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Leisure, Community and Identity
Leisure, Community and Identity
Monday, 11 July 2016: 16:00-17:30
Location: Dachgeschoss (Juridicum)
RC13 Sociology of Leisure (host committee) Language: English
Leisure spaces and activities are central to counter-hegemonic resistance, sub-cultural identity and post-colonial encounters and subversions. They are also spaces and activities where people find belonging and community.
This presentation will focus on social cohesion, identity and a sense of belonging within communities in South Africa traced through the colonial era, followed by the apartheid regime, and the last twenty years of a new democratic political dispensation.
Where and how does leisure fit into the creation of communities and social identity? Sarason (Psychological Sense of Community: Prospects for a Community Psychology, 1974) suggested that people will experience a sense of belonging, enjoy good quality of life and wellbeing if they were integrated into networks, while oppression and other processes of cultural and community oppression can have the opposite effect. In today’s modern and technologically advanced society people are searching for innovative opportunities to construct strong communities and boost social cohesion. This session will attempt to address the extent to which recreation and leisure can be reorganised to develop a sense of community and boost social cohesion.
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