Thesis (M.S.) in Human Development--University of Maine, 2006. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 33-37).

Thesis (M. Arch.)--Montana State University--Bozeman, 2007. / Typescript. Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Ralph Johnson. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 87-89).

Throughout Bulgarian history, the dominant pattern of gender relations has always been the patriarchal one. Since 1989, the wind of change in restructured Europe has blown into Bulgaria many new cultural, political and social ideas and influences, but has subdued little of the conservative values and normative gender discourse. In fact, women‘s position in the public and the private spheres did not change much during the transitional period and consequent democratisation and restructuring of the economy, throughout which, Bulgarian women faced numerous challenges in balancing work/leisure and family. Yet, no comprehensive research study exists, which explores the problematics of the work-leisure relationship for the generation of women that came of age during this transitional period. This research study examines the work and leisure meanings for full-time employed, Generation Y, women in Sofia (Bulgaria) in order to shine light on the way they negotiate gendered constraints in everyday life and propose areas for further investigation. To accomplish this aim, feminist, case study methodology is utilised. Moreover, the epistemological problematics of the feminist research process are addressed by the researcher‘s reflexivity and authoethnography. The method of personal narrative is chosen to reflect the invisibility of neoliberal structural constraints and situates personal experiences in the process of existing inequalities. Thus, a better understanding of the role and position of the researcher in this study is presented. The research findings illustrate the ways leisure and work meanings are constructed in the context of post-feminist guise of equality, in which, young Sofian women are now attributed with capacity. This is exemplified by participant‘s conceptualisations of work, leisure and gender culture. Individual women express contradictory view about gender roles, femininity and masculinity that illustrate a collective sense of rejection of feminism (in its mainstream sense) as a threat to heterosexual gender relations. Findings reveal that Generation Y, Sofian women‘s femininity does not necessarily fit into a simple polarity, that is either 'traditional‘ (women as wives/mothers and labourers) or 'modern‘ (assimilating to 'Western‘ values and lifestyles). Rather, their identities relate to both of these selves and are becoming increasingly hybrid and fluid. Their leisure is central life pursuit and arguably exists to empower women to resist gender inequalities, perpetuated by both new and old gender discourses and ideologies. Drawing from the contemporary field of feminist leisure studies with a an explicit focus on interdisciplinarity and post-structural feminisms the study wishes to contribute to existing debates on women‘s multiple leisure meanings and leisure as an experiences that empower individuals and, more broadly, challenge cultural norms about women‘s embodied capacities. Finally, management and operational bodies of the leisure industries can potentially use this case study to facilitate leisure opportunities, services and products for Generation Y, Sofian women, who are now active participants in the capitalist, consumer culture.

The thesis examines the connections between being physically active and becoming empowered. It centres on the experiences of women and investigates their involvement in physical activity and how this relates to the rest of their lives and their subjectivities. In so doing the research explores the relation between physicality and social power, and considers the role of the body in the construction of gender power relations. The key concepts used to explore this area are agency and structure, hegemony, negotiation, empowerment and physicality. More broadly the research has been informed by debates in feminist postmodernism and poststructuralism. The main data set were generated through interviews with twenty-eight women with additional information coming from questionnaires returned by one hundred and seventy-two women representing a range of activity levels, ages and class locations. The findings were generated largely from the experiences of white women living in a market town within commuting distance of London. The findings demonstrate the potential for women to become empowered through their bodies, as a result of being involved in physical activity. The acquisition of new skills and the discovery of new physical potential in their bodies such as feeling stronger, having more energy, were foregrounded by the women as being important to them. This led them to feeling more positive about themselves and their potential. There was nothing to suggest that particular activities were more empowering than others, although the context and purpose of the activity was found to be important. There is little evidence of there being any difference between working-class and middle-class women in terms of their experience of empowerment or disempowerment through physical activity. The findings also highlight the need to set an understanding of physical activity within the context of intra-household relations. By doing this it is argued that we are better able to understand how the construction of women's subjectivities operates simultaneously across fields of activity.

The period since 1974, when major reorganisation led to the development of new local government structures in most parts of England and Wales, has seen the growing politicization of local government activities, and the emergence of leisure policy as a significant concern for local authorities. This thesis examines the implications of party poll tics at the local level for leisure policy by reviewing expenditure on leisure by all English local authorities and by undertaking a case study of the development of leisure policy in a Metropolitan District.

