Rasul Mowatt

North Carolina State University, Department of Parks, Recreation & Tourism Management, Faculty Member

Indiana University, Recreation, Park, and Tourism Studies, Faculty Member

Indiana University, American Studies, Faculty Member

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Rasul A. Mowatt is the Department Head of Parks, Recreation, & Tourism Management in the College of Natural Resources as well as an Affiliate Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at North Carolina State University. Formerly a Professor in American Studies and in Geography of the College of Arts + Sciences, and prior to that a Professor in Recreation, Park, and Tourism Studies within the School of Public Health – Bloomington, Indiana University. His main research areas: geographies of threat and violence, geographies of Race, sociology of leisure, animation of public space, social justice, and critical pedagogy. His work on is on display across various academic articles, book chapters, presentations and most specifically within Routledge published The Geographies of Threat and The Production of Violence.

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Mariya Ivancheva

University of Strathclyde, Glasgow

E. Wayne Ross

University of British Columbia

Samia Hurst

Université de Genève

Alejandra B Osorio

Wellesley College

David Seamon

Kansas State University

Armando Marques-Guedes

UNL - New University of Lisbon

Martin O'Neill

University of York

Florin Curta

University of Florida

Simon Springer

The University of Newcastle

Trias Mahmudiono

Universitas Airlangga

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Papers by Rasul Mowatt

Going the Extra Mile: Building Trust and Collaborative Relationships with Study Participants

Leisure Sciences, Dec 2, 2020

Research methods to access and engage historically oppressed communities have evolved dramaticall... more Research methods to access and engage historically oppressed communities have evolved dramatically. Leisure researchers once aspired to be objective and to remain detached from their participants, but developments in grounded and participatory epistemologies have enabled the development of various kinds of relationships between researchers and study participants. The purposes of this paper were (1) to characterize strategies to build trust and collaborative relationships with historically oppressed populations, and (2) to identify ethical tensions that arise. The paper features vignettes from the coauthors that center on the ways in which historically oppressed communities and researchers have built collaborative relationships that involve a degree of trust while navigating power differentials. The vignettes revealed several themes for effective partnerships and a messy bundle of ethical tensions related to researcher integrity. Ultimately, decisions in research need to be made in a deliberate and transparent manner as the consequences affect everyone involved in the research.

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The Case of the 12-Year-Old Boy: Or, The Silence of and Relevance to Leisure Research

Leisure Sciences, Mar 29, 2017

ABSTRACT A 12-year-old boy is shot in a public park on the grounds of being a threat, yet despite... more ABSTRACT A 12-year-old boy is shot in a public park on the grounds of being a threat, yet despite the locational relevance there was a silence within leisure research. With this in mind, the aim of this manuscript is a manifesto on the manner that leisure-related research on race, social justice, quality of life, and leisure studies (more broadly, as an academy) must confront the silence with dealing with racism as structural and systematic. If we are to advocate in varying ways on the right of populations to enjoy the life sustaining opportunities that are afforded to them as citizens through leisure, then we must also hold ourselves accountable when those very leisure settings fail to deliver on that promise, and become life-threatening. Tamir Rice, is a case of the duality of silence on the structural nature of racism while also an opportunity to assert a social relevance for leisure research.

A People's History of Leisure Studies: Where the White Nationalists Are

Routledge eBooks, Oct 19, 2022

What we are witnessing in these contemporary times isn't just the interplay of a racialised-popul... more What we are witnessing in these contemporary times isn't just the interplay of a racialised-populist sentiment in the political sphere through the amassing of political influence (political parties, campaigns, and policies). What we are also witnessing is the increasing performance of racialisedpopulist political sentiments in the very physical, and public spaces of society. The aim of this manuscript is to discuss this performance within the United States at four historical junctures of animation of leisure space and White Nationalist activity in public and private-public spaces: 1) 1925 Ku Klux Klan March; 2) the 1939 German-American Bund Rally; 3) the 1977 National Socialist Party of America Rally; and, 4) the 2017 Unite the Right Rally. There is a complexity to the contestation of meanings and values ascribed to spaces. The political act of protesting is highlighted in its violation of the sanctum of these public and private-public spaces within the theoretical lenses of the White Genocide Conspiracy Theory or the Great Replacement Theory. Each highlights the impact of this growing White populism, and serves as a cautionary tale for appeals of counter activities and expressions of resistance with the animation, through protest and dissent, of public and private-public spaces.

