Professor Kate Dashper

This innovative and timely volume moves beyond existing operational and pragmatic approaches to events studies by exploring sports events as social, cultural, political and mediatised phenomena. As the study of this area is developing there is now a need for critical and theoretically informed debate regarding conceptualisation, significance and roles. This edited collection explores the core themes of consumption, media technologies, representation, identities and culture to offer new insight into how sports events contribute to generation of individual and shared meaning over personal, community and national identities as well as the associated issues of conflict, resistance and power. Chapters promote a critical (re)evaluation of emerging empirical research from a diverse range of sports events and locations from the international to local level. A multi-disciplinary approach is taken with contributions from areas including sports studies, media studies, sociology, cultural studies, communications, politics, tourism and gender studies. Written by leading academics in the area, this thorough exploration of the contested relationship between sports events, society and culture will be of interest to students, academics and researchers in Events, Sport, Tourism and Sociology.

This book was originally published as a special issue of Sport in Society. "

The horse-human relationship is based on mutual respect and understanding, and the development of trusting partnerships may be particularly important in elite equestrian sport, where horses and humans rely on each other to tackle sporting challenges. The increasing commercialization of equestrian sport is eroding aspects of the horse-human relationship, as the commodity value of sports horses increases and the pressure for quick results threatens the formation of deep bonds between horse and rider. This article presents data from an ethnographic study of competitive equestrian sport in England, including interviews with 26 elite riders, to explore how the changing nature of elite equestrian sport is altering the basis of the horse-human relationship, changing the horse from a trusted partner in sporting pursuits to a commodity to be bought and sold for human commercial benefit.

Horse-riding is a popular leisure activity within rural Britain. Straddling two masculinised social contexts – rural, land-based society and sport/physical recreation – horse-riding is a feminised, yet mixed-sex, milieu. This article presents data from an ethnography of the social world of horse-riding to consider how women within this context do and redo gender in ways that may begin to challenge ideas about what women are and are capable of, within rural and sporting contexts. Equestrianism is revealing about elements of rural life, particularly the role of women and women’s leisure. Women’s active leisure in the countryside has been rendered largely invisible for decades, yet women’s sport/physical recreation forms an important part of rural leisure worlds. This study of women and horse-riding offers examples of how feminine identities help shape the rural leisure landscape in ways that begin to redefine gender relations and gender identities within the British countryside in small, yet potentially significant, ways.

In this autoethnography I explore how my responses to a horse-riding injury to my face and teeth illustrate some of the complex interactions between gender identity and sporting identity. This facial injury left me feeling vulnerable and uncomfortable with my appearance, and prompted me to reflect on the ways sporting participation and injury are both constrained by and constitutive of gender identity.

The involvement of nonhuman animals in human sport and leisure raises questions about the ethics of animal use (and sometimes abuse) for human pleasure. This article draws on a multispecies ethnography of amateur riding in the UK to consider some ways in which human participants try to develop attentive relationships with their equine partners. An ethical praxis of paying attention to horses as individual, sentient beings with intrinsic value beyond their relation to human activities can lead to the development of mutually rewarding interspecies relationships and partnerships within sport. However, these relationships always develop within the context of human-centric power relations that position animals as vulnerable subjects, placing moral responsibility on humans to safeguard animal interests in human sport and leisure.

The events industry is an underresearched section of the service sector and can be usefully understood as a “customer-orientated bureaucracy“ (Korczynski, 2002). The dual, and often contradictory, logics of customer orientation and bureaucratization coexist and place heavy demands on employees. The concept of aesthetic labor, first conceived by Warhurst, Nickson, Witz, and Cullen (2000), has been usefully applied to recruitment processes in other parts of the service sector, notably hospitality and retail, in order to understand better the complex and embodied demands required of employees in contemporary service organizations. This article presents an exploratory study into the recruitment process in the events industry in the UK. Through an analysis of online event management job advertisements, the implicit embodied attributes required of successful candidates are explored, and the underlying gendered and class-based assumptions of these corporeal dispositions are considered.

