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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Now showing 1 - 11 of 11

Addressing Cultural Vulnerabilities in Arctic Tourism: Kindness as 'Third Space'
(University of Waterloo, 2016-09-20) Leeming, Julie; Grimwood, Bryan
The changing climate and its impending impacts on Northern regions has ultimately initiated increased interest in Arctic tourism, providing tourists with a rationale for travel to these regions before they deteriorate further, or completely vanish (Lemelin et al., 2010; Hall & Saarinen, 2010). Previous research examining impacts of tourism in Arctic regions denotes that when tourism is introduced into rural and sparsely populated arctic regions, local communities may become overwhelmed by the influx of visitors, causing various forms of social tension, and more prominent feelings of invasion and vulnerability (Fay & Karlsdottir, 2011; Kajan, 2014). While there is evidence that tourism can easily foster impersonal and hostile relationships between tourists and host populations, it is imperative to also recognize that trust and understanding between cultures in tourism can exist in situations or encounters where tourists and hosts can move beyond the prescriptions or constructions that solidify cultural difference, and beyond “the constraints of a dominant hegemonic culture,” into what is termed the third space – a space that creates an intercultural context for symbolic interaction (Wearing & Wearing, 2006, p. 153). Using tourism in Iceland as a context, this thesis seeks to define and discuss the third space framework through the narratives of Icelandic hosts and visiting tourists, and their positive encounters of kindness and responsibility. Results of this ethnographic inquiry revealed that such encounters do have the potential to bridge initial feelings of cultural difference and vulnerability, ultimately creating a space of mutual understanding and cultural learning between the host and tourist, and enabling increased resiliency among the host population. This study also revealed specific social/cultural, spatial/environmental, and temporal circumstances enabling kindness to function in a tourism context.
Becoming-with More-than-human Protected Areas
(University of Waterloo, 2023-11-28) Hurst, Chris E.; Grimwood, Bryan
The planet is currently undergoing immense and permanent geological change and environmental decline, a period some scholars have referred to as the Anthropocene. Climate change and environmental events, biodiversity declines, wildfires, flooding, pollution, and pandemics are changing the ways in which we engage with the natural environment – as tourist and recreationist. Protected areas, and Parks in particular, are uniquely placed within this broader context of environmental crises in Canada on account of their dual mandate to both facilitate positive visitor experiences and to conserve the ecology and heritage of a site. Tethered to these mandate positions are anthropocentric separations or distinctions between humans and nature. The first, visitor experience, positions humans as visitors and nature as the backdrop for human recreation and tourism. The second mandate, conserving ecologies and heritage, assumes that humans as managers of these places can intervene in nature for particular outcomes, reinforcing ideas of human superiority over nonhumans and nature. Framed by posthuman philosophical, theoretical, and methodological approaches, the manuscripts, book chapter, and research note comprising this thesis work individually (and in combination) to disrupt, co-opt, challenge, and attend to concepts (i.e., anthropomorphism, affective reverberations, time, and agency) that have largely been subject to anthropocentric inscription and offer productive spaces for experimenting with different kinds of affective-sensory-material attunement practices in protected areas. The specific aims of this project are to contribute to building some of the conceptual foundations necessary for a more-than-human conservation ethic and practice premised on knowing-with, being-with, and researching-with nonhumans in nature-based tourism. With the exception of the research note, each chapter also experiments with more-than-human attunements borne of (re)enchantment (i.e., care as action) with concepts, integrating posthuman relationality and praxis with (re)presentational choices intended to evoke and affect (rather than represent per se). Each article simultaneously engages theory-methodology-(re)presentation as an iterative and entangled practice of being-with more-than-human places. Specifically, this research draws upon the sensory-attunements of walking methodologies, the methodological fluidity of methodologies without methodology, and the evocativeness of nonrepresentational methodologies, as an embodied practice of attending. Situated within more-than-human encounters in three Provincial Parks in Ontario, Canada, this thesis contributes to the growing interdisciplinary scholarship engaging with nonhumans as kin and invites us to care-with more-than-human temporalities, agency, and affectivity for more inclusive, responsive, and response-able tourism futures.