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Parting Thoughts I

Leisure Sciences, Dec 15, 2020

A new editorial team, a new tradition. With each issue, we wish to invoke thoughts and discussion... more

Black/Female/BodyHypervisibilityandInvisibility

Journal of Leisure Research, Nov 1, 2013

Through an interdisciplinary lens, this paper proposes two concepts for Black feminist analysis (... more Through an interdisciplinary lens, this paper proposes two concepts for Black feminist analysis (visibility and hypervisibility) to augment feminist leisure scholarship. We examine questions of invisibility in relation to the systematic oppression that besets Black women in society, and in the academy, through their absence as research participants and researchers. This raises a new sense of invisible marginality that may exist in scholarship, and otherwise. With hypervisibility in body politics, Black women are represented in stereotyped and commodified ways throughout leisure spaces and scholarship. The critique of historical and contemporary representations of hyper-visibility is conducted through representations of Black women's bodies. We conclude with specific implications as Black feminism provides a culturally congruent epistemology to advance the field and augment third wave feminism.

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The Perceptions and Reflections on Racial/Ethnicity Diversity in Outdoor Recreation

PubMed, 2016

The collaborative, student-led research team was concerned with race and ethnic diversity in outd... more The collaborative, student-led research team was concerned with race and ethnic diversity in outdoor recreation and explored this issue by interviewing outdoor instructors. Video action research and pedagogy was used based on characteristics of critical thinking, research, reflection, and social justice. The result indicate the disparity of outdoor recreation participation and factors contributing to it. The reflections show an interest, on the part of the next generation of outdoor recreation professionals and student researchers, to address the disparity issue and analyze thefieldfrom a new perspective.

Public participation, action, and failure: A case study of the 2016 Olympic bid

Loisir et société, May 4, 2015

Hosting mega-events offers cities within the United States an opportunity to gain benefits that a... more Hosting mega-events offers cities within the United States an opportunity to gain benefits that are tangible and intangible. The primary objective of this two-year case study was to examine the impact of Chicago’s 2016 Olympic bid on the surrounding communities of the proposed Olympic sites. The research design of this community-based case study was comprised of interviews, review of reports, document analysis, and field observations of community-based meetings, city council forums, and community-led political actions. The results revealed inconsistencies in the incorporation of participants from the communities most affected by the bid and planning. The primary findings developed a picture of the complexities of issues and abuses of power that prompted gentrification, displacement, and discrimination. The study calls for future research that focuses on issues connected to socio-economic conflict as it relates to the distribution of wealth, power, and access that leisure-related opportunities seemingly create.

Leisure Settings As Contested Spaces

XIX ISA World Congress of Sociology (July 15-21, 2018), Jul 16, 2018

The Geographies of Threat and the Production of Violence

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The Unsettling Nature of Prejudice