In this autoethnography I explore how my responses to a horse-riding injury to my face and teeth illustrate some of the complex interactions between gender identity and sporting identity. This facial injury left me feeling vulnerable and uncomfortable with my appearance, and prompted me to reflect on the ways sporting participation and injury are both constrained by and constitutive of gender identity.

This paper explores the embodied, gendered experiences of disabled horse‐riders. Drawing on data from five in‐depth interviews with paradressage riders, the ways in which their involvement in elite disability sport impacts upon their sense of identity and confidence are explored, as well as the considerable health and social benefits that this involvement brings. Social models of disability are employed and the shortcomings of such models, when applied to disability sport, are highlighted. The data presented here demonstrates the necessity of seeing disability sport as an embodied experience and acknowledging the importance of impairment to the experiences of disabled athletes. Living within an impaired body is also a gendered experience and the implications of this when applied to elite disability sport are considered.

Attitudes towards sexuality are changing and levels of cultural homophobia decreasing, yet there remain very few openly gay men within sport. As a proving ground for heteromasculinity, sport has traditionally been a hostile environment for gay men. This article is based on an ethnographic study within a sporting subworld in which gay men do appear to be accepted: equestrian sport. Drawing on inclusive masculinity theory, equestrian sport is shown to offer an unusually tolerant environment for gay men in which heterosexual men of all ages demonstrate low levels of homophobia. Inclusive masculinity theory is a useful framework for exploring the changing nature of masculinities and this study demonstrates that gay men are becoming increasingly visible and accepted within once unreceptive locales, such as sport and rural communities. However, this more tolerant attitude is purchased at the expense of a subordinated feminine Other, perpetuating the dominance of men within competitive sport. © The Author(s) 2012.

Equestrian sport is the only Olympic-level sport not organized around a binary gender division and as such offers a unique opportunity to explore the consequences of sex integration within competitive sport. Drawing on a study of professional riders in Britain, this chapter explores some of the limitations and productive possibilities of sex integration. Restrictive gender norms that position women as submissive and predominantly linked with caring (of both children and horses, in this context) continue to disadvantage women in competitive sport. However, although it is extremely difficult to do so, this study indicates that it is possible for women to perform well at the top levels of sport when competing against men on equal terms. This offers a challenge to normative ideals of femininity and to masculine dominance of sport.

The events industry is an underresearched section of the service sector and can be usefully understood as a “customer-orientated bureaucracy” (Korczynski, 2002). The dual, and often contradictory, logics of customer orientation and bureaucratization coexist and place heavy demands on employees. The concept of aesthetic labor, first conceived by Warhurst, Nickson, Witz, and Cullen (2000), has been usefully applied to recruitment processes in other parts of the service sector, notably hospitality and retail, in order to understand better the complex and embodied demands required of employees in contemporary service organizations. This article presents an exploratory study into the recruitment process in the events industry in the UK. Through an analysis of online event management job advertisements, the implicit embodied attributes required of successful candidates are explored, and the underlying gendered and class-based assumptions of these corporeal dispositions are considered.

This paper explores the embodied, gendered experiences of disabled horse‐riders. Drawing on data from five in‐depth interviews with paradressage riders, the ways in which their involvement in elite disability sport impacts upon their sense of identity and confidence are explored, as well as the considerable health and social benefits that this involvement brings. Social models of disability are employed and the shortcomings of such models, when applied to disability sport, are highlighted. The data presented here demonstrates the necessity of seeing disability sport as an embodied experience and acknowledging the importance of impairment to the experiences of disabled athletes. Living within an impaired body is also a gendered experience and the implications of this when applied to elite disability sport are considered.

Sex segregation is a core organising principle of most modern sports and is a key element in the marginalisation and subordination of girls and women in sport and beyond. In this article I explore the only Olympic-level sport which is not organised around sex segregation – equestrian sport – in order to consider the implications of sex integration for female participants. I draw on a study conducted on elite riders that found that although sex integration in equestrian sport does not lead to female participants being excluded from high-level competition, men continue to perform disproportionately well. This suggests that although sex integration may be an important step towards breaking down gender hierarchies in sport, without accompanying wider changes in gender norms and expectations, sex integration alone will not be enough to achieve greater gender equality in equestrian sport.

