Black prairie leisure : an ethnography on rest and leisure freedom in Alberta, Canada
Creators: name: Mwanza, Daliso William Chikwenya
Publisher: name: University of British Columbia
Year: 2022

description: Historically, many Black Albertan narratives and experiences of either leisure or rest have been erased by hegemonic white institutions that continue to shape the ways Black individuals can freely access leisure. The generalized understanding of leisure is connected to notions of either freedom or unobligated time and is neither connected to work nor performing other life-sustaining functions (Beggs et al. 2014; Bull 2009; Looseley 2010; Leitner 2012). Unfortunately, this generalized view of leisure does not often account for the critically diverse ways that Black people in North America experience and access leisure today. Though many leisure studies scholars have answered the call to address the lack of attention to critical race theory within the discipline, a myopic and hyper-visualized perspective of Black leisure has created a major gap within the literature (Stodolska et al 2019; Carlson &amp; Overmyer 2018; Haque &amp; Rosas 2010; Aizlewood et al 2006). My ethnography, Black Prairie Leisure: An Ethnography on Rest and Leisure Freedom in Alberta, Canada, explores the experiences and narratives of Black Albertans immersing themselves in practices of leisure activities and rest time in white dominated landscapes within Alberta, Canada. Additionally, my ethnography seeks to understand the relationship between Black leisure and moments of Black freedom (Walcott 2021). Through mixed, qualitative ethnographic methods informed by visual anthropology (interviews, photovoice, and focus groups) and Black feminist theories of resistance and imagination, my thesis collected nuanced experiences of Black leisure and rest that centered the individual within their own definitions of leisure in Alberta (Costanza-Chock 2020; Jones 2020; Lugones 2020; Marin 2020; Martin 2019; Goessling 2018; Hammersley 2018; Jackson 2016; Shankar 2016; Browne 2015; Selin &amp; Gano 2015; hooks 2014; McKittrick 2005; Crenshaw 1991; Lorde 1984. The mixed method I developed was informed by decolonial practices of working alongside Black communities to support social change in their experiences of racism, sexism, and homophobia. Analysis of the interviewing processes and photovoice reflections produced a variety of perspectives on Black leisure and rest practices as a past, present, and future experience in Alberta. Furthermore, the results of the ethnographic study demonstrate that imagination functions as a form of Black technology that can be used to heal an individual's relationship to community, nature, and their own history (Walcott 2021; Comeriato 2020; Marin 2020; Kelley 2002). By developing this foundational work to understand rest and leisure in Alberta, this ethnography demonstrates that divesting from white dominant narratives of over productivity and leisure representations is a crucial step forward for Black Albertans. By supporting Black Albertans in the process of exploring their imaginations of Black freedom, new narratives of leisure online and offline can be developed in the future (Walcott 2021; Kelley 2002).