What are wilderness areas for? Tourism and political ecologies of wilderness uses and management in the Anthropocene

ABSTRACT

In global imaginaries, wilderness areas are considered to represent the last parts of “original” nature, untouched by civilization and modernization. In most cases, this is misleading as wilderness environments have been exploited, explored and also converted into administrative units in various protected area networks. Indeed, most wilderness areas have been a part of human–environment interactions for a long time and they have been influenced and modified in that interaction. As a result, wilderness is constitutively a cultural and politically loaded idea. While the Western notion of wilderness as a place where “man himself is a visitor who doesn't remain” represents the global hegemonic conservation thinking, it does not necessarily work with different local realities, meanings and use values of “the wild”. In addition, in recent decades, the tourism industry has placed an increasing interest on nature-based and adventure tourism products creating new kinds of ideas and use needs for the remaining wilderness environments. This paper analyzes empirically how wilderness environments and their roles are seen in the context of new and traditional anthropogenic uses and meanings of wilderness areas. More specifically, the paper uses a political ecology approach to evaluate the use and management priorities in the Finnish Wilderness system.     

Alone with others: The paradox of privacy in wilderness

Attitudinal studies of wilderness visitors have indicated that people seek opportunities to limit interaction with other visitors so as to achieve privacy and solitude. This conventional interpretation of wilderness recreation was evaluated by comparing measures of visitor attitudes and social behavior in the backcountry of Yosemite National Park. Results show no association between visitor attitudes toward crowding and observed social interaction or behavior to avoid such social interaction. These findings suggest that subjective responses of visitors measured by questionnaires and interviews are often of debatable validity. Greater validity can be achieved by avoiding reliance on common‐sense interpretations in theory formulation and by employing multiple measurement techniques.     

Gender,race, and subjective social class and their association with leisure preferences

Abstract

This study examines the leisure preferences of subgroups defined by gender, race, and subjective social class. The multiple hierarchy stratification perspective and the class polarization perspective provided the theoretical rationale for the study, and a secondary data set from a national probability telephone survey was used. The interviews obtained information regarding the leisure preferences of adults age 21 to 65. From 2,148 contacts, 1, 711 interviews were completed. The results provide partial support for the study's hypotheses. Poor‐working‐class Black women were distinct from White men and women and middle‐class Black men, but they were similar to the other Black groups. As hypothesized, the leisure preferences of middle‐class Black and White men were similar. However, contrary to the study's hypothesis, Black men of different classes did not exhibit greater dissimilarity when compared with Black women of different classes.     

Social differences in leisure behavior: Measurement and interpretation

This article examines how three major dimensions of leisure behavior, i.e., rates of leisure participation, money expenditure for leisure goods and services and discretionary time available for leisure pursuits, are distributed across various socio‐demographic and socio‐occupational groups. The money expenditures for leisure, it is argued, follow traditional class lines most closely; the rates of leisure participation are characterized by a more egalitarian distribution; and the amounts of leisure time are often inversely related to social centrality and social status. The article interprets these varying patterns of leisure inequalities as a function of the cumulative nature of leisure participation as opposed to the “finite” nature of leisure time, and as a reflection of the complex relationship between leisure, work, income, leisure class, and leisure status.     

Toward an understanding of wilderness participation

Abstract

Seventeen variables were used to explain differences in wilderness use or nonuse in samples of the general public and wilderness users from Illinois. The variables important in determining who will use wilderness are different from those that are important in influencing the amount of use among present users. Some traditional demographic variables have been found to be of lesser importance than some nondemographic variables.

Results from multivariate analysis indicate that of the 17 variables tested, sex had the greatest influence in determining both who uses wilderness and who intends to use wilderness in the future. The other standard socioeconomic variables of income, age, and occupation were of little importance, relative to the other variables used, in predicting who would use wilderness. Of the personality variables, only leisure values were important in distinguishing users from nonusers. The measures of wilderness values (approval, purism, and information) were important in determining who uses wilderness, but of little value in predicting the amount of wilderness use among users.

Conversely, the constraining variables of number of children and amount of vacation were more influential in estimating the amount of time spent in wilderness than who would use wilderness. Of the socioeconomic variables other than sex, only income and age were of some importance in influencing the amount of use. The personality variables tested showed little value in distinguishing between heavy and light users.     