Journal of Leisure Research, Jul 1, 2014

"Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in... more "Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can't do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do." - Apple, Inc. (1997)Issues of social and environmental justice are critical in leisure research and delivery, yet to date these topics have been underrepresented in the existing leisure literature. In May 2012, the Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism at the University of Utah hosted the First International Symposium on "Speaking Up and Speaking Out: Working for Social and Environmental Justice through Parks, Recreation, Tourism and Leisure" with the intention of presenting current research in these important areas. The symposium brought leisure researchers who have shared interests in social and environmental justice together and provided an opportunity for discussion, collaboration, and critical consideration. What precipitated was camaraderie and enthusiasm to explore leisure behavior through the complex and sometimes discomfiting lenses of oppression and privilege. The assembly of leisure scholars with this special issue was designed to bring a collection of studies and discussions that present questions of justice within leisure to the fore, to inspire further discourse, and to expand leisure scholarship in an increasingly changing global society.To suggest that disparities in leisure provisions and services have not been addressed in the literature is a disservice. In addition to the 2012 Symposium in Utah, calls for social justice research have been articulated at the George Butler Lecture at the 2012 NRPA Leisure Research Symposium and a panel discussion following the Lecture, and in research (Allison, 2000; Arai & Kivel, 2009; Floyd & Johnson, 2002; Johnson, Delgado-Romero, 2012; Mowatt, 2012; Mowatt, 2013; Paisley & Dustin, 2011; Parry, 2012; Parry, Johnson, & Stewart, 2013; Samdahl, 2011; Stewart, 2012; Taylor, Floyd, Whitt, Glover, & Brooks, 2007). After all, issues of race, gender, class, sexuality, and ability among others have been examined for decades. What some of the published literature lacks, though not all, is a critical examination of not only the experiences of those who are marginalized, but also and more precisely, social and environmental justice are a paradigmatic break from the critique of power of institutions in Critical Theory or the social responsibility to interact with communities in Action Research and Community-Based Participatory Research but a call to action for what should be done to incur social equity, social change, and the acquisition of power. Pierre Bourdieu (1997) argued,Only the illusion of the omnipotence of thought could lead one to believe that the most radical doubt is capable of suspending presuppositions, linked to our various affiliations, memberships, implications, that we engage in our thoughts (p. 9).The subjects of our inquiry are influenced by our culturally centered assumptions, our prejudicial presuppositions. But equally so, the people we interact with in our inquiries are influenced and motivated by prejudicial presuppositions. Without a penetrating agitation, there is little motivation, for us as researchers and for the populations we engage with, to reflexively question how those prejudices impact society at large and at the individual level.Truly addressing questions of oppression and privilege from a social psychological perspective requires an insight and self-awareness of not only prejudice in society, but one's own prejudice as well (Pious, 2003). This process can be unsettling, and as mentioned previously, discomfiting, as no one is free of prejudice. …

Parting Thoughts XVII

Leisure Sciences, Apr 10, 2023

A Comparative Analysis of Race and Mattering in Leisure Literature

International Journal of the Sociology of Leisure, Apr 28, 2021

The purpose of this thesis was to examine the progression of discourse on race within leisure stu... more The purpose of this thesis was to examine the progression of discourse on race within leisure studies scholarship through the lens of racecraft and the construct of mattering. The Journal of Leisure Research as well as Schole were examined within the periods of the 1990s (1989-2000) and the 2010s (2009-2019). Articles were chosen based upon their employment of the keywords of community recreation, youth development, and race within both time periods, yielding a total of 99 articles that were examined. A discourse historical approach (DHA) was utilized in assessment of the impact of the socio-political context on leisure research as well as the development of discourse on race. Through DHA techniques and the concept of racecraft, this project classified articles under five overarching themes: Faint mentions of race, racialization in the negative, improper terminology use, intentionality of race, and inadequate lens of problem/solution. Based upon the findings of this thesis, leisure literature has displayed minimal progression in its conceptualizations of race. Leisure studies scholarship reflects the dominant discourse through its latent ideology of racism that maintains marginalization of various racialized ethnic groups. It is posited that, without institutional examination and targeted mitigation efforts, the field of leisure will continue to uphold a detrimental racial order with an underdeveloped political and historical stance on race.

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A People's History of Leisure Studies: The Great Race and the National Parks and U.S. Forests

