Defense Date
2024
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy
Department
Media, Art, and Text
First Advisor
Michael R. Hall, Ph.D.
Abstract
Socioeconomic and cultural constraints, the oppressive histories of Jim Crow, and segregationist policies are not the only contributing factors to low Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) participation in outdoor recreation – an additional, persistent factor may be the exclusion of minoritized people in outdoor recreational media. The same marginalization and exclusion exist in contemporary media, and while substantial scholarship illuminates these disparities and the importance of representation in media, there is scant literature that investigates the impact of these constructs. This project tackles an under-examined area using critical leisure and media theories and frameworks in an effort to understand how and why minoritized campers interpret, attach meaning to, and feel about racialized outdoor recreational media. The project explicates how hegemonic ideologies shape outdoor identities and media processes, and how minoritized groups infer meaning from media content that excludes, marginalizes or supports their identities. Moreover, the project uses leisure socialization and leisure identity to give nuance to theories and frameworks from critical media, specifically, the reception perspective, ethnic identity gratifications theory and critical media effects framework. Research data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 12 campers who identified as Black and living in Virginia, and the data were hybrid-coded using inductive and deductive approaches. The interviews revealed insights around four key themes: sense of self and racial outlook; leisure socialization and leisure identity; critical media literacy, media usage and media selectivity, and thoughts on media exclusion and persuasion. The findings indicate that 1) digital media is an invaluable tool to signify the outdoors as a safe and welcoming place for BIPOC participants, and 2) if camping media normalized the activity as something that thousands of Black people enjoy, it could possibly assuage fears of the wilderness. This change in attitude would, in turn, allow people to experience the innumerable positive health outcomes that camping and other forms of outdoor recreation provide.
Rights
© Latryce Noel
Is Part Of
VCU University Archives
Is Part Of
VCU Theses and Dissertations
Date of Submission
5-5-2024
Included in
African American Studies Commons, Communication Technology and New Media Commons, Critical and Cultural Studies Commons, Leisure Studies Commons