Growth machines and social movements in mature tourist destinations Costa del Sol-Málaga

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to analyse the new processes of tourism growth and its conflicts from the perspective of social movements. First, the urban growth machine analysis model is applied by the systematisation of six projects. Second, the resistance movements against those projects and whether this resistance could be the start of local tourism degrowth policies are examined. The methodology is qualitative, based on documentary analysis, participatory observation, discussion groups and interviews. The case study is the destination of Costa del Sol-Málaga. The results enable the development of the urban growth machine model in tourist destinations. Meanwhile, social movements demystify the argument based on neoclassical economic progress. The social movements condemn the effects of large-scale top-down projects, and implement alternative bottom-up proposals. Although the social movements do not reject tourism, they call for greater control over its impact, denounce unlimited growth, overtourism and the loss of urban quality of life. These movements advocate a lifestyle linked to the everyday space, which they believe is threatened by excessive urban-tourism growth. They are a symptom of the need to devise a proposal using the principles of degrowth.     

Planes,trains and wheelchairs in the bush: Attitudes of people with mobility-disabilities to enhanced motorised access in remote natural settings

Managers of remote and wilderness environments have been among the last to accommodate the needs of tourists with mobility-disabilities – partly because of the physical difficulties and expense of doing so, but also due to a wider desire and mandate to preserve the natural and wilderness character of such areas. This research explores the extent to which those with mobility-disabilities desire enhanced access to natural areas. Do they share the same desires and values with respect to wilderness and access as the able-bodied? This paper reports upon a survey of over 400 residents and tourists, some with mobility-disabilities and some able-bodied, and compares their attitudes with respect to the development of various forms of motorised access to wilderness environments. Significant differences were found between the two groups in terms of their desire for greater access and also in how they view the impacts of such development. The group with mobility-impairments expressed a stronger desire for enhanced access in such environments. The environmental values of both groups were also examined using the revised New Ecological Paradigm scale, however no significant differences were found between the groups. The implications for tourism providers and wilderness managers are discussed.     

Both Sides Now: Transgression and Oppression in African Americans' Historical Relationships with Nature

ABSTRACT

Wilderness has been constructed as White, in part through histories that marginalize African American attitudes and experiences. In response, we provide an overview of African Americans' relationships with nature during three historical periods: (a) Enslavement, (b) Reconstruction and Postreconstruction, and (c) 1936–1994. African Americans' relationships with nature were created through an ongoing dialectic of oppression and transgression throughout each historical period. Four types of transgression were identified: wilderness as a space free of White oppression, wilderness as a site to challenge White oppression, engagement with nature despite White oppression, and advocacy for more just relationships with wilderness. Transgression is discussed as a means to remember environmental history and envision new relationships between African Americans and wilderness in the present, bonds for which transgression may one day no longer be necessary.     

Tradeoffs Among Social,Resource, and Management Attributes of the Denali Wilderness Experience: A Contextual Approach to Normative Research

Wilderness experiences are thought to be comprised of three primary dimensions, including social, resource, and management conditions. Decisions about how to manage wilderness recreation in Denali National Park and Preserve involve potential tradeoffs among these conditions. This study extends the normative approach to wilderness research by developing and applying a decision-making model that considers social, resource, and managerial attributes of the wilderness experience within a more holistic context. Specifically, stated choice analysis is used to evaluate the choices overnight wilderness visitors make when faced with hypothetical tradeoffs among the conditions of social, resource, and management attributes of the Denali wilderness. Study findings offer normative, but contextually informed empirical guidance in formulating indicators and standards of quality for the wilderness experience.     

‘Once More,With Irony’: Karaoke and Social Class

Abstract

Karaoke’s mimetic character can provide a conduit for personal growth and interpersonal empathy. Yet karaoke is not always understood this way, and one factor determining how it is understood is social class. Karaoke’s class markers have been clear, though very different, in Eastern and Western cultures. Whereas in Japan karaoke first became popular among the upper‐middle class, in the US it was popularized by the working and lower‐middle classes. As karaoke gained a following among working‐class Americans it was often shunned by the urban middle class. Yet by the late 1990s an alternative aesthetic of karaoke, characterized by an ironic performance style, developed among middle‐class urbanites. This essay attempts to describe these opposing styles of mimetic and ironic performance, to explain the motives behind them, and to consider what happens when they come into contact.     

Functions of privacy in wilderness environments

Abstract

Westin (1967), in his Privacy and Freedom, suggests that there are four basic functions of privacy in society (personal autonomy, emotional release, self‐evaluation, limited and protected communication). Westin's theoretical model was examined for its utility in understanding the functions of privacy in wilderness environments. Importance ratings of 106 wilderness users for 28 scale items which characterized the privacy functions were factor analyzed. The factor analysis yielded five functions instead of Westin's four; however, Westin's model served as a valuable tool for interpreting the functions. “Emotional release” was rated the most important function, while “resting the mind from anxiety and mental fatigue” was the highest rated individual item.     