This study seeks to deepen knowledge and understanding of the tourist gaze and tourist photography. The original concept of the ‘tourist gaze as proposed by John Urry is inherently Western-centric and, as a consequence, it is arguably of limited value as a conceptual framework for appraising the tastes, gazes and, more generally, the visual practices of the increasing number of non-Western tourists’. At the same, despite the fact that, in recent years, smart phone cameras have become widely used by people both in their everyday lives in general and in their travels in particular, few attempts have been made to explore and analyse the potential transformations brought to the landscape of the tourist photography by the increasing use of smart phone cameras. The purpose of this thesis, therefore, is to re-conceptualise and study empirically the tourist gaze and tourist photographic behaviour, as influenced by a variety of social, cultural and technological factors, amongst non-Western tourists. More specifically, it aims to explore the visual preferences of Chinese tourists in the UK, to consider critically what and how they take photographs of, and to evaluate the extent to which their gazes, their performance of gazing and their photographic practices are shaped by social, cultural and technological factors. In order to meet this aim, the qualitative research method of visual autoethnography is employed during two field studies with Chinese tourists in the UK. More precisely, a first field study was based on a seven-day package tour undertaken with eighteen Chinese tourists, visiting a total of thirteen destinations around British destinations. The second field study, in contrast, involved the researcher undertaking a five-day holiday with six Chinese tourists to the Isle of Wight off the south coast of England. During these two field studies, the researcher adopted the role of ‘researcher-as-tourist’, engaging in travel with the respondents, staying in the same accommodation, joining in with their activities and taking photographs with them. These first-hand travel and photographic experiences conspired to become an integral part of the resultant data resources which were not only analysed but also shared with the respondents during interviews with them. From the data collected during the two field studies and, indeed, the autoethnographic experiences of the researcher, it became clearly evident that smart phone cameras had become the principal means of taking photographs amongst Chinese tourists. Moreover, smart phone cameras have also altered the landscape of tourist photography, primarily by de-exoticising this practice and further enhancing its ‘playfulness’ and increasing its social functions. During the field studies, the Chinese tourist respondents engaged in a variety of visual and photographic activities, purposefully including but by no means being confined to an interactive game of photo-taking and photo-sharing, imagining authenticity, sensing the passing of time from gazing on natural spectacles, and deliberately observing what they considered to be ‘advanced’ aspects of the toured destination. Based upon these identified performances and practices, this thesis proposes the concept and framework of the Chinese tourist gaze. That framework essentially establishes what Chinese tourists prefer to see during their travels and seeks to explain why and how they see certain specific spectacles or tourist objects. At the same time, it theoretically re-situates both their gazes and their ways of gazing within a network of influential social, cultural and technological factors, including: the travel patterns of the élite in pre-modern China; the cultural characteristics of Chinese people; the intertwining of contemporary communication and photography technologies; and, the fusion of the Chinese nation-state, its economic policies policies and the resultant social and environmental problems that have emerged over the last three decades. Moreover, the framework points to potential future transformations in the Chinese tourist gaze, such as the de-exoticisation of that tourist gaze. The principal contribution of this thesis to extant knowledge is the concept and framework of the Chinese tourist gaze, as this may provide future researchers with the foundation for continuing to study and more profoundly understand the tastes, gazes, practices of gazing and other visual activities, including photography, of Chinese tourists. Indeed, given the inherent Western-centric bias in the relevant literature, an appropriate theoretical framework enabling them to do has, arguably, not previously existed. In addition, the dimensions and characteristics of tourist smart-phone-photography revealed in this research are of much significance, contributing to a deeper, richer understanding of transformations in the practice of tourist photography and, in particular, of why and how contemporary Chinese tourists take photographs. Furthermore, through identifying and exploring how the Chinese respondents in this study shared their photographs, greater knowledge and understanding has emerged of Chinese tourists’ technological travel communication and connections as well as their attitudes towards and use of the multiplicity of social networking sites and mobile-apps.

