doi: 10.3850/S201046932012000238

Meeting the Challenges of Uncertain Times: The Importance of (Critical) Interdisciplinary Research

Heather Mair University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada. hmair@uwaterloo.ca

ABSTRACT

This essay considers the contribution that we, as students of leisure, might make (and/or can continue to make) towards fostering positive social change by embracing our multi-disciplinary roots and moving even further towards (critical) interdisciplinarity. While leisure is seen by many as a luxury, those of us working in this area argue leisure can and does hold at least part of the answer to understanding and addressing complex contemporary problems. However, leisure scholarship will be more relevant to society if scholars and practitioners continue to embrace and foster a critical kind of interdisciplinarity. While interdisciplinarity is not without its own challenges, social research, and leisure research, is most relevant when we are equipped with the skills to pull from a variety of disciplines; this is the way to find creative solutions to our most pressing conundrums. The essay ends by outlining two avenues where our particular skills may be deployed: food practices and equality.

Keywords: Interdisciplinary research, Leisure, Social change, and Leisure research.

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