My doctoral research explored how I, a brown-bodied Shia Ismaili Muslim Canadian female, experienced early childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood. Engaging in an autoethnographic study required me to become vulnerable in ways I never imagined possible. Ellis shares that autoethnography should “stay unruly, dangerous, passionate, vulnerable, rebellious, and creative – in motion, showing struggle, passion, embodied life, and collaborative creation of sense-making” (Ellis & Bochner, 2006, p.363). I did not gather that I would have to tell and deconstruct experiences hiding in spaces of my body I did not know existed. What came of this research was unsurprising and yet scary, unsettling, and provocative in many ways.
Through the journey, supported by notable scholars, I unpacked experiences of being racialized, questioning my faith, recognizing that my family home was a protective factor, and that sport and recreation brought out the best in me. The outcomes of this study act as the instigator for my research passions. I learned that young people flourish in spaces that allow them to articulate their lived experiences in meaningful ways, including arts, physical movements, or silence. The spaces that adults create for young people are inheritably complex. Not only are adults making decisions about what works for young people, but these spaces also do not necessarily account for the unconscious and conscious negotiations of how young people make when entering spaces for the ‘other’. Thus, co-creating spaces with service uses was a decisive outcome. The last outcome that I will focus on today is the power of recreation. Recreation allowed me to feel confident in my skin and created opportunities for me to belong. These feelings acted as a catalyst for me to learn to read, write, and enjoy moments in the classroom.
Recreation, for me, means many things. While I still hold the traditional definition of ‘freely chosen activity’ closely, my research has provoked me to think about recreation differently. I am curious how culture, religion/spirituality, gender, and geographical location influence a person’s definition of and engagement in recreation. For me, recreation varies from playing team sports, curling up with a good book and hot cup of cocoa, or sitting on the floor to weave, knit, or draw. Recreation also includes good chats with friends, solo walks through the river valley, or travel to spaces unseen. If an activity brings me joy, that activity often ends up in the recreational category for me.
I am keen to learn about how people who have migrated to Canada define recreation. I am quickly learning that those who have come to Canada hold differing definitions of recreation from the textbooks I once learned from. More than the definition, is recreation a protective factor during uncertain times, transitions, and seeking a sense of belonging? The field of recreation and leisure studies has come a long way since I formally studied, yet this gap in understanding remains unfilled. I hope that the research ahead of me offers an intersectional perspective with recreation and Canadian immigrants.
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