Journal of park and recreation administration, 2019

For some time, researchers have discussed the relationship of the National Park Service (NPS) and... more For some time, researchers have discussed the relationship of the National Park Service (NPS) and other parks, parks and recreation, and outdoor recreation entities’ cultural engagement through a lens of needed and improved management that emphasizes culturally diverse outreach programming, but that also is aimed at a greater awareness of social marginality and the preponderance of racial preferences. While Santucci, Floyd, Bocarro, and Henderson (2014) particularly explored the potential influence of the organizational culture of the NPS for maintaining a traditional culture resistant to diversity-related changes as an effort on truly diversifying its staffing, programming, and outreach, there has never been a call to examine the historical influences of the culture of the NPS, the United States Forest Service (USFS), the overall environmental movement, and even our very conception of outdoor recreation within the leisure studies and recreation service provision literature. What is presented here is a discourse-historical approach of authored texts as primary sources of conservationist, preservationist, and interpretation legends, Gifford Pinchot, Madison Grant, and Charles M. Goethe (among others). The article calls into question as to how their natural history, biological anthropology, and preservationist ideological lens influenced their philosophical articulation of conservation, preservation, and interpretation. In particular, Grant worked on matters of preservation synergistically in tandem with his eugenics beliefs, as chiefly articulated in the eugenicist tome, The Passing of the Great Race (1916a). This seminal eugenics text informed Western interests in racial nativism, and highlighted the intersection of conserving “the best” in nature and among humanity. While Grant and Goethe’s relationship with eugenics has had more exposure, there has not been a reckoning of their views, as well as the views of Pinchot within leisure research and recreation practice. It is evident in taking a discourse-historical approach in examining these primary sources that the purity of race, enforced reproductive encouragement of the fit and the reproductive restriction of the unfit along racialized gender lines, were the most important factors in determining the fate of populations and the environment (The National Conservation Commission, 1909). The aim here is to highlight Pinchot, Grant, and Goethe and to focus on the social injustices that they advocated as a basis to highlight the calls of social justice through this special issue and by way of the work of others who have championed the need for social justice perspectives within leisure studies and parks and recreation service delivery against their various ideals. Subscribe to JPRA

A Critical Expansion of Theories on Race and Ethnicity in Leisure Studies

Palgrave Macmillan UK eBooks, 2017

There has been a range of theories that leisure scholars have used or have drawn from in explorin... more There has been a range of theories that leisure scholars have used or have drawn from in exploring and discussing leisure behavior. Each of those theories, as is the nature of the field of leisure studies, comes from another discipline or field. Despite a robust body of research and conceptual discussions on Race and Ethnicity, leisure has drawn very little, if at all, from actual noted theories regarding either social construct. The aim of this chapter is to present a body of theories, the history associated with them, the focus of each, and lastly, some ways that leisure scholars could consider utilizing them in future research or discussions. This chapter also seeks to invigorate the field of leisure studies with perspectives on Race and Ethnicity that have been birthed from social movements and informed by scholars with decades of analysis on the concepts and constructs of both social constructs.

Lynching as Leisure

American Behavioral Scientist, Aug 9, 2012

Within a critical theory focus, the documented history of lynching in photographic images and tex... more Within a critical theory focus, the documented history of lynching in photographic images and textual accounts provides a discussion of the sense of place when considering lynchings as leisure activities. The visual analysis of 433 lynching photographs and 327 accounts undergoing critical discourse analysis provided the process of researching the historical phenomenon in the context of leisure. This article seeks to summarize that research and presents case study examples to discuss the leisure implications in lynchings. The racial violence that is demonstrated in these spectacles is a discursive intersection of cultural critique, power relationships, and a reflection of their impact on place meanings and social interaction. To “read” lynchings as violent acts of leisure in various settings creates a vehicle for leisure research to contribute to dialogues on meaning(s) of place and the significance of race.

Heterosexism in Campus Recreational Club Sports: An Exploratory Investigation into Attitudes toward Gay Men and Lesbians

Recreational Sports Journal, Oct 1, 2013

This study investigated attitudes toward gay men and lesbians among recreational club sport parti... more This study investigated attitudes toward gay men and lesbians among recreational club sport participants, including an investigation of differences in attitudes across sport clubs, team and individual sports, gender, and contact with gay men and lesbians. This study used a modified version of the Attitudes toward Lesbians and Gay Men scale administered online to acquire overall attitudinal scores of participants, as well as two parallel subscale scores. Utilizing MANOVA and ANOVA statistical testing procedures, significant differences (p < .01) in attitudes toward gay men and lesbians were found based on gender, contact with gay men and lesbians, and among different recreational club sports. Significant statistical differences (p < .01) between attitudinal subscale scores were also found across demographic levels.

