related to social justice are often considered frivolous or irrelevant in the context of people who come into conflict with the law. Young (1990, Justice and the politics of difference, Princeton University Press) has pointed to the importance of social justice, especially in societies where the dominant perspective of the privileged is regarded as neutral (and presumably fair), while others remain oppressed and excluded. We investigate the relevance of social justice in the treatment of women who are in prison. Based on more than a decade of practice and four years of research with women in one of Canadas federal prisons for women, we explore the question of social justice in the context of a recreation and leisure initiative whose aim is to assist women not only while they are incarcerated but most especially on release. The social recreation program is brought into the prison by a restorative justice community‐based organization. Men and women from the community come into the prison to recreate together and, in that context of natural conversation, relaxation and dialogue, Circles of support may develop. If a Circle is formed, volunteer members then follow the woman into the community and support her efforts to live as a participating citizen on release. The relevance of the work of Circles in furthering social justice within a system that, despite recent potentially innovative approaches to incarcerating women, has struggled to move beyond traditional practices of punishment and exclusion, which tend not to encourage strong and healthy community life, will be explored.

Community (Dis)connection Through Leisure for Women in Prison

This article examines incarcerated womens leisure and re-entry into community. Framed in creative analytic practice, two poems reflect two major themes: (1) womens experiences of disconnection from community prior to and deepened by experiences in prison and (2) leisure and community re-entry, which describes complex meanings of leisure for women in prison and implications for return to community. These poems elucidate six often incongruous facets of leisure experience. Structures embedded in leisure service provision stigmatize and limit rather than encourage opportunities for incarcerated women to make personal choices regarding leisure. Leisure also provides contexts of relationship and humanity for women as they re-enter community.

Leisure Spaces, Community, and Third Places

ABSTRACT After decades of highlighting the decline of social networks, leisure spaces as third places constitute a welcomed approach to mediate this loss. Third places are defined as public gathering places that ultimately contribute to the strength of community. We appreciate the concept and believe that it has and will continue to influence scholars in the field of leisure. For this reason, this research reflection argues Oldenburgs conceptualization of third places requires reconsideration. Specifically, we address the increasing prevalence of technology and question Oldenburgs claim that technology contributes to the isolation of individuals. We also encourage a more complex understanding of third places—one that is beyond the idealized notion of public places. Oldenburgs social dimensions of third places (enjoyment, regularity, pure sociability/social leveler, and diversity) are offered as a useful framework. More specifically, we argue that diversity is the most relevant characteristic when exploring third places as a platform for community.

Building Juniper: Chinese Canadian motivations for volunteering and experiences of community development

This study highlights the importance of social bonds for Chinese Canadians and the critical role they play in engaging volunteers. The discussion examines the impact of using strong ties in a community development project, and culturally based leisure is presented as a context that can be used to develop and mobilize Chinese Canadian communities. More specifically, the findings of this study suggest that culturally based leisure contributes to community capacity at three levels of social agency (network, organizational and individual) by (1) offering a context for bonding and building solidarity among members of a minority population, (2) providing a framework for integration and adaptation by fostering a sense of belonging and sense of community and (3) acting as a bridge to mainstream society.

“I've never been so free in all my life”: healing through Aboriginal ceremonies in prison

The purpose of this article is to examine the leisure experiences of Aboriginal women in a Canadian federal prison as they engaged in traditional ceremony. This study explores how Aboriginal womens experiences of ceremony, conceptualized as leisure, challenged the controlling environment of the prison and contributed to the release of pain and other feelings that resulted from traumatic events. The healing experiences of the Aboriginal women in this study are ultimately contrasted with the oppressive environment of the prison. The findings suggest that surveillance, discipline and punishment were replaced with a safe and secure emotional space, which provided an environment for the women to collectively reveal their vulnerabilities and begin to heal. This process of healing led to the embodiment of Sisterhood, which was portrayed through the development of mutually trusting, caring and supportive relationships.

Evocative Words and Ethical Crafting: Poetic Representation in Leisure Research

ABSTRACT In recent years, leisure scholars have increasingly used creative analytic practice (CAP). Poetic representation is one form of CAP that allows researchers to synthesize findings and represent the data while highlighting the emotional aspects of the lived experience. Despite the increased use of CAP in leisure research, little has been written about the process of using poetry as a form of representation. This article focuses on the process and experiences of creating poems to represent data from a study about leisure and Aboriginal womens healing. It describes how researcher location and subjectivity can impact ethical practice, as well as the aesthetic and epistemological tensions that can occur. It introduces the term “Ethical Crafting,” which denotes that aesthetic attention to detail is at the same time an ethical practice. Finally, this article highlights the importance of researcher intuition and emotion, and argues for a reflexive practice to negotiate the tensions experienced in the poetic process.

Transitions in identity, belonging, and citizenship and the possibilities of inclusion for women leaving prison: implications for therapeutic recreation

ABSTRACT Exclusion is a major social issue in Canada. Women who have spent time in prison are particularly vulnerable to exclusionary practices. In this paper, we present findings from a study that examined how women who have returned to the community after incarceration experienced inclusion through their involvement in a community art project. By sharing the insights and experiences of women who participated in the research, we discuss how women’s inclusion was tied to conceptualizations of identity, belonging, and citizenship. We draw on these findings to suggest shifts in therapeutic recreation practice that can enhance inclusion for people most susceptible to being excluded and balance individual transformation with social change. Our hope is that these shifts will more closely align therapeutic recreation with the advancement of inclusive citizenship and social justice.