Heather Mair

A paradox of images: representation of China as a tourist destination.

Abstract This paper analyzes the image(s) of China as a tourist destination through the representational narratives of major English newspapers. Feature travel accounts—thirty-five articles from twenty sources—were used as information-rich discourse to explore the portrayal of the destinations image. Data were obtained through a focused search from LexisNexis Academic—one of the largest databases of international newspapers, and coded through Nudist Nvivo for an inductive analysis. It was found that a paradox of images has emerged from the contrasting perceptions of the changing versus the unchanged in the representational dynamics. The finding of paradoxical images provides an alternative to the interpretation of representational frames or patterns prevalent in the academic discourse with regard to the portrayal of culturally different tourist destinations. Implications, limitations of this analysis and future research issues are also discussed.

Putting the culture back into agriculture: civic engagement, community and the celebration of local food

This paper reports on the case study of a community-supported agriculture (CSA) farm in south-western Ontario, Canada. As an exemplar of urban agriculture, Fourfold Farm CSA operates from an alternative agriculture paradigm and is built upon the socio-ecological practices of civic engagement, community and the celebration of local food. Analysis of in-depth, key informant interviews with members of the CSA as well as the co-founders reveals the extent to which the farm is much more than a source of healthy, organic food. The paper outlines the ways the CSA operators and their members articulate a deeper endeavour to link urban food consumers with food producers through cultural activities. The discussion concludes with a call for more social research in agriculture as well as a broader effort to articulate the ways urban agriculture can contribute to putting the culture back into agriculture and creating sustainable systems of farming.

Global Restructuring and Local Responses: Investigating Rural Tourism Policy in Two Canadian Communities

The paper examines the relationship between rural development strategies and tourism in two Canadian communities from 1975 to 2000. Concentrating on these case studies, the paper utilises a political economy approach to consider the forces leading to tourism having been positioned as a saviour in local economic development, and makes links between this and overarching ideological changes within the globalising capitalist economy. As capital cements its latest form through the withdrawal of the state and the extension of the consumption, service-based economy, tourism is naturalised as an appropriate policy response to rural development problems. The response of local governing structures to this era of political and economic restructuring can be seen as a move towards establishing a new regime of accumulation based upon the service industry. It is argued that the actions of the local state cannot be considered without a reflection upon the broader political economy; tourism is presented as a policy option that is part of a more general response to the changing place of rural areas in the continental and global economy. The paper contributes to a growing literature addressing strategies of tourism promotion within the context of economic development as four dimensions are presented: rationale, responsibility, execution, and content.

Seeking Judgment Free Spaces: Poverty, Leisure, and Social Inclusion

Abstract This study explored the experiences and meanings of leisure for individuals living in poverty and who are homeless or at imminent risk of becoming homeless. Results show that a key component for moving toward leisure that addresses our most challenging social ills rests with its power to create “judgment free spaces.” Three themes emerged: (1) the significance of vibrant organizations where acceptance, not exposure, is fostered; (2) a need for increased opportunities to become, and remain, connected to the broader community and to choose how this connection is manifested; and (3) the importance of personal and private spaces that are both safe and appropriate. The paper concludes with a call to re-think the spaces where leisure occurs.

Tourism and community development vs. tourism for community development: Conceptualizing planning as power, knowledge, and control

Abstract The paper aims to contribute to the debates surrounding community‐based tourism planning by re‐visiting the foundations of planning and injecting the discussion with more radical considerations of community development practice. Using a framework of planning traditions set out by Friedmann in 1987, it is argued that while the growth in community‐based tourism planning literature represents an important shift away from more traditional, “top down” approaches, tourism planning needs to go much further to meet broader community development goals. The social transformation traditions within planning, namely social mobilization, social learning and radical planning models, are introduced as potential avenues for the development of tourism planning that is grounded in considerations of community development. The potential of this approach for the fostering of empowerment and local control is highlighted as tourism is “decentered” and community development re‐prioritized.