Exploring the economic,social and cultural rights of youth leaders working in Sport for Development initiatives at grassroots level in South Africa

Abstract

Sport has not only been forwarded as a basic human right but it is a powerful tool in the advocacy of human rights. Social inclusion and gender equality through sport interventions are prevalent in the developing world. Change agents working in the field of Sport for Development applaud the success of interventions in marginalised and impoverished communities as sport is viewed as an effective tool that contributes to the social inclusion and the betterment of the poor. In a developing country, such as South Africa, unemployed youth are recruited as youth leaders in an attempt to improve their economic, social and cultural standing through their involvement in sport for development interventions. This Research Note highlights the tension between Sport for Development initiatives in South Africa that carry messages of human rights and the failure of the current system to fulfil the economic, social and cultural rights of youth leaders. This study explores the experiences of youth leaders in South Africa through the lens of ‘The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights’ (ICESCR). A qualitative, ethnographic approach was used to address the question: How can the socio-economic rights of youth leaders working on grassroots level in Sport for Development initiatives be recognised? The qualitative research findings indicated youth leaders perceive their work as important, but do not believe that the remuneration they receive allow for a decent living; and, that they do not believe that they have an equal opportunity for career progression within the Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) that they work for. Recommendations on how to address the rights of youth leaders are provided.     

Social Capital,political empowerment and social difference: a mixed-methods study of an ecotourism project in the rural Volta region of Ghana

Abstract

Claims abound regarding the empowering possibilities of community-based natural resources management (CBNRM). Social capital is seen as a key element towards that end, yet there is a paucity of critical research testing these connections. This study examines two aspects of social capital (cognitive and structural) in a community-based ecotourism (CBE) project in Ghana as they relate to social difference (notably gender and ethnicity) and political empowerment (i.e., access to political involvement, and political efficacy). Quantitative results highlight specific gendered and ethnic differences in political empowerment and social capital that, when combined with qualitative analysis, reveal how those inequities in ecotourism may be rooted in socio/cultural norms. In addition, a novel contribution from this study is that political empowerment seems to be partly mediated by peoples’ access to social capital. This suggests that, regardless of one’s gender and ethnicity, social capital helps to empower individuals. We conclude by describing what an intervention could look like in the context of this CBE project when informed by qualitative feminist as well as quantitative social capital analysis. Doing so we illustrate how a mixed-methods approach to the study of social capital and empowerment may offer important insights towards more equitable CBE.Abbreviations: CBE: Community Based Ecotourism; CBNRM: Community Based Natural Resources Management; NCRC: Nature Conservation Research Centre; FPE: Feminist Political Ecology; PCA: Principal Component Analysis; ANOVA: Analysis of Variance     

Sustaining the Physical and Social Dimensions of Wilderness Tourism: The Perceptual Approach to Wilderness Management in New Zealand

The dynamics of the tourism industry are well illustrated by the case of New Zealand's tourism development over the last decade. The number of international tourists visiting New Zealand has doubled in the last ten years to approximately 1.5 million annual visitors. Associated with this growth has been a significant shift in patterns of tourist demand. No longer do most tourists simply comply with established tourist routes linking the high profile scenic attractions. Rather tourists have demonstrated a preference for more independent and dispersed patterns of travel, including an increase in demand for settings that offer subjective qualities of wilderness experience. This poses a complex but intriguing management challenge. If wilderness recreation involves pristine natural settings in the complete absence of facility development and visitor management, then these resources are more prone to degradation so than any other natural tourism resources. This paper suggests that an understanding of tourist perceptions of wilderness is crucial to the management of wilderness tourism, and considers the application of the perceptual approach to wilderness tourism as a means of sustaining wilderness values while promoting the satisfaction of visitor expectations.     

Narratives,identity and community in esports

ABSTRACT

The commercial and social ascendance of esports has become a source of considerable organisational, industrial, experiential and identity-based concern for those inside and outside the digital gaming field. Indeed, one major concern for self-identifying ‘gamers’ around the world is the extent to which the logics of professionalisation, spectacularisation and rationalisation that pervade contemporary esports will unsettle existing identities within the gaming community. In this study, we draw upon the theories of Paul Ricoeur to provide a narratological analysis of the stories gamers tell themselves about themselves on the social media platform Reddit—and in so doing explicate the politics of inclusion and exclusion imbedded in these stories. We investigate how story-narrative is utilised to mark boundaries in rhythm with, or in opposition to, the commercial, cultural and identity politics which gamers perceive are infiltrating the online gaming field. Based on our analysis, it becomes clear that Reddit users actively use the medium to promote a dominant politics of gender- and investment-based inclusion/exclusion. We conclude with a discussion on the complexities of digital community identity and the challenges seemingly democratic media technologies such as Reddit present for those seeking to promote egalitarian and inclusive spaces of digital play.     

