Chasing Leisure: a Hermeneutic of Late Modernity

CHASING LEISURE: A HERMENEUTIC OF LATE MODERNITY by Stephen Robert Svenson A thesis presented to the University of Waterloo in fulfillment of the thesis requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, 2015 © Stephen R. Svenson 2015 Author’s Declaration I hereby declare that I am the sole author of this thesis. This is a true copy of the thesis, including any required final revisions, as accepted by my examiners. I understand that my thesis may be made electronically available to the public. Stephen R. Svenson ii Abstract This dissertation addresses shortcomings in the sociological study of leisure through providing a new conceptual approach for understanding human action and meaning making. It reformulates leisure as the leisure imaginary, the sphere in which the individualized person works out problems of identity and community. The leisure imaginary takes the Heidegerrian starting point that our being is a being before death and that it is our fundamental preoccupation with death that gives life its sense of urgency. In late modernity, however, our coping mechanisms for dealing with our fear and anxiety over death have been compromised which has left people disembedded and individualized. It is the thesis of this dissertation that leisure imaginaries have arisen to fill the gap left by institutions like religion and the family that formerly provided ontological security and ontological exigence. The leisure imaginary, then, is a response not only to our being before death but to the conditions of late modernity, the anxieties and preoccupations of our time, our social imaginary or lifeworld. It is argued that the leisure imaginary allows for a stronger interpretive understanding of the late modern conditions that people encounter and their responses to these conditions. The different permutations of the leisure imaginary exemplify different ethically oriented narratives of re-embedding in the pursuit of a meaningful life. In addition, and in contrast to academic treatments of leisure today, this work argues for the value of contemplative or philosophical leisure and the need to preserve, and recreate as needed, a space for this vocation. iii Acknowledgements I have said that the dissertation as solitary project is somewhat of a lie and that any dissertation is essentially a community project. This is perhaps more the case with this dissertation than most given that the ideas developed herein were developed in dialogue with a community of colleagues, mentors, students, friends, and enemies. Additionally, without the various communities that provided emotional, financial, spiritual, and intellectual support, most especially over the last several years, this dissertation could not have been brought to its completion. Foremost, I would like to thank my supervisor and mentor Dr. Kieran Bonner, whose radical interpretive perspective and personal example have been an inspiration. Committee member Dr. Alan Blum provided key interventions throughout the writing of the dissertation and as principal investigator of the CIHR funded City Life and Well-Being: The Grey Zone of Health and Illness, provided a forum for the presentation of early stages of my research as well as key funding for the major case study. Committee member Dr. Lorne Dawson in a course on the sociology of religion first encouraged the use of Charles Taylor’s (2004) social imaginary in my research and provided key feedback and editing on an earlier draft of the dissertation. Dr. Bryan Smale, my internal/external examiner from Recreation and Leisure Studies shared an interest in phenomenological geography and had many excellent suggestions and readings that helped inform the work. My external examiner Dr. Paul Moore posed many excellent questions during the defence that will help to orient my work on the leisure imaginary in the future. Thanks to you all for strengthening my work. Friends that I would like to thank who either read and discussed with me early drafts and chapters or helped with organizing, editing or formatting include (Dr.) Gordon Varney, Katharina Walton, David Knight, Bruce Fournier, Matt Mikitka, Amelia Ruby- Howard and Stephen Markan. I am greatly indebted to conversations and suggestions from friend and colleague John Faichney. Thank you to Tododjim Mali, Eileen Lyons, and Aurelio Ayala for translations from the French. I would also like to thank sympathetic and encouraging colleagues and sometimes former professors Dr. Rick Helmes-Hayes, Joe Barbera, Dr. Philip Savage, Dr. Laurence Mussio, Dr. Alex Sevigny, Dr. Augie Fleras, Pat Newcombe-Welch, Dr. Luis Aguiar, Dr. Glenda Wall, Dr. Pat Elliot, Dr. Richard Christy, Dr. Lucy Lucissano, Dr. Alex Latta, Dr. Alicia Sliwinski, Dr. David Seljak, Dr. Chad