The events industry is female-dominated numerically, yet men continue to occupy the majority of senior roles and positions of influence. A variety of factors contribute to this persistent glass ceiling, including shortage of female role models, lack of confidence, inflexible working hours, and limited professional networks. Mentoring has been shown to begin to address some of these challenges women may face in progressing to senior positions. This paper reports on research conducted on a formal industry-wide mentoring programme for women that aims to pair female professionals with leading industry figures in a supportive, collaborative and focused programme of development activities. Drawing on data from 37 interviews with mentees on the programme, conducted over the course of one year, the article considers if and how mentoring can help empower women in the events industry to aim high and proactively advance their careers. Findings suggest that mentoring can have positive effects on women’s confidence, ability to plan professionally, and build supportive and enabling networks. The study shows the value of a structured, formal programme for mentoring activities and suggests that, although mentoring alone will not redress gender inequality in the events industry, it provides a valuable and effective mechanism for individual career development and empowerment.

The Olympic Games offer a rare opportunity for women in sport to receive broad media interest, with recognisable and familiar athletes receiving higher levels of attention by journalists during this media-event. This article reports on a case study of representations of three female athletes within the British print press during the 2016 Olympic Games. Nicola Adams (boxing), Charlotte Dujardin (dressage) and Jessica Ennis-Hill (heptathlon) were all gold medallists in 2012, so already had some celebrity in Britain prior to 2016, which journalists built on during the Games. Representations of these athletes were found to be highly ambivalent, praising their athletic achievements whilst simultaneously undermining their prowess through questioning the sport, level of competition, and individual athletic performances. Analysis illustrates the importance of celebrity and visibility to female athletes in receiving mainstream media attention, but such interest remains ambiguous and understated.

The concept of emotional labour has been subject to critique, evaluation, development and extension over the last 35 years, but it remains firmly anthropocentric. This article begins to address this shortcoming by illustrating some of the productive potential of extending the concept of emotional labour to include more-than-human and multispecies perspectives. Organisations are not solely human phenomena, but research usually fails to consider the role of nonhumans in work in contemporary capitalism. Using the example of trail horses in tourism, I argue that some nonhuman animals should be considered workers, and that they do perform emotional labour in service to commercial organisations. More-than-human and multispecies perspectives capture some of the complexities of everyday organisational practices, and can inform feminist research attuned to the experiences of marginalised others, human and nonhuman.

Mentoring is widely acknowledged to be an important contributor to women’s career success and progression but women often struggle to access mentoring networks that can help sponsor and develop their careers. Formal mentoring programmes designed specifically for women help overcome this challenge, but such schemes may at the same time reinforce masculine discourses which position women as deficient in relation to the invisibly male norm that is implicit within contemporary working practices. Drawing on a formal women-only mentoring programme built on gender-positive goals to empower women to ‘be the best they can be’ within the events industry, this paper considers the extent to which such programmes can both challenge and reproduce gendered discourses of business and success. Interviews with mentors and mentees illustrate how such programmes make gender visible within business and individual careers, but masculinist underpinnings of organisational discourses remain invisible, unacknowledged and thus largely unchallenged.

The social, economic and political context of the 1980s in Britain shaped the contributions to the journal, and the early part of the decade was marked by emphasis on the interrelations between class and gender. The introduction of this e-special discusses the increasing importance of gender in sociological analysis in the 1980s. This development is related to a shift from production to consumption and a growing interest in life-style leading to the debate around “the end of class”, the “cultural turn” and “identity politics”. We assess the influence of articles published in the 1980s and how sociology – both the discipline and the journal – have changed since these articles have been published. The selected articles provide a historical perspective and are – as we argue – still highly relevant for the current state of the discipline and sociological debate. They illustrate the evolution of British sociology, from emphasis on class analysis in the 1970s towards the growing prominence of intersectionality and subjectivity in the 1990s and beyond. Feminist theory and research in the 1980s within and beyond Sociology indicate the importance and utility of intersectionality, even if the terminology has shifted, and the decade resulted in considerable advances in terms of the prominence, legitimacy and sophistication of gender analysis

