Beyond Ethnic Stereotypes – Identities and Outdoor Recreation Among Immigrants and Nonimmigrants in the Netherlands

ABSTRACT

Studies on immigrants' recreational use of greenspace have tended to focus on ethnic groups as homogeneous entities. In a qualitative study based on group interviews, this article focuses on the cultural diversity among and within ethnic groups. We used an identity perspective to study outdoor recreation of young Dutch adults with Chinese, Turkish, or nonimmigrant backgrounds. Results show that primarily personal identities, age, and ethnicity inform recreational behavior. The multiplicity of peoples' identities results in more heterogeneity between and within ethnic groups, as well as more homogeneity between immigrants and nonimmigrants, than commonly described. When immigrants are considered as a homogeneous group that underparticipates in outdoor recreation, individual immigrants who frequently participate in outdoor recreation are overlooked. Furthermore, we show that acculturation does not progress at the same rate among all ethnic groups, and that ethnic identity may be sustained among second and subsequent generations through certain recreational activities.     

Changes in recreation participation in natural environments after immigration among immigrants in the U.S., Netherlands,Germany and Poland1

This study examines the use of natural environments for recreation among immigrants and factors that led to changes in their use of natural environments between home and host countries. The data were collected through individual interviews with 13 Latino and 13 Chinese immigrants in the U.S., 15 Ukrainian and 11 Vietnamese immigrants in Poland, 9 Moroccan immigrants in the Netherlands and 9 Turkish immigrants in Germany. The findings show that changes in the use of natural environments for recreation are related to different types of nature in home and host countries, access-related issues, quality of natural environments, work focus among immigrants, transportation problems, cultural differences, lack of knowledge of opportunities, life stage and ageing. Based on the findings, we develop a model that outlines different types of interaction with natural environments among immigrants following their settlement in the host countries.     

海外移民返乡家庭旅游的集体记忆和国家认同建构

对于海外移民返乡的研究,学者们往往聚焦于解析其返乡动机、探访祖国家园的行为,以及返乡旅游对国家认同的影响,而对其返乡旅游过程中形成的集体记忆及其对国家认同的建构的作用却鲜有涉及。该研究选择10个北美华侨家庭就返乡家庭旅游开展联合访谈,运用叙事研究方法,解析其返乡家庭旅游的集体记忆和国家认同建构。研究发现,海外移民返乡家庭旅游集体记忆的信息遵循"地点""活动""感受"三者之间互动影响的逻辑进行建构,通过分享行为来维系;而国家认同随着集体记忆的形成而建构,并通过日常实践体现出代际差异性、传承性和垂直传播性。该研究对海外移民的返乡研究、集体记忆和国家认同研究具有一定的理论和实践指导意义。     

Korean American Males’ Serious Leisure Experiences and Their Perceptions of Different Play Styles

This study examined Koreans Americans’ serious leisure experience with different racial groups. Interviews were conducted with 15 Korean male basketball and soccer players. A key finding was that participants recognized different styles of play between Korean Americans and other racial groups. While some participants cared little about other players’ race/ethnicity, other participants played exclusively with Korean Americans and preserved or promoted their ethnic identity. While Stebbins (1982) argues that serious leisure provides eight durable benefits, our findings suggest self-identification may be another durable benefit, at least among ethnic and/or racial minorities.     

Dynamic relationships between tourist arrivals,immigrants, and crimes in the United States

This paper investigates the dynamic relationships between tourist arrivals, immigrants, and crimes in the United States (U.S.) from 1984 to 2013. Our findings affirm the social structural perspectives (i.e. Merton's Strain theory and Social Disorganization theory), which contain a popular perception about the immigration and crime that they both go hand in hand. Results of bivariate analysis revealed that immigrants admitted by Europe, Mexico, and North America to U.S. are positively correlated with key crimes. Tourist arrivals positively influence crime rate only in short-run, which affirms the Opportunity Structural perspectives (i.e. Routine Activity and Hot Spot theories). Furthermore, immigrants positively influence tourist arrivals, which supports the Visiting Friends and Relatives (VFR) empirical perspective. Therefore, concerned authorities can focus on environmental design initiative in concerned areas (i.e. immigrants' communities and tourists' cities). Furthermore, future research and implications are discussed.     

