Archive for November 2014

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[ecrea] Call for abstracts: Leisure

Tue Nov 11 02:24:39 GMT 2014



Leisure

Experience, identity and economy



Guest Editors: Associate professor Thessa Jensen, Associate professor Tem Frank Andersen, Ph.D. Henrik Dahl



Leisure is part of modern life. Today leisure is something that is included in both national and local politics, and it is a central part of the principle and the practise of the Welfare State. Historically leisure was introduced or rather fought for by the labour movement. It was supposed to be the ’free’ time outside both the production of work life and the domestic reproduction of the societal institutions. In the New Deal period after World War II leisure emerged as an area for rapid growth in the industrialized countries. Leisure became a new market for leisure goods such as mediatised entertainment, sports participation, fashion, clothes and outfits, toys, games and comics. In that respect leisure became a new arena for the production of meaning of modern (wo)man. However, it can be argued that leisure flows from the human capacity to play. In that sense it predates the emergence of modern society, and it is possible to understand leisure as something central to being human.



Leisure is linked to different kinds of cultures such as popular culture, underground culture and folk culture. It may even be said that leisure in itself is a culture. With the emergence of the experience economy it has become clear that leisure does not only deal with the production and consumption of leisure goods, but leisure is central to the notion of freedom and personal identity. We do what we feel like doing in our leisure time, even though we may display some traces of habitual preferences. Maybe we choose to play soccer, golf or row due to parental inspiration or guidance. But we choose our leisure activities to define personal interest, and in some cases even ambition. It can be argued that leisure is the central key to understand the performative self, that is to say, that to be involves performing leisure activities. In any case, leisure reflects something central in relation to how we experience ourselves as human beings, how we construct or render an identity, and how both these elements are linked to the socio-economic structure. This was analyzed as early as 1899 by Norwegian-American sociologist Thorstein Veblen in his work The Theory of the Leisure Class, who accepted leisure as part of the development of modern Capitalism but also viewed leisure with great concern. In this respect modern leisure is conceptualized as a social and cultural battlefield.



In the article ”Sociological Perspectives and Leisure Research” American professor John R. Kelley (Kelley, 1974) outlines three paradigms that can explore and explain leisure as a scientific phenomenon. These perspectives are the structural approach drawing on Emile Durkheim, the conflict model of Karl Marx and the interpretative approach informed by Max Weber. The ambition of this issue of Academic Quarter is to contribute to a current update on leisure studies beyond a period of four decades, and maybe beyond the three paradigms outlined by Kelley.



This issue of the next Academic Quarter (Vol. 11, spring 2015) invites researchers from the humanities and sociology to contribute to the ambition of exploring leisure through articles that deal with theoretical perspectives, case studies and other empirical work on the subject. Of special interest are research studies that reflect the way new media technologies such as social and mobile media play a role in the possible emergence of new leisure forms and cultures in relation to human experience, personal identity and economy. Contributions could for instance include studies of:



iLiterature: From pocket books to touch screens

I run therefore I am: Sport as identity performance in the age of self-surveillance

Event me this: Experience economy as part of the fandom circuit and culture

Where do I go from here: Contexts for leisure in everyday life

I do like divas: Reception studies of reality-tv

Ludo ergo sum: What kind of game do we play in our leisure time?

When chatting means snapping and grapping: Snapchat as communication.





References

Kelly, John R. (1974). Sociological Perspectives and Leisure Research. In Journal of Current Sociology No. 22: 127. Sage Publications.

Veblen, Thorstein (1899). The Theory of the Leisure Class. An Economic Studry of Institutions. New York: MacMillan Company.



Suggestions for articles:

The first step is to submit an abstract of about 150 words to be mailed to Tem Frank Andersen ((tfa /at/ hum.aau.dk)) and Thessa Jensen ((thessa /at/ hum.aau.dk)) no later than November 1, 2014. The editors will then review the abstracts and notify the authors their decisions by November 15. Accepted articles – using the Chicago System Style Sheet (http://www.akademiskkvarter.hum. aau.dk/pdf/AK_word_template.doc) – should then be e-mailed to the editors no later than February 1, 2015. Articles will then be reviewed anonymously in a double, blind peer review process by April 1. The articles should be around 15,000-25,000 keystrokes (3,000-3,500 words), and they can be written in English or in the Scandinavian languages. Assuming that the articles are accepted by the peer reviewers and the editors they should be revised and the final version sent in by May 1, 2015. The issue will be published in June 1015.

Academic Quarter has been approved according to the Danish bibliometrical system for 2011 and forward.

Contact: http://akademiskkvarter.hum.aau.dk/UK/contact.php

DEADLINES 2014-2015

November 20: Submission of abstract

February 1: Submission of article

April 1: Peer review

May 1: Final Article

June 1: Publication

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