This article presents a story of writing, revising and publishing an autoethnography of sporting injury. Using extracts from peer review comments and personal reflections both on these reviews and on the process more broadly, I show that although autoethnography can be a very challenging, even troubling, experience for the author, it can also be rewarding and empowering when editors and reviewers offer supportive and constructive comments and suggestions. I argue that greater consideration needs to be given to the aftermath of publication of autoethnographic accounts and call for wider debate about the ethics of asking authors to reveal more about their personal lives and weaknesses in the pursuit of academic goals. The article offers would-be autoethnographers one account of the writing, revising and publishing process in order to explore a number of relevant issues that arise when an author chooses an autoethnographic approach for conducting and presenting research.

Equestrian leisure is resource-intensive and requires significant investment of time, money, effort and emotion. In this paper we consider these demands within the context of personal and family relationships. Using autoethnographic methods we use our own relationships with horses and with our human partners to explore the issues and tensions than can arise when one person engages in such an intense and demanding leisure pursuit. We argue that support from partners is essential, but may often be underpinned by some resentment towards the horse(s) and the commitment they entail. Framed within the context of gendered family relationships and gendered leisure, we suggest that women’s involvement in resource-hungry leisure, such as equestrianism, is filtered through traditional gender power relations and that constant negotiation and compromise is required to enable women to engage in demanding leisure activities.

Gender stereotypes shape human social interaction, often to the detriment of women and those who do not comply with normative expectations of gender. So far, little research has assessed the extent to which people apply gender stereotypes to animals, and the implications this may have for individuals and groups, particularly female animals. The current study investigated survey respondents’ preference for horses to perform in different sport and leisure practices, based solely on ideas about the sex of the animal. An anonymous online survey explored the preferences of riders for mares, geldings and stallions for dressage, show-jumping and trail-riding, and reasons for their choice. A total of 1032 responses were received. Geldings were the preferred choice, being perceived as safe and reliable, followed by stallions who were valued for their supposed power, presence and good looks. Overall, mares were the least popular choice, and were discussed in ambivalent terms reflecting broad gender stereotypes which depict females as moody, flighty and unpredictable. Respondents appeared to draw on gender stereotypes to make judgements about horses and justify their choices. The anthropomorphic application of gender stereotypes to animals may have negative consequences for female animals, shaping human-animal interactions and expectations.

© 2018 Australia and New Zealand Association of Leisure Studies This commentary challenges the anthropocentrism of leisure research and raises some of the limitations of considering leisure solely from human-centric perspectives. Research from the emerging subfield of human-horse relationships is used to illustrate how more-than-human analyses can enrich understandings of leisure as multispecies practices, encounters and interactions. Embracing multispecies perspectives may open up new and challenging ethical, theoretical, methodological and practical issues for the field of leisure studies.

Tailored jackets, long boots and white gloves are clothes not normally associated with sport, yet they make up required competition dress within equestrianism. The modern equestrian sports of dressage and showjumping have their origins in the military and on the hunting field, and this highly formal, masculine style persists in contemporary equestrian circles. Perceived by many non-participants as archaic, comical and distinctly unsporty, equestrian competition dress requirements have remained relatively unchanged for a century and are one factor (amongst many others) that visibly marks equestrianism as different to most other sporting practices. This paper draws on an ethnographic study of equestrian sport in Britain in order to consider how participants today relate to and experience formal competition dress in the course of regular sporting activities. Formal competition dress is an important aspect of individual sporting identity for contemporary riders and is understood by participants to represent the unusual ethos of equestrian sport.

The hospitality industry struggles with problems with staff motivation, commitment and retention, whilst also having an entrenched glass ceiling that limits career opportunities for many women. Mentoring is a useful function to support and develop staff, and may be particularly important for helping women overcome gendered barriers to progression. This paper reports on a year-long qualitative study of a women’s mentoring programme in the hospitality industry in the UK. Drawing on data from 71 interviews with a sample of 13 mentors and 14 mentees, the findings illustrate the persistent gendered obstacles women experience as they try and negotiate careers in masculinist hospitality organisations. The mentoring programme offers individual support for the mentees, and also begins to challenge gendered discourses of success in hospitality careers, illustrating that mentoring has an important role to play in both career development and in confronting gender inequality in the hospitality industry.