Performing genealogy through travel narratives

Tourism scholars have yet to consider ancestral tourism as a stepping-stone in genealogical identity formation. Amateur genealogists use information available to them about their ancestors and the past to form stories of the self in the present. Through a study of the travel narratives of Swedish-American ancestral tourists, I link the concept of genealogical identities with theories of performance, impression management and narrative identity to explore this phenomenon. The findings reveal how ancestral tourists bring into existence their genealogical identities through the performative narration of their ancestral travels. Authenticity in these experiences emerges through the presentation of a coherent story of the self that gives off desired impressions of kinship and ethnicity, subsequently legitimizing a genealogical identity.     

Young Muslim Women and Sport: the Impact of Identity Work

Abstract

This article focuses on the relationship between young Muslim women’s identity work and their involvement in sport and physical activities. The concept of ‘identity work’ is used to underline the dynamic aspect of identity construction. The study is based on life‐history interviews with 21 Muslim women with immigrant backgrounds living in Norway, aged between 16 and 25 years. The study demonstrates how young Muslim women’s identity work is influenced by their ethnic and religious collective identities. While some of the women situate themselves clearly within their ethnic identity, others challenge the boundaries of their ethnic identity and some of the young women choose to focus more on religion than ethnicity. The study illustrates two major patterns that link young Muslim women’s identity work to their involvement in sport and physical activity. First, being a young woman and participating in sport is seen as a challenge to the boundaries of their ethnic identities. Therefore, young women who position themselves clearly within the framework of their ethnic identities are not interested in sport because doing sport is not seen as a respectable femininity. The young women who challenge the ideal of femininity by participating in sport have experienced being sanctioned or harassed because they participate in sport. Second, among those who regard religion (Islam) as a more important source of identification than ethnicity, being physically active is seen as important because of Islam’s health aspects.     

A broader social identity comes with stronger face consciousness: The effect of identity breadth on deviant tourist behavior among Chinese outbound tourists

Deviant tourist behavior (DTB) among Chinese outbound tourists has sparked concerns that such behavior not only exposes destinations to various negative impacts but also damages the international image of China. Hence, it is necessary to explore how to reduce such behavior. Social identity cues are an effective inhibitor of DTB; however, previous research has focused on the influence of the interdependent and interactive nature of social identities on DTB, neglecting the inclusive nature of social identities. To fill this gap, the current study focuses on how Chinese outbound tourists’ identity breadth affects their deviant behavior in international tourism contexts. In Study 1, we examine a distinctive feature of international tourism contexts and find that tourists have high face consciousness. Second, we propose and document that Chinese outbound tourists primed with a broad (vs. narrow) identity develop higher face consciousness and a lower intention to engage in deviant behavior (Studies 1 and 2), with face consciousness mediating this process (Study 3). Finally, Study 4 finds that the number of fellow tourists with the same identity moderates this effect. The influence of identity breadth on DTB is manifest when there are few in-group members present. Our findings provide meaningful practical and theoretical value regarding how to reduce tourists’ deviant behavior through identity-related cues.     

Narrating the Multiplicity of ‘Derby Grrrl’: Exploring Intersectionality and the Dynamics of Affect in Roller Derby

Driven by an ethos of self-organization and empowerment women involved in the revived version of roller derby have created an embodied and virtual leisure practice that challenges gender norms and invites different identities. However, tensions exist in the way different women negotiate the space of roller derby and the meaning of playing, belonging, and becoming “derby grrrls.” This article presents findings from a qualitative study of roller derby in Australia to make connections between feminist theories of affect and the growing body of work on intersectionality. We explore how identity categories intersect to shape the meaning of roller derby for different women. Narratives recount the complex affective relations (passion, frustration, pride, shame) that women negotiate in forming leisure identities in relation to the social context of their lives. The article aims to contribute to the development of feminist thinking about leisure as a negotiated space of transformation, creativity, and difference.     

