KSR Leisure + Recreation Lecture

The Faculty of Kinesiology, Sport, and Recreation (KSR) invites you to our second annual lecture, featuring Dr. Dan Henhawk, a Mohawk scholar and associate professor at the University of Manitoba.

Living the Good Life through Leisure: Relational ways of re-thinking leisure and building community.

What does it mean to live the “good life”? Can we feel good about living a life of leisure in the midst of increasing climate related disasters? Should leisure be put on hold while society deals with a convergence of crises? To answer these questions, thinking critically about leisure is crucial if we are to address the multiple challenges facing our communities. In her discussion of leisure and Indigenous Peoples, Karen Fox (2006) argued that rethinking leisure requires leisure scholars to address Indigenous critiques of the assumed ‘goodness’ of leisure and the ways in which leisure upholds certain power dynamics. This lecture will discuss how shifting our understandings of leisure could help societies to shape futures that are hopeful and relational in ways that strengthens community connections to mitigate and adapt to future crises.

Fox, Karen. (2006). Leisure and Indigenous Peoples. Leisure Studies, 25(4), 403-409.

Speaker Bio
Dr. Dan Henhawk is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Kinesiology and Recreation Management at the University of Manitoba. His research interests revolve around the tensions between Western conceptualizations and practices of leisure with Indigenous ways of knowing and being. He is interested in how leisure contributes to ongoing neo-colonialism and challenges Indigenous struggles for decolonization. He also has interests in ways in which leisure is utilized in emergency preparedness as a mitigative and adaptive response to climate change. Dr. Henhawk is also Kanien’kehá:ka (Mohawk) from the Six Nations of the Grand River.