Beta and bolt hangers: An Actor-Network approach to storying the Niagara Escarpment
(University of Waterloo, 2019-09-03) Stinson, Michela Janelle; Grimwood, Bryan
Rock climbing is a messy practice that assembles dynamic landscapes, discursive regimes, processes of defacing, and the interferences of diverse more-than-humans (Barratt, 2012; Rickly, 2017; Rossiter, 2007). This thesis engages Actor-Network Theory to illuminate how the bolt hanger operates as a material-discursive token beyond the signification of a specific climbing route—as a representation of local ethics, a prompt of affect, and a delineation of territory. In their material manifestations, bolt hangers are employed within the practice of sport climbing as permanent fixtures to which climbers affix protective equipment. The placement of bolt hangers therefore interacts with practices of safety, route-finding, and beta: the sequence of movements unique to completing a climbing route (Phillips et al., 2012). Beta is further established, reinforced, and resisted through climbing practice in abundant, material-discursive ways. Orderings of beta are thus considered a more-than-human, relational configuration (Ness, 2011). In this context, beta becomes an entanglement of affect, ethic, and territory as sport climbing is recursively ordered. This thesis ultimately considers the material-discursive beta contained within the bolt hanger, and how the bolt hanger signifies a certain defacing of false binaries of human/nonhuman and nature/culture as it moves to translate the many tourismscapes of the Niagara Escarpment (Barad, 2007; Barratt, 2012; Rossiter, 2007; van der Duim, 2007).
Elephant-based Volunteer Tourism: An exploration of participant experiences and reflections on captive elephant welfare in Thailand
(University of Waterloo, 2018-01-18) Taylor, Madyson; Grimwood, Bryan
Due to the diverse forms of interaction between humans and animals, particularly in tourism settings, it is no surprise that there has been growing scholarship evaluating its intersection (Cohen, 2009; Fennell, 2012 a,b,c, 2013, 2014, 2015). In recent decades, social science researchers have begun to take up these intersections via tourist experiences encountering wildlife (Markwell, 2015) with a critical subtheme of captive animals as visitor attractions. Informed by eco-feminist philosophy, a case study of elephant-based voluntourism in Thailand is the focus in this scholarship. The purpose of this qualitative research was to understand volunteer tourist perspectives of captive elephant tourism in Thailand. Objectives of this research were to interpret stories and meanings of elephant welfare held by volunteer tourists and assess the potential of volunteer tourism to aid in the improvement of captive elephant welfare. Stories were weaved using tenets of narrative analysis (Glover, 2003; Polkinghorne, 1995) oriented through an eco-feminist lens. Interview data revealed that the process of engagement in elephant welfare and volunteering has resulted in participants feeling a moral responsibility to continue forms of advocacy. The data provides context from which to analyze and think critically about care and welfare and how these pieces may interact to influence the operative nature of tourism enterprises and the wellbeing of captive elephants.
A Mixed Methods Evaluation of the Pinery Provincial Park Smartphone Application Pilot Project
(University of Waterloo, 2019-04-11) MacDonald, Andrew; Grimwood, Bryan
Pinery Provincial Park is the first provincial park in the Ontario Parks system to launch a custom-built smartphone application. This application, titled “Explore Pinery,” was launched in January of 2016 and acts as an information dashboard for Pinery and encourages outreach and participation in citizen science activities. Despite the perceived success of this pilot project, it has not been systematically assessed or evaluated. A review of the literature shows that no comprehensive evaluation approach exists for unique and innovative projects such as this one. As such, a mixed methods evaluation was employed to holistically evaluate the Explore Pinery smartphone application. A qualitative analysis aimed to illuminate how Explore Pinery aids staff in achieving Pinery’s management objectives and a quantitative analysis aimed to understand how Explore Pinery influences visitor experiences. A thematic analysis illuminated a complex relationship between Explore Pinery and Pinery’s management objectives and that Explore Pinery encourages visitors to become environmentally responsible, dedicated park users. Regression analyses discovered that Explore Pinery does not detract from visitors’ nature connectedness, sense of place, and education levels. Attitude towards technology was revealed to be the most significant factor that determined if Explore Pinery positively impacted visitors’ experiences. Overall, Explore Pinery aids park staff in achieving on-going management objectives and best contributes to visitors with positive attitudes towards technology. Ultimately, park-specific smartphone applications are management tools that can be deployed by park managers to engage visitors in a modern world. This methodological approach can be used to evaluate future park-specific smartphone applications.
