CFP: Special Issue on “The Politics of Popular Leisure”

Leisure/Loisir: The Journal of the Canadian Association of Leisure Studies

Special Issue on
“The Politics of Popular Leisure”

Leisure/Loisir invites papers for a special issue to address questions about “the politics of popular leisure.” This title is an extension of Bennett’s (1986) phrase “the politics of the ‘popular’ and popular culture.” Although popular culture has been variously and contentiously defined, it remains less clear where and how popular cultural meanings, uses, and contexts fit within leisure studies. Certainly, popular leisure encompasses such familiar pursuits as cinema and television, internet, shopping, hanging out, sports, eating and drinking, music, toys and games, and so on. However, popular leisure is clearly more than simply that which is “well-liked by many people.” The politics of popular leisure may hinge on a wider range of issues, questions, and theoretical orientations by which relationships between leisure and popular culture can be conceptualized and/or examined. What is popular leisure and who gets to say so? For whom is popular leisure important? Does popular leisure really matter? Why? We view popular culture as a vibrant area for questioning, exploring, and celebrating leisure, as well as connecting diverse theoretical perspectives and practical applications.

We foresee this topic as a broad umbrella and would consider a range of ideas or approaches as valuable contributions. Examples of submissions might include (but are not limited to):

* Channels of production (media, TV, music, blogs, podcasts, etc.)
* Struggles over control of leisure spaces (physical, cultural, cyber)
* The meanings and experiences of popular leisure
* Popular leisure as resistance, transgression, deviance, or opposition
* Popular leisure, policy, and governance (municipal, federal, and/or global)
* Non-Western popular cultures and the role of leisure in non-dominant cultures
* The diversity of popular leisure (e.g., gender, sexual orientation, disability)
* Popular leisure subcultures, social worlds, and communities
* Commercialization, globalization, and/or homogenization of leisure
* Consumption and production of identities/subjectivities
* Intersections of gender, class, and race/ethnicity in relation to popular leisure
* Generating popular leisure theory or a new conceptualization about popular leisure

We particularly encourage submissions that address what is at stake in making claims about leisure involvements or practices as popular culture, by exploring how leisure scholarship engages the politics of popular culture. Both empirical research papers (based on qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methods) and conceptual papers are welcome.

Until September 30, 2006, authors are requested to electronically submit an abstract with the maximum of 1000 words to the guest co-editors. Abstracts should have the appropriate sub-headings (e.g., for empirical studies, an introduction, methods, results, and discussion/conclusions). Based on these abstracts, guest co-editors will contact authors for a full-version of a manuscript due by February 15, 2007, at which time all papers will undergo the standard double-blind review process. Publication of the issue is expected in 2008. Manuscripts should follow Leisure/Loisir’s guidelines for contributors:

http://www.unbf.ca/kinesiology/leisure/journal/evolution/leisureinfo.html

We welcome informal enquiries regarding topics and submissions for this special issue. Interested authors should direct questions and submit abstracts to:


Dr. Brett Lashua, Guest Co-Editor
School of Social Sciences
Cardiff University
59 Park Place
Cardiff, Wales,
UNITED KINGDOM
+44 2920 875 069
LashuaB@cardiff.ac.uk

Dr. Erin Sharpe, Guest Co-Editor
Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies
Brock University
St. Catharines, Ontario,
CANADA L2S 3A1
(905) 688-5550, ext. 3989
erin.sharpe@brocku.ca

Reference

Bennett, T. (1986). The politics of the 'popular' and popular culture. In T. Bennett, C. Mercer and J. Woollacott (Eds.), Popular Culture and Social Relations (pp. 6-21). Milton Keynes: Open University.