Exploring and Enhancing the Psychological Value of a Fine Arts Museum

Abstract

Museums have a vested interest in attracting and retaining loyal audiences to their galleries and special events, be they residents or tourists. However, there is very little evidence as to what visitors are seeking in their museum experiences (Harrison, 1997). This study employed a relatively new survey methodology designed to identify the underlying reasons for visitors' patronage behaviors. More specifically, the laddering technique was used to better understand what motivates people to visit a particular museum, what do they think about while visiting a museum, and how do they evaluate a museum as compared to its closest competitors. Such an understanding can assist management in satisfying visitor expectations. It can also assist an organization in defining its image to be projected in promotional campaigns.     

Doing femininity and respectability: social networks and social capital among female members of Dutch student organisations

This research explores the complexities that underlie the formation of women’s social networks at traditional social student organisations in the Netherlands, advancing theory on the intersectionality of gender and class in leisure space. Building on Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of social capital it investigates if these social networks are segregated, and to what extent their divisions depend on previously acquired economic, cultural and symbolic capital. It analyses the hierarchical structures and ‘ranking’ of women’s year clubs within student organisations, and examines how the enactment and achievement of femininity determines women’s ability to move through social space. Finally, it investigates the use of social capital for women’s career progression. Semi-structured interviews were held with 20 women who were current or former members of one of the most traditional Dutch student organisations, the corps. Their accounts were used to gather information about the meaning women gave to their membership, and shed light on the role of previously acquired capital in the formation of clubs. Our findings show that women’s previously acquired social capital allowed them easier access to corps’ space and advanced their ability to navigate it. The establishment and ranking of year clubs and their members demonstrate the power dynamics that operate within the corps and the way class underlines network formation. Femininity was deemed one of the important markers of respectability and the enactment and achievement of ‘proper’ femininity determined women’s recognition and position in corps space. Despite the hierarchies of placement in the corps, most women profit from the social capital they acquired during membership, and can use it in selective ways for career progression and acquisitions.     

Use encounter standards and curves for achieved privacy in wilderness

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between wilderness use encounters and degree of privacy achieved at three locations within a wilderness. The theoretical perspective of the research was grounded in environmental psychology, which emphasized the dynamic nature of person and situation fit, rather than the sociology of normative behavior. The study depicted privacy as a dependent measure and argued that privacy is not the opposite of perceived crowding. It also suggested that privacy may be a more appropriate dependent variable for encounter studies than those measures used in past recreation research. Privacy was operationalized as ‘'the level of desired privacy achieved,’’ measured on a 10‐point scale. It was then compared with level of actual, ideal, and maximum use encounters for 600 users of a South Carolina wilderness area. Results indicated that number of actual group encounters was inversely related to degree of desired privacy achieved, in the hypothesized inverse curve pattern anticipated but never proved for satisfaction research. Encounter‐privacy curves for ideal and maximum encounter levels also resulted in predicted patterns. Finally, degree of privacy achieved was negatively affected when ideal and maximum encounters were exceeded by actual encounters, showing a high degree of congruency between theorized and empirical findings.     

Structural effects in national parkgoing

Abstract

Studies of outdoor recreation commonly mobilize “individual‐level” variables, such as personal characteristics (e.g., age, sex, socioeconomic status), personality, psychological needs, life experiences, and attitudes in testing for explanations of different participation styles. Seldom is attention directed to the explanatory importance for these studies of “system‐level” or contextual variables, such as structural and cultural patterns. Structural‐effects analysis is used in this exploratory study to test the importance of a system‐level variable (social‐class structure) for the relationship between two individual‐level variables, socioeconomic status and national parkgoing. Several status variables were found to be positively associated with the frequency of the respondents’ national parkgoing. But more importantly, these relationships were materially affected by the class structures of the respondents’ home communities. Working‐class persons in a predominately middle‐class population displayed significantly higher rates of parkgoing than their class counterparts in a predominately working‐class population. Conversely, the parkgoing rates of middle‐class persons were lowered by their residence in a predominately working‐class population. These findings suggest the utility of integrating system‐level (contextual) variables and individual‐level variables in explanatory models of recreational participation.     

Revisiting Family Leisure Research and Critical Reflections on the Future of Family-Centered Scholarship

ABSTRACT

In this special issue of Leisure Sciences, we examine the progress made and challenges ahead in research on leisure and families—20 years revisited. We consider what advancements have been made in family leisure research and potential new directions that family-centered scholars can look towards. We also consider the dominance of particular theoretical perspectives and methodological designs, and the limitations and consequences of such perspectives, to understand the complexities, diversity, and richness of the lived family experience. Emphasis is placed on the need for scholarship that explores diverse constructions of family and to provide a call to action for family-centered scholars to engage with broader global social issues.