Job satisfaction is key indicator in relation to organisational commitment, intention to stay and workplace motivation. This report presents findings from an online survey designed to assess levels of job satisfaction within the events industry. The survey was distributed through a variety of networks, including via the Association of British Professional Conference Organisers (ABPCO), resulting in 98 responses. Findings illustrate that levels of satisfaction within the events industry are generally high, with job variety, co-workers, supervisors and travel opportunities highly valued. Respondents indicate lower levels of satisfaction with pay, promotion opportunities and levels of stress. Specific human resource management (HRM) practices may be used to mitigate some of these issues and results indicate the importance of tailoring practices to career stage and family circumstances of the individual employee.

Purpose: To introduce critical gender theory to events studies and set an agenda for research in this area. This paper focuses on various contexts, approaches, and applications for 'doing gender' in critical event studies. It draws upon interdisciplinary frameworks to develop robust theoretical ways of interrogating issues related to power and structural inequalities in events contexts. Design/methodology/approach: A conceptual discussion of ‘doing gender’ and critical gender theory and review of relevant research in this area within event studies. Adopting feminist and intersectional perspectives and applying them to events environments has potential to inform current theoretical developments and wider sector practices, and, ultimately, change the dominant heteronormative patriarchal paradigm of the experiential landscape. Findings: Event studies has been slow to engage with gender theory and gender-aware research, to the detriment of theoretical and practical development within the field. Research implications: A call for more gender-aware research within event studies. The goal of this paper is to galvanise gender-aware events research to centralise the marginalised and amplify feminist voices in critical event studies. Feminist and gender-aware frameworks encourage researchers to be critical and to question the underlying power structures and discourses that shape practices, behaviours, and interactions. This creates new pathways to find ways to overcome inequalities, which can improve overall events praxis. Originality/value: The paper introduces critical gender theory as a fruitful framework for future events research. It is an under-researched area of study, representing a significant gap in ways of theorising and representing different aspects of events. We argue it is imperative that researchers take up the challenge of incorporating feminist and/or gender-aware frameworks within their research as a matter of routine.

The Equine Behaviour Assessment and Research Questionnaire (E-BARQ) is a questionnaire instrument developed to obtain quantitative data on the domestic equine triad of training, management, and behaviour of horses. The E-BARQ was developed to identify how changes in training and management impact behaviour over time, to define normal behaviour in horses, and to discover how to improve rider safety and horse welfare, leading to ethical equitation. During the development of the E-BARQ, we also investigated how best to motivate stakeholders to engage with this citizen science project. The pilot version of the E-BARQ collected qualitative data on respondents' experience of the questionnaire. The pilot questionnaire was developed with the assistance of an international panel (with professional expertise in horse training, equitation science, veterinary science, equestrian coaching, welfare, animal behaviour, and elite-level riding), and was used to collect data on 1320 horses from approximately 1194 owner/caregiver respondents, with an option for respondents to provide free-text feedback. A Rotated Principal Component Analysis of the 218 behavioural, management, and training questionnaire items extracted a total of 65 rotated components. Thirty-six of the 65 rotated components demonstrated high internal reliability. Of the 218 questionnaire items, 43 items failed to reach the Rotated Principal Component Analysis criteria and were not included in the final version of the E-BARQ. Survey items that failed the Rotated Principal Component Analysis inclusion criteria were discarded if found to have a less than 85% response rate, or a variance of less than 1.3. Of those that survived the Rotated Principal Component Analysis, items were further assigned to horse temperament (17 rotated components), equitation (11 rotated components), and management and equipment (8 rotated components) groups. The feedback from respondents indicated the need for further items to be added to the questionnaire, resulting in a total of 214 items for the final E-BARQ survey. Many of these items were further grouped into question matrices, and the demographic items for horse and handler included, giving a final total of 97 questions on the E-BARQ questionnaire. These results provided content validity, showing that the questionnaire items were an acceptable representation of the entire horse training, management, and behavioural domain for the development of the final E-BARQ questionnaire.

