Recreation and Leisure Studies

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://uwspace.uwaterloo.ca/handle/10012/9898

This is the collection for the University of Waterloo's Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies.

Research outputs are organized by type (eg. Master Thesis, Article, Conference Paper).

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Browsing Recreation and Leisure Studies by Author "Berbary, Lisbeth"

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    Do we really get to choose our own story? (Re)imagining community support with transgender and non-binary older adults
    (University of Waterloo, 2020-09-29) Flanagan, Ashley Kate; Berbary, Lisbeth
    Today’s transgender (trans) and non-binary older adults are some of the first 2SLGBTQIA+ individuals to live openly with diverse sexual and/or gender identities (Services & Advocacy for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual & Transgender Elders & Movement Advancement Project, 2010). As a result, we can also expect to see the greatest number of trans and non-binary older adults ever recorded; trends that reflect Canadian population growth (Witten, 2003). Despite the growth in number of trans and non-binary older adults, the need for trans and non-binary folx to negotiate ageist and cis/heteronormative societal expectations for gender and aging becomes more, not less, relevant. Specifically, histories of cis/heteronormativity may come together with, and are compounded by: (1) general fears and concerns for aging, (2) challenges finding community support within the LGBTQIA2S+ community that is inclusive of aging and old age; and (3) challenges finding community support for aging and old age inclusive of trans and non-binary identities. Actual and perceived forms discrimination, harassment, and/or violence, which stem from transphobic, ageist, racist, classist, ableist, and homophobic attitudes and stereotypes, impact opportunities and barriers to community support and influence one’s ability to age “well” (Bauer & Scheim, 2015; Cahill, South, & Spade, 2000; Fabbre, 2015). As a result, trans and non-binary older adult bodies manifest a distinct social location, which create barriers for easily finding and accessing community supports that value these interconnected identities. Community supports (i.e., family relationships, friends(hips), online forums, formal programs and services, pet companionship, self-care), when experienced through bodies that are old or trans and/or non-binary bodies, often have a positive impact on wellbeing (Mock et al., 2020). In particular, literature on engagement with community supports cites benefits such as; reduced risk of mortality and depression, better cognitive and psychological health, and better self-perceived health and health behaviours (Gilmour, 2012). Given this recognition, it is reasonable to assume that community support may become even more relevant to counteract experiences of ageism and cis/heteronormativity lived together by trans and non-binary older adults (among other labels of interconnected discriminations). Building on findings from Bauer Pyne, Francinio, and Hammond (2013), I approached this inquiry that sought to hear experiences of community support as a social justice issue impacting the well-being of trans and non-binary older adults who live in communities across Southern Ontario. Using a scaffolding of queer and critical gerontological theories to think with, this case study (Thomas, 2011a, 2011b, 2013, 2016) explored how the interconnections of aging, old age, and gender identity influence (and are influenced by) trans and non-binary older adults’ experiences, perceptions, and desires of/for community support in Southern Ontario. I conducted: (1) unstructured narrative interviews with nine trans and non-binary older adults, (2) semi-structured program evaluation interviews with six community organizers, (3) over 20 hours of observations took place in various settings, and (4) initiated collection of over 140 documents for analysis. By (re)presenting the data that emerged as an interactive story (i.e., branching narrative or “Choose-Your-Own-Adventure” story), we begin to see the multiplicity, complexity, and juxtaposition of trans and non-binary older adults’ experiences, perceptions, and desires of/for community support. Through the multiple branches of the interactive story, we will explore the kinds of community support that exist—or are perceived to exist—within the lives of trans and non-binary older adults, in order to better understand the aspects of community support that are affirming, beneficial, detrimental, unfulfilled, ignored, or imagined from the perspective of transgender and non-binary older adults and community organizers. In so doing, we catch a glimpse of how community support functions (or not) within the lives of trans and non-binary older adults in relation to sense of aging, gender identity, and wellbeing. While this inquiry centres living narratives that embody the interconnections of aging and gender identity, I also acknowledge and take-up discussions of race and class as they connect to the lives of trans and non-binary older adults. Ultimately, working to understand the triumphs and challenges presented by the interconnections of aging, gender identity, and community support opens up opportunities for transferrable knowledge about community support that enables a re-imagining of the ways trans and non-binary older adults engage with their communities—within and beyond Ontario.
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    Mothers with Lower-Incomes and Community Programming: Illuminating Narratives of Access and Experience in Kitchener