Wriglesworth, Dr. Geoff McBoyle, Dr. Geoff Wall, Dr. Daniel Scott, Dr. John iv Greenwood, Dr. Debbie Chapman, Dr. John Goyder, Dr. Keith Warriner, and Dr. Suzan Ilcan for their support. I have also appreciated the support of the chairs of the various departments that I have worked in who have indulged my course innovations and the student trips to New Orleans. They include: Dr. Graham Knight, Dr. Geoffrey Rockwell, Dr. Michel Desjardins, Dr. Peter Urmetzer, and Dr. Dana Sawchuk. Support staff at various universities and libraries were always there to boost flagging spirits and to share a joke. Thank you to Pauline Dawson, Ceylan Turkeri, Luanne McGinley, Sandra Dalpe, Jennifer Drowns, Helene O’Hara, Nancy Forde and Laurie Strome at the Dana Porter Library and Reg Thompson at the Goderich Public Library. Keith McGowan and Nevile Bromley of Arts Computing at UW Larry Ford of Tim Hortons kept me in coffee on many an early morning writing session while Kayli of Queen Street Commons kept me fueled in the afternoon. Special thanks to Ilona Kosa who interceded on my behalf innumerable times and has been a light in dark times. Comrades along the journey include Simon Chilvers, Tim Ireland, Mark Spencer, Aurelio (Hilario) Ayala, Heather Montgomery, Fanis Juma Radstake, Bryan Laursen, Brian Hoffman, David Hofmann, Julia Woodhall-Melnik, Neil Smithwick, Benjamin Waterman, Celia Huang, Amanda Bell, Roberta Hunt, Angela Andersson, Canmanie Ponambalam, Anthony Stracuzzi, Carl David (rainbow bridge) Onofrio, Kirstie Smallman, Kristi Fairholm, Margaret Bonner, Shawn Johnston, and the “French Gang” - Tododjim Mali, Gordon and Judith Varney, Eileen Lyons, Minh Quang and Noey Yvonet, Dragan and Jelena Zubac and of course their children. Brigitte von Aderkas, thanks go to you and your late mother Helga for the opportunity to write at Ultima Thule and for your friendship. Obodai Torto, thank you for your friendship, the distractions and your assistance. Special thanks go out to all my former students and friends who made the trek to New Orleans and worked in collaboration with me on research projects and documentary films. These folks include: Christina Kowalenko, Cory Ruf, Peter Organisciak, Chanel Chien, Melissa Rocha, Reid Betts, Tiffany Maria, Scott Temple, Anissa Vandezaande, Julia Gogoleva, Brooke Smith, Annalisa Reilly, Kristen Watpool, Blair Kelly, Blake Prokopwicsz, Andre Vanpoelvoorde, Juneau Barnett, Rob St. Pierre and especially the Apple Dumpling Gang - Vito (the Haircut) Francone, Eric (Gruzer) Gruszewski, Ryan (the Waterboy) Moffat and the infamous Tom (the Fiddler) Wiercioch. Friends in New Orleans who played a supporting role include J.F. ’Smitty’ Smith, Thom Pepper, A.J., Zach, Dana Abbott and the Dana Abbott Band, Brad Dupuy, Bobby Payne and Donna Augustin. v Over the past several years I and my family have benefitted from the support of friends at Lincoln Road Chapel. Special thanks to Pastor Doug Martin, Pastor and friend David Knight, Tiffany Svensson, Debbie Laginskie, Jim and Janet Aston, Carol McKee and neighbours extraordinaire Lynn and Al Stager. I would like to thank my parents Gayle Svenson and Brian Svenson and their partners John and Lola for their support and for the many different leisure experiences that populated my childhood. Finally, I would like to thank my children, Camille, Stephanie, and Nolan for their love and patience and for reminding me constantly, like our flock of backyard chickens and our vegetable gardens, of the importance of cultivation. vi Dedication This dissertation is dedicated to the memory of my ancestors: my grandfather Campbell LeBlond, my grandmother Florence Svenson, my uncle James (Jim) Williams and my aunt Phyllis Williams. It is also dedicated to my grandfather Robert A. Svenson as well as wise elders J.F. “Smitty” Smith and Ilona Kosa. All of these people have touched my life in profound ways and have much to teach about the art of living and the importance and value of doing something for its own sake. vii T able of Contents Author’s Declaration ......................................................................................................... ii Abstract ............................................................................................................................. iii Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................... iv Dedication ....................................................................................................................... vii List of Figures ................................................................................................................... xi Prologue ...........................................................................................................................

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