Restorative Rhythms: drumming as healing

Thirty people who were either in treatment, or in remission, from cancer and their caregivers participated in a therapeutic drumming clinic called Restorative Rhythms. As music has been proposed as a significant way to reduce stress and stimulate feelings of happiness and empowerment, it is therefore a valuable tool for coping with illnesses like cancer. Because people who are diagnosed with cancer often have trouble expressing their emotions, music can be used as an accessible channel for this necessary release. In addition to the inability to express internalized emotions derivative of the diagnosis or due to the requirements of the treatment regimen, patients often lose their sense of agency; creative expression like therapeutic drumming can help them regain their autonomy. This social, creative environment became a means to express the emotions participants were otherwise having trouble expressing, as well as a positive outlet for coming to terms with their “new normal” through music

Positive emotions and passionate leisure involvement

Music is commonly linked to moments of remembrance, joy, celebration and bonding. This paper explores how middle-aged participants in a music scene use the various aspects of their involvement to create and store positive emotions cultivated through music appreciation, friendship building and maintenance, and shared moments of ecstasy and catharsis. Due to the prevalence of significant life events and transitions in this age cohort (relationship, career and health changes), isolating how people use their involvement in leisure activities can be integral to learning how people build and maintain a high quality of life, as well as how they draw on those positive associations to cope with potential hardships that may arise

Gonzo autoethnography: The story of Monkey

The present study explores the norms of community that are re/produced in the liminal leisure space of a formerly fan-organized music festival. Guided by the concept of communitas, we examined the manner in which fans attempted to exercise their agency in the construction of the weekend against the structure imposed by the promoters. To do this, we developed a creative analytic practice we call gonzo autoethnography, which draws inspiration from Hunter S. Thompson’s gonzo journalism and sheds any claim to objectivity to blend social critique and satire to tell the story of the phenomenon of interest. To do this, we rely on a totem from the music scene to embody the connections, concerns, and frustrations of the devoted fanbase. As such, this particular case offers leisure scholars an opportunity to explore the limitations of fans’ agency in affecting participation in meaningful leisure activities through a nontraditional lens

Cultivating self-reliance: Participation in urban agriculture as civil leisure

Using ethnographic methods, the present study explored volunteer participation in an urban farm in Austin, Texas, USA. Researchers spent three years documenting the activities of participants via participant observation and interviewing. Guided by the concept of civil leisure, researchers analyzed voluntary participation in the farm as a form of leisure practice that was oriented towards civic issues. Analysis indicated that participation was understood as a means of (1) fostering self-reliance through peer education, (2) establishing and strengthening place-based social networks, and (3) addressing civic concerns related to infrastructure and food security. These findings are interpreted within the context of Bauman's concepts of liquid modernity (2000. Liquid Modernity. Malden, MA: Polity Press) and liquid fear (2006. Liquid Fear. Malden, MA: Polity Press). On the basis of the findings and interpretations, recommendations are made to suggest ways in which municipalities might cultivate residents’ civic impulses, especially as relates to urban agriculture

A death in the “family”: Community embodiment of tragedy

This manuscript explores how a tightknit music fan community responds to the suicide of one of its members. During the grieving process the music and music scene of the band Rust Forever are relied on for catharsis and healing, and the memories and legacy of the deceased are kept alive through the community's long-established bonds and commitment to helping one another through hard times. While the power and potential of music has been explored in other areas of healing and life transitions, its use in responding to tragedy is an underdeveloped area of investigation. Because suicide has such a traumatic impact on surviving loved ones, the conflict and blame that often accompany it were also present in this instance. This manuscript highlights the importance of close friends and meaningful leisure, particularly music, in the healing process associated with suicide, but also the ambiguity, stigma, and complicated emotions that accompany it

Extended Leisure Experiences: A Sociological Conceptualization

Our interest in this research reflection is to introduce what we call extended leisure experiences—activities that leisure participants engage in following the completion of a primary leisure activity. Our approach is largely descriptive and exploratory as we outline some properties of the concept and then flesh them out using observations gleaned from participation in the social worlds of contract bridge and music scenes. An understanding of extended leisure experiences will broaden our appreciation of how different phases of leisure activity are connected with one another and provide insight into how participants create meaning from their involvement in different pastimes

Leisure studies is for experience, not for industry

In the last decade, some in the field of leisure studies have embraced the experience economy/industry model introduced by Pine and Gilmore (2011) in the late 1990s. While tenets of the experience industry can be found earlier in leisure studies, especially in regards to programing and event management, the idea that experiences should be manufactured for leisurists has become in vogue. This is clearly evidenced by programs at Brigham Young University and California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, which have both changed their departmental names to reflect the embrace of this ethos. This article critiques the experience industry model and points out the collateral damage that will befall the field, and society, if the concept is embraced throughout the field

Becoming Political: An Expanding Role for Critical Leisure Studies

This article explores the intersection of politics and leisure, pointing to the fact that power has always been present in leisure activities, settings, practices, and institutions. In noting some of the past contributions of leisure scholarship, it also highlights a need for increasingly political leisure research, where knowledge production, epistemologies, and methodologies help unpack multiple critical leisures. Using engagements with Foucauldian biopolitics, political ecology, and radical political thought, this article sets the stage for the eight manuscripts that engage with critical components of political dimensions of leisure. In light of the pressing catastrophes of our time, we contend that scholars and educators can and should be engaged in building a more critically diverse and intellectually productive academy

Rebuttal to Lundberg’s response paper

Lundberg (2018, this issue) provides a thoughtful rejoinder to the article, “Leisure is for Experience, Not Industry” (this issue), one that was surely intended to add clarity and support for the experience industry model of Pine and Gilmore (2011) as it relates to the broad field of leisure studies. However, Lundberg’s response evidenced several issues that remain to be addressed, much as does the experience complex writ large

Spirituality, Fan Culture, and the Music of Jerry Joseph & the Jackmormons

This article presents findings from a qualitative study with passionate fans of the rock and roll band, Jerry Joseph & the Jackmormons. The study looked at how fan involvement in the music scene enhanced quality of life through the ability to access a personal sense of spirituality. While the majority of participants (87%) had been raised in religious households, most of those (93%) had intentionally abandoned religious affiliation only to come to embrace a language of spirituality and religion to describe their attraction to the music. This study fills a gap by exploring how aspects of spiritual language and sensations can be embraced in a secular context after departure from a formal religious upbringing