Bücher von Briony Sharp

This is the first book to critically explore international leisure during the COVID-19 pandemic. It analyses the ways in which the pandemic has impacted upon our leisure practices and our leisure lives, focusing on three key spaces ¿ public, private, and digital.The book seeks to understand how changes in leisure have led to transformations in the ways we have had to 'do' and 'redo' activities, such as incorporating digitalisation and distancing measures, as well as dealing with restrictions on social interaction, gatherings, and cultural activities. It presents a series of case studies covering topics as diverse as music festivals, theatre on-screen, walking, static cycling, smartphone use, holidays, and the 'lockdown leisure' of preschool children, including people across the life course, from young children to older retired people. The book discusses changes in patterns of behaviour, leisure experiences, and leisure environments worldwide and critically re-evaluates what leisure is and what it means in contemporary societies. It illustrates both the significant impact the pandemic has had on leisure and the important role leisure plays in helping support and maintain individual and community well-being.This is fascinating reading for any student, researcher, or practitioner with an interest in leisure studies, tourism, events, sociology, cultural studies, or performance studies.

Most early social research into planned events had the effect of broadcasting narratives of dominant cultures and privileged groups. More recently, however, convergences of gender, sexualities, ethnicities, age, class, religion, and intersectional analyses and events studies have started to drive new critical understanding of the impacts of events on non-mainstream, non-majority communities around the globe. This timely book addresses current gaps in the literature surrounding issues of accessibility, inclusion, and diversity in various event landscapes.Structured into four parts covering the main types of events, the chapters present original topics using innovative methodological approaches. Each chapter employs a case study to illustrate the key intertwining issues in these various experiential realms. Further, the chapters are all cross- or interdisciplinary, drawing on gender, sexualities, cultural, race/ethnicity studies as well as multiple literatures that feed into critical events studies and exploring a variety of global examples.This significant book opens the path to further research on the role and importance of accessibility, inclusion, and diversity in events environments worldwide. It will be of interest to academics and researchers of critical event studies as well as a number of related social science disciplines.