Considering that Patello-Femoral Pain (PFP) is responsible for over 25% of all road cycling related injury and over 65% of injuries in the lower limb, alongside trauma related pain it remains the main injury affecting experienced and elite cyclists and is commonly treated using taping. Taping can broadly be categorised into ‘McConnell’ and ‘Kinesiology type tape’ (KTT) as these are seen as recognised clinical approaches in dealing with patella tracking and pain issues. The aim was to collect specific data to inform and develop a study into current taping techniques used in cycling related knee pain. An online questionnaire determined the techniques used by clinicians treating elite and experienced cyclists. Recruitment was through professional networking and the social network Twitter™. The questionnaire indicated a clear preference for the use of KTT. A specific taping technique was identified for use in a laboratory-based study. Respondents indicated their rationale for using tape, which included pain reduction, neuro-muscular adaptation, placebo and altered biomechanics. A subsequent study then investigated the interventions, KTT, neutral tape and no taping, alongside comparing asymptomatic (n=12) and symptomatic (n=8) cyclists. Each cyclist conducted three separate and randomised intervention tests at three powers (100W,200W,300W) on a static trainer. Kinematic data were collected using a 10-camera Oqus 3 motion analysis system. Reflective markers were placed on the foot, shank, thigh and pelvis using the CAST technique. This study showed significant differences in the knee, ankle and hip kinematics between cyclists with and without knee pain. The knee had increased ROM (coronal) in those with knee pain (p=0.005 or 18% change) whereas in the hip, those with knee pain had less movement (p=0.001 or 26% change). The ankle however had an increase in movement (transverse) in those with knee pain (p=0.034 or 14% change). Significant differences in hip, knee and ankle kinematics on the application of KTT were found, however these had no identifiable pattern that suggested any clinical indication. Interestingly, similar levels of differences were also found with the neutral taping application, which indicated that a specific technique might not be critical. It was also noted that 200 watts of power produced the most pain response during testing (33% change) which may have a practical application to future taping related clinical testing. If we are looking to establish a biomechanical change using KTT, ROM may indeed be reduced, however individuals had different patterns of movement, which did not appear to indicate a consistent or predictable effect. This may mean that pain reduction is more likely through a mechanism of neuromuscular adaptation or proprioception. It appears unclear whether a specific technique of application is fundamental to outcome. The hip, knee and ankle variants may aid clinical application when treating cycling related knee pain through screening and testing. This variation in movement may be linked to increased patello-femoral (PF)/tibio-femoral contact areas and PF stress when significant power is applied during cycling. The findings indicated a proximal to distal relationship, which is in line with current evidence and has implications to rehabilitation. Taping reduced pain, however it is likely that this effect is not what the anecdotal rhetoric presumes. If the intent is to use the tape to elicit specific biomechanical changes then this is difficult to substantiate and measure. If the expectations are purely around pain then it is likely that pain will be decreased using KTT, albeit short term. Further work is clearly required in the area of PFP and cycling.

The thesis examines the transformation of popular leisure in mid-nineteenth century England, with special reference to the various schemes of 'rational recreation' whereby social reformers attempted to control the content and direction of cultural change. The movement aimed to improve the conduct of working-class leisure in such a way as to promote moral progress and class reconciliation. Through the philanthropic -provision of new recreational amenities and the fraternal encouragement of middle-class superintendants, the workers were to be immunised against the corruptions of their own culture and instructed in the social values and disciplines of their betters. After giving account of the state of popular recreations and the genesis of the reform design in the 1830s and-'40s, the thesis examines the developing concept and performance of rational recreation in the context of the rapidly expanding new leisure world which overtook Victorian society from the mid-century on. Following a consideration of the changing practice and rationale of leisure among the middle classes and the implications for social reform, the thesis looks at the increasing activity and debate in reform circles in these years, and examines the influence of rational recreation on working-class culture in three specific areas: the reform experiment of the Working Men's Club movement; the promotion of organised games and the new athleticism; and the emergent mass entertainment industry of the music halls. The study is based on extensive reading in contemporary periodicals, the specialist press, government reports and social commentaries on working-class life, and draws on local evidence from Bolton, Lancashire. Rational recreation enjoyed some success, but working-class leisure retained a strong class identity and resisted any comprehensive conversion to the bourgeois value system. While recognising that popular recreations increasingly conformed to the patterns required by a maturing urban industrial society, the thesis concludes that such adjustments owed more to an internal process of largely autonomous adaptation and growth in working-class culture than to the direct influence of reformers who were, in any case, ill-equipped to overcome the social distance between the classes which remained a pronounced feature of English leisure. / Arts, Faculty of / History, Department of / Graduate

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