Digital identity and the construction of distinctiveness by American wineries

Hospitality and tourism entrepreneurs need to balance uniqueness with conformity. Organizational identity theory proposes that an organization’s central and enduring attributes make it distinctive while helping observers categorize it. Since distinctive value creation is central to success in hospitality, this study asks how entrepreneurs in hospitality and tourism construct distinctive identity claims and how these identities help firms create distinctive value. The research context is the American winemaking industry, where entrepreneurs strive to present their wineries as destinations. The data comes from the digital identity statements of 314 members of the WineAmerica trade association. We identify seventeen identity themes and several clusters of themes that demonstrate how entrepreneurial claims shape distinctive organizational identities and contribute to distinctive value creation.     

Resistance to agritourism diversification: An analysis of winery owners' identities

This paper develops an identity-based rationale to investigate why winery owners resist and/or limit their engagement in agritourism diversification. Using qualitative evidence from a sample of Italian winery owners, the paper draws on social identity theory to explain how owners' identities affect tourism diversification. The findings reveal that they actively construct a producer identity and that this identity is simultaneously regulated by various institutional forces (e.g. local winemaking community), which in turn shape their reluctance to pursue tourism diversification. The paper contributes to a better understanding of why agricultural producers resist tourism diversification. Practical implications and future research directions are discussed.     

Natural Environments and Leisure among Rural–to–Urban Immigrants: An Application of Bourdieu's Concepts of Habitus,Social and Cultural Capital,and Field

This study explored the use of natural environments for leisure among rural-to-urban immigrants by adopting Bourdieu's concepts of habitus, social and cultural capital, and field. Data were collected with the use of individual interviews with 27 participants, including Mexican immigrants in the United States, Ukrainian immigrants in Poland, Moroccan immigrants in the Netherlands, and Turkish immigrants in Germany. The findings showed that for some immigrants, practices of social capital maintenance became disconnected from recreation in natural environments, while for all participants, nature-related cultural capital had low transferability in a migratory situation. Depending on their position in a new social field, immigrants developed different strategies to use local natural environments for leisure. Some strategies contributed to preserving old habitus, while one strategy (finding substitutes) contributed to gradual changes in immigrants' nature-related habitus. We suggest that embodied and emplaced skills of using nature should be incorporated in the notion of cultural capital.     

Wilderness and cultural tour guides,place identity and sustainable tourism in remote areas

This paper is concerned with understanding the relationship between place identity and sustainable tourism in remote areas. It examines wilderness and cultural tourism guides’ place identity and how those identities are deployed in designing and delivering their activities, then evaluates how these activities engage with the goals of sustainable tourism. A mixed-method approach collected data from textual documents, participant observation and semi-structured interviews. A literature review and early document analysis identified three exemplary Yukon place identity narrative themes: (1) Masculinist Narratives, (2) Narratives of the New Sublime and (3) Narratives of Loss. A narrative framework emerged from initial findings and was refined on an on-going basis throughout the research process, and used iteratively as an analytical tool. Sustainable tourism is understood in relation to geotourism and place-based approaches. Instrumentally, the study provides insight into strategies used by guides to engage with, enhance and broaden goals for and understandings of sustainable tourism. It considers the role of infrastructure and the significance of lifestyle entrepreneurs. Authenticity is engaged to examine how it is operationalized as a crucial dimension of sustainable tourism in remote areas and is used to examine instrumental considerations, as well as a potential tool to “liberate place”.     

‘Running Fever’: understanding runner identities in Shanghai through turning point narratives

Distance running has long been a popular leisure activity in many affluent countries, and it has recently become a fashionable sport in China. However, research into leisure running has mostly been confined to participants in the Global North. The present study explores runners’ stories from Shanghai with a focus on psychological turning points – that is, subjectively important events that may change life trajectories and sense of self – within running careers. Thirty runners (14 women) participated in an interview using a life story approach. Turning point events were coded into six categories: relationship, transition in education/work, commitment, achievement, vulnerability and discovery. Stories were analysed for narrative themes and contexts, specifically in relation to running subculture and discourses surrounding gender and class. The findings highlight the relational achievement of a runner identity within the running subculture, emphasising ‘right’ attitude, persistence, and achievement. Simultaneously, the runner identity emerges as a signifier of a ‘modern’, middle class individual, who pursues self-development and credits oneself for accomplishments. Enthusiasm could, however, lead to injuries that challenged running identities. Runners in Shanghai share much of the narrative landscapes of running culture in the Global North, but also draw upon local narrative resources in runner identity construction.     