    (University of Waterloo, 2016-06-07) Masson, Kristin; Berbary, Lisbeth
    While motherhood is a wonderful experience full of love and joy, it continues to involve tremendous amounts of change in all areas of a new mother’s life. While leisure activities, such as the ones offered at community supported programs, may help to improve mothers’ experiences, many mothers still do not participate. Furthermore, literature was needed to better illuminate the complexities of mothers’ experiences of gaining awareness and access to community supported programming, specifically recognizing the intersectionality of class and gender. Thus, this socialist feminist narrative inquiry sought to create opportunities for social change by illuminating the gendered and classed experiences of mothers while gaining awareness, access, and experiencing community supported programming. Through the use of unstructured life story interviews, notions of gendered expectations, patriarchy, class, and inequality were brought to the forefront and questioned. Through this exploration, this research also discussed the possible transformations and changes that the mothers interviewed thought would improve their experiences.
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    Thinkacting through liberatory frames: (re)imagining the academy beyond
    (University of Waterloo, 2021-08-12) Pirruccio, Michela; Berbary, Lisbeth
    After being burnt down by the liberal politics of the university, I call for a (re)imagining of its structure that can offer hope for those seeking a home in academia. This thesis asks the question, “how can we thinkact differently?” by engaging with a plurality of frames that offer grass-roots possibilities for the students, researchers, staff, and faulty members whose identities and politic are often targeted by the reproduction of status quo. I suggest a reaching out unto anarchist, abolitionist, and Indigenous liberatory frames as means of moving beyond the traditions of the neo liberal university, towards emotional, just, and actionable futurities.
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    Unbearable Fruits
    (University of Waterloo, 2023-09-27) Moran, Robyn; Berbary, Lisbeth
    Counter to my bodily instincts, abstract writing demands we make something evident in the interest of time (Loveless, 2019). I’ve been state power, settler colonialism, neighbourhood change and/or gentrification, queer politics, homonationalism, mobilities, and placemaking (or place-taking and place un-making). Accordingly, I have situated at the nexus of political economy (i.e., neoliberalism, rainbow capitalism, racial capitalism) and “the cultural politics of emotion” (i.e., affect theory). I've organized the fruits of this labour in three manuscripts (crucially, supported by a handful of addendums, audio-visual, and arts-based components). Across this work, I argue that although "gentrification" lacks consensus definition or measure, as we move towards a more entangled understanding, identification with neighbourhood change processes like 'gentrification' (e.g., an emerging sense of loss, fear of change, felt exclusion, attuning to power) may produce an uncomfortably self-aware political dissonance, where Canadian settler colonialism is operates quietly through the (re)production of queer space. This tension is well symbolized by the growing tendency to include Indigenous design motifs (e.g., a medicine wheel, purple symbolizing Two Row Wampum) as part of the now commonplace rainbow crosswalk. In our worried clammer for cultural sustainability, memorialization, and/or to save the gaybourhood and gay bar from its post-gay demise, have we ignored the ways queer placemaking may also be place-taking? With that in mind, I guess I am left wondering: Why would someone ever want to read this document? It's grievous stuff. “Unbearable,” insofar as the relief from one anxiety simply affords another, resulting in what Berlant (2022, p. 151) described as “a threat that feels like a threat.” I don’t want to be “here” (Jones et al., 2020, p. 402).
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    “The world has always been like a comic book world to me”: Examining representations of queer stories in comics and other media
    (University of Waterloo, 2022-05-13) Caza, Kelsey; Berbary, Lisbeth
    Engagement with media has become the most popular form of leisure in our lives with approximately 40% of leisure time being dedicated to television viewing alone (Mullen, 2020). The consumption of books, graphic novels/comics, videogames, movies, and TV have only increased since the start COVID-19 pandemic (Doherty, Millar & Misener, 2020; Reid, 2021). Due to media’s significant impact on our cultural beliefs, it is becoming increasingly important to be conscious of the messages being relayed particularly those around queer identities as they have historically been reduced to unjust portrayals or erased from media entirely (Gerber et al., 2002; Meyer, 2020; Key, 2015; Corey, 2017). This thesis seeks to examine the ways media, and specifically comic books/graphic novels, represent queer identities. In this thesis, I use a text, context, paratext analysis to explore a graphic novel, The Legend of Korra: Turf Wars; secondary data that examines the lived experiences of bisexual women living in Waterloo Region; and social media posts discussing the queer representation in my chosen graphic novel. I highlight the importance of continuing to include just and meaningful queer representations in mainstream media.