The ordinary Niagara Falls
(University of Waterloo, 2024-03-11) Stinson, Michela; Grimwood, Bryan
Tourism is a practice traditionally geared away from the ordinary; by virtue of its opposition from everyday life tourism is an act through which we see and do extraordinary things (Urry, 1992). Over time, tourism scholars have complemented and amended these conceptualizations of tourism as a spectacular practice, bringing in more nuanced understandings of tourism as a part of (and not apart from) ordinary life (Larsen, 2008). These orientations include situating the body in tourism (Veijola & Jokinen, 1994), turning toward the mundane and the proximate (Rantala et al., 2020), and positioning tourism as an ordered and assembled performance (Franklin, 2004; van der Duim, 2007). As Niagara Falls, Ontario remains a place dominated by material and discursive spectacle, I am drawn to considering the power of its “ordinary” aspects (Stewart, 2007) in the overall maintenance of its position in the global tourism landscape. Broadly, this dissertation argues that the construction of tourism at Niagara Falls is, indeed, ordinary, achieved not only thorough the larger representational work of advertising and marketing, but through the individual and collective actions of tourists, researchers, residents, and people living with/in and subsequently worldmaking (Hollinshead et al., 2009) with/in Niagara Falls, Ontario. This dissertation also argues that this ordinary work has extraordinary outcomes, and helps to locate tourism as enrolled in the further production of Canadian nationalism, settler colonialism, ruination, and state-sponsored reconciliation in Niagara Falls, Ontario. These are not new arguments, but they are arguments that I believe have urgency in the wake of accelerating climate crisis, global pandemics, and geopolitical conditions that are converging in the changing practices doing of “ordinary” tourism.
Outcomes of Natural Play and Learning Spaces: A Collaborative Case Study with KidActive
(University of Waterloo, 2017-09-22) Stevens, Zachary; Grimwood, Bryan
It has been argued that contemporary environmental issues may be in part attributable to a growing disconnect with the natural world (Liefländer, Fröhlich, Bogner, & Schultz, 2012; Louv, 2005; E. K. Nisbet, Zelenski, & Murphy, 2009; Pyle, 2003). Fortunately, there are those such as Richard Louv—who in his renowned book Last Child in the Woods brought marked attention to the increasing divide between children and the natural world—that recognize the need for a human-nature (re)connection. Louv (2005) highlights the need for innovative solutions that cater to an increasingly urbanized and technology-driven society that foster connections to nature, which are critical to the health and wellbeing of our society and planet. One such solution is a budding international interest in greening or naturalizing public playgrounds (Bell & Dyment, 2006). Although the relevant literature has made significant contributions to our understanding of naturalized playgrounds and the developmental outcomes that can be fostered in these spaces (Bell & Dyment, 2006; Moore, 2014; Raffan, 2000), current research fails to acknowledge the potential for naturalized play spaces to promote place meanings and an environmental ethic, which have implications on children’s connections and relationships with nature. Through a qualitative and collaborative case study of KidActive’s Natural Play and Learning Spaces (NPLS) program, this research project focused on identifying, understanding, and evaluating perceptions associated with naturalized playgrounds and the role they play in fostering nature connection, place meanings, and outcomes linked to individual and community wellbeing. Informed by tenets of participatory research, evaluative research, narrative inquiry, and observational research, this improvisational inquiry (Berbary & Boles, 2014) gathered the stories of various NPLS stakeholders. These narratives were then analyzed by weaving together tenets of narrative analysis (Glover, 2003; Polkinghorne, 1995), framework analysis, and program theory and logic modeling (McLaughlin & Jordan, 1999) oriented through a pragmatically minded constructionist lens (Crotty, 1998). Results of this work help to contextualize the importance of the provision of naturalized play spaces for children. Importantly, it highlights the perceived outcomes of these spaces and the ability of outdoor play and learning in these spaces to foster relationships with nature.
A phenomenological investigation of spirituality in outdoor recreation experiences
(University of Waterloo, 2020-05-22) Milne, Jordana; Grimwood, Bryan
There exists a rich history of people describing meaningful moments during outdoor recreation as spiritual experiences. These involve connecting to something bigger than yourself, and recognizing your place in a larger universal system (Ashley, 2007; Fischer, 2011; Huss, 2014; Jirasek et al., 2017; Naor & Mayseless, 2019; Taylor & Egeto-Szabo, 2017). Although many different disciplines are beginning to explore this relationship, challenges exist in defining these moments, appropriate methodologies for studying them, and with illuminating a holistic understanding of experience. This study drew on Ingold's (2000) Dwelling and hermeneutic phenomenology to explore spiritual outdoor recreation experiences and proposed the use of an emplacement nexus to highlight the converging of histories, social and cultural understanding, and embodied experience within this phenomenon (Grimwood, 2015a; Pink, 2011). This theoretical orientation allowed for the essences of rhythms, the power of nature, and elements of purpose in life to emerge as tenants of spiritual experiences. It illuminated the importance of intentionality, balanced course design, and opportunities for reflection as vital to the facilitation of spiritual outdoor recreation experiences. This study hopes to move the outdoor recreation field towards an understanding of the ways humans exist as part of a larger universal system, and to extend empathy and caring towards the human and non-human elements that influence our lives.
