Kevin Lyons

Ambiguities in volunteer tourism: a case study of Australians participating in a J-1 visitor exchange programme.

This study critically challenges the implied unproblematic categorizations of tourism by exploring cultural exchange as an ambiguous form of volunteer tourism. Specifically, this article presents findings from a case study of a group of Australian participating in a J-1 visitor exchange programme in the United States. The findings of this study suggest that cultural exchange as a form of volunteer tourism creates a number of potentially ambiguous and conflicting roles for participants. These include the roles of cultural ambassador, underpaid employee, reluctant volunteer, and forced packaged tourist. The findings of this study challenges current approaches to volunteer tourism that argues that this type of tourism creates a context in which postmodern notions of agentic freedom associated with hybridity may be exercised. This paper concludes by discussing implication for research and management in the area of volunteer tourism.

A Predictive Model of Chronic Time Pressure in the Australian Population: Implications for Leisure Research

Time pressure is a perception of being rushed or pressed for time. In its most extreme form, time pressure has implications for leisure, health and wellbeing. Although previous findings from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) show that time pressure affects large numbers of Australians (ABS, 1998; Bittman, 1998), no research has addressed chronic time pressure (ie. always feeling time pressured). This study aims to use selected demographic variables to develop a model to predict chronic time pressure in the Australian population. The implications of chronic time pressure for leisure research are also discussed.

The effect of short-term educational travel programs on environmental citizenship

Short-term study abroad is the fastest growing area of international education and there is increasing interest in the role of modified applications of this form (e.g. faculty-led, field/environmental, and/or educational travel) in influencing global citizenship. Using an empirical database of over 650 students registered for a study abroad course in sustainable development offered in Australia and New Zealand, we explore the effect of short-term educational travel programs on environmental citizenship. We also identify differences among key student characteristics (past study abroad experience, gender, and program destination) in influencing citizenry. Results show that participation in the educational travel program significantly moderates (decreases) the difference in environmental citizenship scores for first-timers (vs. those with past experience in study abroad) and program destination, but increases the difference in environmental citizenship for males vs. females. Implications for destination image and national brand marketing of environmental-oriented educational travel programs are discussed.

Global Citizenship as a Learning Outcome of Educational Travel

Consistent with the Tourism Education Futures Initiative (TEFI) values, universities need to adequately prepare their graduates with the skills and knowledge needed in a global society. Correspondingly, U.S. universities have prioritized the development of study abroad to foster a global mindset. We offer that short-term, experiential educational travel programs provide a critical platform to foster global citizenship when coupled with sound pedagogy. Underpinned by a modified Value-Belief-Norm (VBN) framework, empirical evidence showcases global citizenship as a “value-added” learning outcome of educational travel. Moving forward, an updated model is needed to understand the juncture where students’ perspectives shift and new meanings are made.

Non-resident fathers' leisure with their children

Abstract Increasing instances of divorce, de‐facto separation and non‐marital childbirth in westernised states have led to growing numbers of fathers living separately from their children. In Australia these non‐resident fathers now number approximately 400,000. Despite increasing evidence that fathers can be central to their children’s education, health and wellbeing, and that for many non‐resident fathers contact with their children is important and highly desirable but inadequate, research on non‐resident fathers, fatherhood and family as aspects of contemporary western society is lacking. In particular, few investigators have explored the qualitative dimensions of non‐resident parent–child contact and the role of leisure within this. This paper establishes parameters for future investigation into the levels, nature, meanings and impacts of leisure involving non‐resident fathers and their children. Drawing on an international literature and with particular emphasis on the Australian context, it critically analyses the context of non‐resident fathers’ leisure with their children. It examines the problematic terms of ‘father’ and ‘non‐resident father’, describes the models of contact that occur between non‐resident fathers and their children, and summarises the factors affecting that contact. The paper then turns to research into family and leisure, drawing attention to the salience of leisure in non‐resident parenting while also highlighting the lack of substantive research into this area. Particular attention is paid to the trivialising of ‘leisure’ as a parenting activity in this context, and the underplaying of the positive qualities that leisure‐based interaction may contribute. The paper concludes by suggesting initial directions for research into the role of leisure within the relationship that non‐resident parents have with their children.

Reflections on the ambiguous intersections between volunteering and tourism

In this paper we critique the intersections between volunteering and tourism and consider how these have been treated in scholarly research. We highlight how current narrow definitions of volunteer tourism may be obscuring activities which could further expand our understanding of the intersections of volunteering and tourism. We reflect on three examples from our own research to explore atypical volunteer tourism activities that push at the current boundaries of volunteer tourism conceptualizations and definitions.