Liquid identities: Han sojourners in Tibet

This article presents an ethnographic account of the liquid identities of Zangpiaos (Han drifters or sojourners in Tibet). The study reveals that in the liminal time and space of their sojourning, Zangpiaos have developed explicit identities and implicit identification associated with multi-level structures and complex social processes. The liminality of Zangpiaos offers fresh insights into the ambiguous identity paradox that this alternative subgroup of Han majority have encountered in the modern mobile society characterized by plural and liquid identities. The study sheds light on mobile people's identities and social relationships through an ethnographic inquiry into long-term tourist experiences in a mobile age.     

The Latino Assumption: A Research Note

The Latino assumption refers to the presumption that individuals residing in the United States and its commonwealths who have descended from Latin American countries and Spain constitute a homogeneous panethnic social identity. Inappropriately studying individuals of Latin American and Spanish descent as a homogeneous group in leisure research may result in threats to internal validity, statistical conclusion, and external validity. This article examines these issues and the historical context of the Latino assumption.     

Wildland Fire and Organic Discourse: Negotiating Place and Leisure Identity in a Changing Wildland Urban Interface

A lack of research on the conceptual intersection of leisure, place and wildland fire and its role in identity prompted this exploratory study. The purpose of this research was to gather evidence regarding how people negotiate identities under the threat of wildland fire. Qualitative interviews with 16 homeowners and recreationists who value leisure activities in undeveloped places in Colorado's Arapaho-Roosevelt National Forest were conducted. Results show that wildland fire plays a varied role in the identities of many of the research participants. Three dominant discourses of nature (i.e., humanist, protectionist and organic) helped explain these identity-related reactions to wildland fire. An understanding of the multidimensional aspects of place and leisure identity highlighted in this research could help land managers particularly related to the organic discourse.     

Reciprocity between soccer events and visited destination in a border context

ABSTRACT

The study proposes a conceptual model based on hypothesized relationships among team fanship, satisfaction with the event, and host city as antecedents of behavioral intentions in the United States–Mexico border context. The analysis used data from 290 visitors who attended three soccer games of the Xoloitzcuintles team of Tijuana. The results revealed (1) the emotions felt at the visited destination had significant influences on fanship, satisfaction with event venue, and intentional behavior; (2) fanship and event satisfaction do not seem to influence the visitors’ intentions to return and recommend the visited place; (3) gender and duration of the stay showed a significant moderating function.     

Empowerment,Resistance, and Leisure among Latino Student Organizations

ABSTRACT

The goal of the study was to examine leisure, empowerment, and resistance among members of Latino student organizations. The study examined how the process of empowerment is being achieved and what roles leisure plays in the empowerment process. Focus groups were conducted with 26 representatives of four Latino student organizations on a campus of a large midwestern university. The findings showed that the empowerment was being achieved by helping students adjust to the university life and succeed in college, by strengthening their cultural heritage and teaching others about the Latino culture, and by helping local underprivileged communities. Leisure was used to foster bonds among group members, to showcase groups' cultural heritage, to make activities organized for others more attractive, and as a form of fundraising and attracting new members.     

Politics of memories: Identity construction in museums

This paper adopts collective memory theory to reveal processes through which heritage tourism stakeholders (re)construct contested national identity. Theoretically sensitised to identity crisis, the study analyses how Hong Kong and Macao heritage managers utilise complex transnational memories to (re)construct an identity aligned with, yet distinct from, that of China. Through a critical discourse analysis of interviews and discursive exhibition and museum texts, the article reveals that museum managers formulate heritage imaginings and a sense of belonging(s) through defining the collective memory for “Self” and “Other”. The article concludes that, by collective memory-building, museum professionals make tangible statements of national identities through legitimating negotiations and resistance in heritage tourism discourse. Implications for heritage tourism studies and museum management are also discussed.