Over the last decade, equitation scientists have increasingly relied on online survey tools to gather information on horse training, management, behaviour and other equine-related subjects. With a detailed knowledge of their animals, horse owners and riders are ideally placed to contribute to research but are sometimes reluctant to engage with and devote time to surveys. The current article reveals, through consultation with stakeholder groups, the potential of a range of motivational items to boost horse-owner participation. A short, three-question inquiry was developed to rank respondents’ (n=747) preferred survey tools and other items designed to engage the equestrian community with the donation of data. Respondents were asked to assign themselves to one of four categories: academics/researchers, professionals, practitioners and enthusiasts. The inquiry offered respondents the choice of three hypothetical tools: a standardized tool to measure behaviour over time; a logbook tool to record training and behaviour on a regular basis; and a chart to compare an individual horse’s behaviour with that of the general horse population. While analysis revealed that stakeholders considered at least one of the tools to be useful, it also exposed significant differences among the perceived usefulness of the various tools themselves. Using free-text responses, participants described the challenges faced when gathering information on horse training, management and behaviour. Qualitative analysis of these data revealed the need to improve the current dissemination of scientific findings to bridge various knowledge gaps. The Equine Behavior Assessment and Research Questionnaire (E-BARQ) is a longitudinal instrument that investigates horse training and management practices and permits an analysis of their relationship with behaviour. The current stakeholder consultation contributed to the final version of the E-BARQ questionnaire, identified incentivizing items that can be offered to putative E-BARQ respondents, guided the eventual selection of a Share-&-Compare feedback chart, and reinforced the need for open-access dissemination of findings.

This review focuses on how the concepts rural and rurality have appeared in the context of Nordic tourism and hospitality research published in the Scandinavian Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Research. All publications that contained the term rural or a synonym in one or more of these: title, keywords or abstract were considered. Content analysis was conducted based on the publications that have the term rural or a synonym in their title, keywords and abstract. Furthermore, the review considers the measurable impact of the publications on rural tourism and offers suggestions for fruitful future research directions. A brief theoretical framework is provided to analyse what rural and rurality refer to in the publications.

Research in tourism, leisure, and sports in Mexico is justified by the country's rich cultural, natural, and traditional diversity, as well as its economic and sociocultural relevance. Despite growth in these fields, challenges persist, such as lack of international recognition, limitations in interdisciplinary research, and barriers to knowledge publication and dissemination. This work presents a consensus derived from the Latin American Colloquium on Interspecies Relations in Tourism, Leisure, and Sports in 2023. The consensus highlights the increase in interdisciplinary collective research in these areas but acknowledges the scarcity of scientific studies in Mexico. Complex sociocultural practices and conditions shape various tourism, leisure, and sports activities, implying a need and opportunity for research in the country. Additionally, the importance of integrating local Mexican knowledge into the global academic discourse and overcoming challenges such as editorial biases and language barriers is emphasised. Lastly, Mexican academics and the global community are urged to collaborate in disseminating and challenging intellectual colonialism concerning knowledge about leisure, tourism, and sports in Mexico.

Animals are central actors within rural societies but remain largely invisible within both our empirical and theoretical analyses. Approximately 20 years ago in the pages of this journal, Tovey (2003) pointed to the significance of animals in effectively defining rurality: They are central to the rural economy and society and foster a sense among rural residents that they are organically embedded in an interspecies world. Thus, our shared relations with animals are key to understanding rural social relations and their underlying inequalities and hierarchies. Tovey suggested that it was therefore necessary and appropriate that rural sociology should develop its own approach to including animals in theorising rural society. We believe that such an approach is yet to emerge. The aim of this special issue is to outline what such an approach might look like and to present a diverse range of articles to get it underway. In what follows, then, as editors and contributors, we collectively explore the role and significance of human–animal relations in shaping rural society via a particular focus on relations of privilege, vulnerability and care.