Sacred Memories, Decolonial Futurities
(University of Waterloo, 2023-02-02) Fortin, Kendra; Grimwood, Bryan
Employing a collective memory work research methodology, this thesis narrates discussions between four Settler-Christians as they grapple with notions of travel, tourism, Christianity, divinity, and settler colonialism. Informed by settler colonial theory and postcolonial theology, the purpose of this collective memory work study was to collaborate in understanding, critiquing, and ultimately enhancing Indigenous-Settler relationships as storied in and through the travel experiences of Settler-Christian students at a Canadian university. Memory texts demonstrated how notions of divinity are tied to broader Christian discourses, specifically relating to divinity as connected to service, land, evangelism, and material expressions of religiosity. Analyses revealed the ways in which memory texts both do and undo settler colonialism in tourism contexts. Participating in the collective memory work process encouraged co-participants to consider the diversity of Christian theology and religious interpretation, thus creating space for the emergence of theologies oriented to uplift Indigenous ways of being and Indigenous expressions of Christianity. This study also demonstrated how theological inquiry might be deployed in tourism research to enrich and complicate analyses, especially those related to religious tourism experiences.
“Stop paddling and see where we are”: A postcolonial mobile deconstruction of environmental discourses (re)produced on summer camp canoe trips through Algonquin Park
(University of Waterloo, 2019-04-30) Pludwinski, Brandon; Grimwood, Bryan
Residential summer camp canoe trippers are important. They are agents of socialization who amalgamate their campers into socially constructed accepted regimes of truth (Csikszentmihalyi, 1981; Grimwood, Gordon & Stevens, 2017). In other words, the trippers operate within a field of power to provide their campers with the lens they use to make sense of the world around them, adhering to certain truths and expelling others (Warren, 2002). While scholars have approached the field of outdoor recreation within a critical lens (Culp, 1998; Johnson & Ali, 2017; Whittington, 2018), this research shifts focus onto the residential summer camp canoe trip through Algonquin Park. The purpose of this postcolonial mobile qualitative research is to analyze the environmental discourses summer camp canoe trippers operate within while leading campers on canoe trips through Algonquin Park. Using a postcolonial framework, this research aims to deconstruct how environmental discourses are commonly, both consciously and unconsciously, enacted by residential summer camp trippers and embedded within broader and recurrent social discourses that have been normalized in a religious residential summer camp in Haliburton, Ontario. The qualitative data, collected through semi-structured interviews, participant observations, and a reflexive journaling activity proposed by Mullins (2013), reveals how participants localize environmental discourses, (re)producing their meanings and legacies along the way. This thesis illustrates how negative colonial legacies of land dispossession, the erasure of Indigenous peoples, particular traditional masculinities, and cultural appropriation have uncritically been employed by summer camp trippers to further benefit and ease their own practice of canoe tripping. Together, the data and analysis provide context to suggest alterations to the summer camp canoe tripping program, reconciling tensions between the tripper’s role as beneficiaries of settler colonialism and the privilege they hold to take campers through Algonquin Park.
Tracking Denesoline Knowledge and Narratives along Ancestral Waters
(University of Waterloo, 2019-06-26) Belanger, Brendan; Grimwood, Bryan
The south slave region of the Great Slave Lake in the Northwest Territories of Canada is the home of the Łutsël K’é Dene First Nation (LKDFN) (Pelly, 1996). Like many Indigenous communities across Canada, the Denesoline relationships with their ancestral lands have become increasingly more vulnerable due to ecological, and sociological changes occurring in the sub-arctic regions of Canada (Holmes et al, 2016; Asfeldt & Henderson, 2010; Pelly 1996). Previous studies indicate how these changes affect the livelihoods of Denesoline communities but tend to ignore the contemporary spaces wherein Denesoline livelihoods are present. This study builds upon current literature by contextualising the positive and negative aspects of ecological and social change within the experiences of LKDFN representatives participating in a multi-day travel experience. This study illuminates Denesoline livelihoods in the present through the application of Northern, Indigenous, community-based research and by illuminating the knowledge through the narratives of land users, elders, and youth involved. The study’s principle aim has been to work in partnership with LKDFN representatives to document how traditional land-based knowledge and narratives can contribute to Dene self-determination, land and water governance, and cultural livelihoods.

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Browsing Recreation and Leisure Studies by Author "Grimwood, Bryan"