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Concurrent Partnerships Among Black Women in United States

Journal of black sexuality and relationships, 2023

A People’s Future of Leisure Studies: Fear City, Cop City and Others Tales, a Call for Police Research

Leisure Sciences, Mar 6, 2023

It has been noted that crime and enforcement are likely a defining part of an evolving leisure ex... more It has been noted that crime and enforcement are likely a defining part of an evolving leisure experience. The aims of this manuscript were to call for research to focus on this phenomenon of the shooting and killing of people, particularly Black citizenry, by law enforcement. State sanctioned violence has been consistently wrought in leisure spaces and settings since those 2014–2015 deaths that were noted previously in a Leisure Sciences article, “The Case of the 12-year-old Boy: Or, the Silence of and Relevance to Leisure Research.” An understanding of policing, not police officers, as tool for surveillance and control along with an understanding of society, not on individualized or small group social behavior are the needs in the research of a legitimate lethal and trauma-inducing phenomenon that occurs within the space, time, and activities of leisure, sport, and tourism.

The State Between Us: An Introduction

Routledge eBooks, Sep 13, 2021

The History of the City: The Identification of Populations

Routledge eBooks, Sep 13, 2021

Going the Extra Mile: Building Trust and Collaborative Relationships with Study Participants

Leisure Sciences, Dec 2, 2020

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The Case of the 12-Year-Old Boy: Or, The Silence of and Relevance to Leisure Research

Leisure Sciences, Mar 29, 2017

A People's History of Leisure Studies: Where the White Nationalists Are

Routledge eBooks, Oct 19, 2022

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Parting Thoughts I

Leisure Sciences, Dec 15, 2020

A new editorial team, a new tradition. With each issue, we wish to invoke thoughts and discussion... more

Black/Female/BodyHypervisibilityandInvisibility

Journal of Leisure Research, Nov 1, 2013

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The Perceptions and Reflections on Racial/Ethnicity Diversity in Outdoor Recreation

PubMed, 2016

Public participation, action, and failure: A case study of the 2016 Olympic bid

Loisir et société, May 4, 2015

Leisure Settings As Contested Spaces

XIX ISA World Congress of Sociology (July 15-21, 2018), Jul 16, 2018

The Geographies of Threat and the Production of Violence

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The Unsettling Nature of Prejudice

Journal of Leisure Research, Jul 1, 2014

Parting Thoughts XVII

Leisure Sciences, Apr 10, 2023

A Comparative Analysis of Race and Mattering in Leisure Literature

International Journal of the Sociology of Leisure, Apr 28, 2021

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A People's History of Leisure Studies: The Great Race and the National Parks and U.S. Forests

Journal of park and recreation administration, 2019

A Critical Expansion of Theories on Race and Ethnicity in Leisure Studies

Palgrave Macmillan UK eBooks, 2017

Lynching as Leisure

American Behavioral Scientist, Aug 9, 2012

Heterosexism in Campus Recreational Club Sports: An Exploratory Investigation into Attitudes toward Gay Men and Lesbians

Recreational Sports Journal, Oct 1, 2013

Download

Concurrent Partnerships Among Black Women in United States

Journal of black sexuality and relationships, 2023

A People’s Future of Leisure Studies: Fear City, Cop City and Others Tales, a Call for Police Research

Leisure Sciences, Mar 6, 2023

The State Between Us: An Introduction

Routledge eBooks, Sep 13, 2021

The History of the City: The Identification of Populations

Routledge eBooks, Sep 13, 2021

The Geographies of Threat and The Production of Violence

Routledge, 2021

The Geographies of Threat and the Production of Violence exposes the spatial processes of raciali... more The Geographies of Threat and the Production of Violence exposes the spatial processes of racialising, gendering, and classifying populations through the encoded urban infrastructure – from highways cleaving neighbourhoods to laws and policies fortifying even more unbreachable boundaries. This synthesis of narrative and theory resurrects neglected episodes of state violence and reveals how the built environment continues to enable it today within a range of cities throughout the world. Examples and discussions pull from colonial pasts and presents, of old strategic settlements turned major modern cities in the United States and elsewhere that link to the physical and legal structures concentrating a populace into neighbourhoods that prep them for a lifetime of conscripted and carceral service to the State.

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Contesting Identities, Contesting Nation

by Alice Filmer and Rasul Mowatt

Rasul Mowatt

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