Drawing on social representation theory, this study explored horse handlers’ understandings of “good” treatment, abuse, and human-horse relationships in tourism, leisure, and sport events in Mexico to examine the ways in which attitudes toward horse welfare are shaped by both national and cultural discourses and wider norms of the global equestrian community. Based on in-depth interviews, the study revealed that national and subcultural norms of the equestrian social world shape people’s attitudes to what is deemed “good treatment” and what is “abuse.” It suggests the need to understand better how cultural factors shape different people’s attitudes to those standards and look for ways to safeguard horse welfare while valuing local heritage.

Globally, the tourism industry has been devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic and associated changes in international travel. This paper draws on interviews with 51 women working in the tourism sector in Tanzania and examines gendered impacts of the pandemic on their welfare, which instigated or accelerated entrepreneurial activities as an attempt to protect women’s incomes and security. Women in the study adopted one of three entrepreneurial strategies: they (re)committed to the tourism industry, working on developing their own skills and business ideas; they diversified their business interests to have a ‘Plan B’ in addition to tourism to safeguard against future crises; or they moved away from tourism altogether, focusing instead on other less volatile sectors. The crisis caused by the pandemic exposed tourism as a risky business and a gamble for many women, who are considering leaving the sector. This represents a significant obstacle for the tourism industry’s recovery and sustainability and illustrates some of the limitations of tourism entrepreneurship for supporting and empowering women in the Global South. Priority policy areas for supporting women to remain within tourism are identified to help support women entrepreneurs and ensure their skills and enthusiasm contribute to rebuilding and reshaping the sector.

This volume unpicks mega-events as gendered entities and showcases how they both position athletes in relation to one of two binary sex positions and also push the boundaries of what we see and accept as a recognisably gendered male or female body.

This volume unpicks mega-events as gendered entities and showcases how they both position athletes in relation to one of two binary sex positions and also push the boundaries of what we see and accept as a recognisably gendered male or female body.

Humans and animals have developed multiple and complex interactions in the fields of tourism, leisure and development. However, much of the existing research on how humans and animals interact in these fields has emerged from within the context of developed countries. As a result, little has been documented about human-animal interactions in the socioeconomic, cultural and environmental contexts of countries in the Global South. Specifically, the diversity and complexity of interspecies relationships in tourism, leisure and local development in Latin America have been largely ignored in Anglo-Saxon literature. This has resulted in a limited, partial and hegemonic understanding and debate about human-animal relationships globally, dominated by certain regions of the world. This book addresses this gap by documenting multiple and complex relationships between humans and animals in the fields of tourism, leisure and local development in countries in Latin America. The book: Brings together empirical and conceptual works that reveal different disciplinary, theoretical, ethical, methodological and practical perspectives. Reveals how human-animal relationships - both domestic and wild - can result in co-created interspecies experiences, conflicts, conservation efforts, welfare and local development of human societies in the region. Equips stakeholders with conceptual frameworks and actionable tools to formulate policies that blend animal welfare and sustainability in Latin American tourism and recreation strategies. Challenges dominant narratives from the Global North regarding tourism and conservation, promoting a more inclusive and nuanced approach. This book will be of interest to researchers, professionals and policymakers within tourism, leisure, animal welfare, conservation and destination development.

We propose that the anthropomorphic application of gender stereotypes to animals influences human-animal interactions and human expectations, often with negative consequences for female animals. An online survey was conducted to explore riders’ perceptions of horse temperament and suitability for ridden work, based on horse sex. The questionnaire asked respondents to allocate three hypothetical horses (a mare, gelding and stallion) to four riders compromising a woman, man, girl and boy. Riders were described as equally capable of riding each horse and each horse was described as suitable for all riders. Participants were also asked which horses (mares, geldings or stallions) were most suitable for the three equestrian disciplines of showjumping, dressage and trail-riding. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to investigate people’s perceptions about suitability of horse types for particular riders, to evaluate if age, strength or gender were important in rider choice and to investigate riders’allocation of various descriptors to a gelding, stallion or mare. There were 1,233 survey respondents, 94% of whom were female and 75% of whom were riders with at least eight years of experience. Binomial logistic regression revealed the girl had 2.5 times the odds of being allocated the gelding compared to the boy (p < 0.001). Respondents were significantly more likely to allocate the stallion to the man and nearly 50% of respondents did not allocate a horse to the boy, even though they ranked rider gender as least important to their choice (p < 0.001). In a forced choice selection of a positive or negative descriptor from a series of nine paired terms to describe horse temperament, a greater proportion of respondents assigned geldings positive ratings on terms such as calm, trainable, reliable and predictable. In terms of suitability for the three equestrian disciplines of show-jumping, dressage and trail-riding, participants overwhelmingly chose geldings for trail-riding, with mares being least preferred for both dressage and show-jumping. The results suggest that female riders are entering the horse-human dyad with gendered ideas about horse temperament and view horse-riding as an activity primarily for women and girls. This could have far-reaching implications for equine training and welfare.