Global citizenry, educational travel and sustainable tourism: evidence from Australia and New Zealand.

Educational travel, a neglected area of study in sustainable tourism, has grown substantially over the last 20 years in part as a response to institutional missions to promote international education, but also as a result of the USAs national security concerns to nurture a global citizenry. Considerable future growth is predicted following the bipartisan Lincoln Commission report and under the pending new legislation in the USA. Our pre-test/post-test study of almost 5% (n = 651 US students) of the entire short-term, US educational travel market to Australia and New Zealand between 2008 and 2009 revealed significant differences between the cohorts of the two programs, both of which focused on sustainable development. The Australia program not only produced significant increases in global citizenship (as measured by scores on consumer behaviors, support for environmental policies, and environmental citizenship) beyond that of the New Zealand program, but any initial differences between the programs were erased following participation. Reasons for the differences in attitude change are discussed. Analysis also noted key differences between students with different political orientations, but no gender differences. Implications for managing educational travel, marketing Australias and New Zealands tourism, sustainable tourism planning, and theory advancements are discussed.

Exploring the Meanings of Community Among Summer Camp Staff

Abstract This article describes an ethnographic study that explores the experiences of ‘community’ among staff who work in a summer camp and how those experiences are developed, interpreted and reinforced through the daily practices and routines that are a central part of the camp context. The main findings reported in this study show that the development of feelings of community at the camp was a product of an intentional effort undertaken by the staff and management and that this intentionality focused upon creating clear boundaries of inclusion that enabled the community to be clearly delineated. A second major finding of this study was that clarity of the community boundaries reinforced the gendered power relations that tempered the trust between staff. This study supports recent research that recognises that community is both beneficial and potentially costly to individuals who play a part in its development.

Room to Move? The challenges of career mobility for tourism education

Abstract This paper critically examines the degree to which tourism education prepares students for professional career mobility. It considers the changing nature of a professional tourism career and highlights a disconnection between the realities of career mobility that dominate the industry and the linear careers that tourism education promotes and tourism graduates expect. This paper illustrates how this disconnectedness has manifested in tourism education in Australia, and argues that a focus on occupation-specific skills in the vocational education and training (VET) and higher education sectors has failed to adequately prepare graduates for mobile careers in and beyond the tourism industry. It concludes by suggesting that alternatives to preparing students for career mobility are available but require shifting focus from a skills-centric approach to one that emphasizes developing in students an ability to strategically plan for portfolio careers.

Wolves Among Sheep? The Role of Men in a Feminist Leisure Studies

A little less than a decade ago, I attended the first-ever conference in the United States that focused entirely on women and leisure. My decision to attend was in part due to an interest I had developed through reading a number of challenging feminist theorists who critiqued the androcentricity of leisure studies. As a neophyte in the academic world, I became interested in feminism and leisure and the scholarly and critical perspectives it provided. As a man, however, my experience at that conference raised an important question that I have struggled with ever since: What role, if any, should men play in a feminist leisure studies? Based on my memory of the various comments that circulated among other male attendees at that conference and my subsequent interactions with other men in our field, it seems that I am not alone in seeking answers to this question. Part of the reason this question remains is that it represents a general feeling of discomfort many men may find difficult to articulate when engaging with feminist perspectives. This discomfort seems to be based on the fact that feminism and male involvement, at least on the surface, seems incompatible and that [we] men are either directly or indirectly responsible for women’s oppression. One of the men attending the conference suggested that our involvement in a feminist leisure studies was analogous to being a wolf among sheep. I tended to agree with this view even though the “enlightening” of men to feminism may have helped feminists’ “cause.” However, as Heath has suggested, bringing men “on board is futile as . . . a man’s relation to feminism is an impossible one . . . no matter how sincere, sympathetic or whatever, we are always also in a male position” (1987, p. 1). Any effort a man makes to be a feminist will never eventuate because of his maleness. This presents a significant stumbling block not only for men but also for the progression of feminist leisure studies toward Henderson’s (1994) description of a new feminist scholarship, which necessarily needs to include men’s voices. This stumbling block has inspired me to compose this essay. This inquiry cannot be completely answered here. However, all journeys need a starting point. This essay is designed to begin a discussion about alternatives and to help other academics, both men and women, to think about the role of men in feminist leisure studies.