Campus News

Expert in indigenous perspectives on leisure to give lecture March 7

Fox
Karen Fox

Karen Fox, an expert in indigenous perspectives on leisure, will speak on “Researching and Living Paradoxical Knowledges: Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Approaches” on March 7 at 4 p.m. in Room G-5 of Aderhold Hall.

Fox, a professor of leisure studies at the University of Alberta, will speak as part of the College of Education’s Ramsey Lecture Series. A reception immediately will follow the presentation.

Fox teaches courses on the human-nature relationship, leisure and community development, environmental education and ethics.

She has engaged in numerous studies with Central American immigrants and refugees, native Hawaiians and urban Aboriginal hip-hop artists in an attempt to rethink the leisure experience, believing that these cultures engage in performative practices that integrate leisure more holistically than the dominant Western views of leisure. This led to her current interest in engaging in leisure experiences more deeply.

In this presentation, she rethinks theories about leisure from indigenous and yogic perspectives. She is interested in decentering dominant conceptions of leisure through holistic, arts-based and ecological understandings of the world.

Fox is an elected Fellow in the Academy of Leisure Studies, an honorary association that acknowledges scholars who have demonstrated excellence throughout an extended career in leisure studies.

The event is sponsored by the recreation and leisure studies program in the counseling and human development services department.