The politics of eating: Food practices as critically reflexive leisure

Abstract We eat every day; it is both leisure and work for all of us. And yet, dramatically few of us have examined food practices with a leisure studies lens. Closer scrutiny, however, reveals a deeply political practice embedded in popular culture. Three cases are used to highlight the politics of leisure and food: the Slow Food Movement, the food justice movement, and the organic farming movement. Each case represents a particular dimension—pleasure, activism, and empowerment—of a political practice that is grounded in reflection, resistance, and alternative visions. Together they constitute a form of critically reflexive leisure that broadens our understanding of the field, builds interdisciplinary relationships between leisure studies and other disciplines, and helps us to better take into account vital issues such as sustainability, health, and climate change.

Notes from the Sports Club: Confessional Tales of Two Researchers

Reflexive forms of field research acknowledge the impact of the researcher in the production and interpretation of ethnographic data. In this article we highlight and discuss issues that stemmed from their critical reflection while conducting field research in a small sports club in rural Canada. We give consideration to the nature of their role relationships, participation, performances, and negotiation of balance and distance. The resultant self-revealing text provides the basis for discussion on issues relating to power, representation, subjectivity, and interpretation.

The Potential of Interdisciplinarity for Leisure Research

Interdisciplinarity has the potential to reflect, assess, and even re-structure how social life is experienced and understood. Interdisciplinarity presents a way not only to build upon and enhance the descriptive capacity of leisure theory but also to challenge how researchers question, understand, frame, and provide solutions to broader social problems. In this essay, I explore concepts of interdisciplinarity and consider its potential for the leisure field. Incorporating an interdisciplinary approach based upon a dialectical mode of inquiry and concentrating on relationships and context can help leisure researchers to forward the debates regarding the place and role of leisure in social life as well as the development of concepts and theories. Further, revealing new understandings and approaches can shake the foundations of theory, research, knowledge, and validity. Using a few examples from past and current research, I explore how a critical interdisciplinary approach can strengthen leisure and tourism research by allowing a variety of perspectives to converse with one another. As a field of social inquiry, leisure has been investigated from a variety of approaches including economics, psychology, geography, sociology, anthropology, gender studies, history, environmental science, and cultural studies. Although these approaches have contributed to a more sophisticated understanding of leisure, they have generally been either discipline-based or multidisciplinary. In addition, the body of theoretical work has been relatively thin due to borrowing concepts and tools from “parent” disciplines. Although interdisciplinary approaches in leisure and tourism fields are growing, they are still the minority. In many instances, the location of leisure, recreation, and tourism studies departments within the confines of particular university faculties and/or business schools limits their reach and exposure to other ways of thinking. Many researchers embrace opportunities to build upon their disciplinary training, but more possibilities remain to systematically enhance these opportunities and to encourage exploration outside of the intellectual comfort zones fostered by disciplinary training. When confronted with a new way of thinking about leisure, are researchers encouraged to learn about other disciplinary traditions and methods of inquiry? Is there enough time and opportunity to have a meaningful conversation across the disciplinary divides?

Leisure research and social change: A millennial state of the art

Abstract This paper reports on an effort by the authors to engender debate about the state of leisure research. We seek to respond to those in the field who have challenged us to think about whether our research and practice is actively engaging issues of social change. To do this, we developed an analytical framework based upon the major tenets of critical theory and used it to evaluate the abstracts from four leisure research journals from 2000–2004. By presenting our framework and evaluation criteria, we are in no way judging the quality of these articles or their respective journals. We are, however, seeking to provoke discussion about the direction of the field as we present the results of our assessment and offer suggestions for further evaluations and possible directions for future research.

Organic farm volunteering as a decommodified tourist experience

Volunteer tourism has been shown to foster cross-cultural understanding between participants and hosts. Providing opportunities to connect with like-minded participants, volunteer tourism experiences encourage consciousness-raising and future social and environmental actions. However, the laudable aims of volunteer tourism have been critiqued as their transformative capacities are overshadowed by industry attributes. Volunteering on organic farms, a movement associated with World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms, mirrors components of volunteer tourism, although research on the nexus between the two is limited. Thus, through an exploration of volunteer experiences on organic farms in Argentina, this article advances our theoretical understanding of how volunteer tourism intersects with organic farm experiences and examines the possibilities and limitations of the “decommodification” paradigm in the volunteer tourism literature.