The emerging multidisciplinary field of human-animal studies encourages researchers to move beyond human-centric practices and to recognise that human and nonhuman beings are positioned within shared ecological, social, cultural and political spaces whereby nonhumans have become key actors worthy of moral consideration and play a fundamental role in humans’ lives. With some exceptions (e.g. Carr, 2014; Dashper, 2018; Danby, 2018; Danby & Finkel, 2018; Young & Carr, 2018), leisure studies has been slow to embrace this ‘animal turn’ and consider how leisure actions, experiences and landscapes are shaped through multispecies encounters between humans, other animals, reptiles, fish and the natural environment. This special issue begins to address this gap by considering leisure as more-than-human experiences. We consider leisure with nonhuman others, both domestic and wild, by exploring the ‘contact zones’ between humans and other species and, in doing so, we create an interspecies lens through which to explore these encounters. The research presented in this special issue takes into consideration the affective and ethical dimensions of human-nonhuman animal entanglements in leisure spaces and the need to strive for reciprocal, mutual welfare and wellbeing. Through the use of innovative methodological approaches, the authors explore a range of issues and perspectives to capture shared experiences of interspecies leisure pursuits. This special issue provides direction for future ways in which research on multispecies leisure, and its associated mutual benefits, can be done to advance understanding and practice in the field. The special issue seeks to ‘bring the animal in’ to the leisure studies domain and contribute to greater understanding of leisure as a complex, interwoven multispecies phenomenon.

More people are choosing to include their ‘pets’ and companion animals in their holidays, but provision for and understanding of nonhuman travellers remain limited. Multispecies tourism provides opportunity for the creation of rich, personally meaningful experiences that are key to satisfaction, but also has potential for producing stress and disappointment. The limited field of multispecies tourism tends to focus on dogs, whereas this paper considers some of the different issues raised when humans and horses holiday together. Auto/ethnographic vignettes of human-horse partnerships ‘on holiday’ are used to consider questions of interspecies trust and relationships as enacted through tourism, and to reflect on some of the complexities and contradictions inherent in these practices. These tourism activities prompt consideration of what makes a ‘good’ holiday and for whom, as well as some of the power relations inherent in multispecies tourism.

As global populations age, there is need to deepen understanding about older people as both hosts and tourists. This paper uses critical gerontology to examine the experiences of older volunteers at tourism sites in China. Through exploratory interviews with volunteers, we identify the importance of cultural context for understanding the experiences of older people as volunteers and hosts. We argue that Chinese philosophical traditions, combined with eastern collectivist values, shape older people’s experiences. We propose a hybrid model of volunteering that incorporates this distinct Chinese volunteer spirit. This study illustrates the value of critical gerontology for questioning the role tourism plays in both challenging and reinforcing normative ideas about ageing and being old, and the importance of cultural context for understanding older people’s experiences of tourism.

Many studies have investigated the benefits and drawbacks of social media, but the impact it has on amateur sports participants who use it as part of their practice has been largely overlooked. This study addresses this gap, investigating the impacts of social media on the mental health of women participating in amateur sport activities – specifically, equestrian events through a mixed methods survey of 221 female amateur equestrians in the UK. Themes included the pressure to present a ‘perfect’ image to an external audience, the stress of comparison to others, and constant judgement around the performance of a participant. We also found issues of distorted reality and false representation. We conclude by highlighting a need for better assistance for athletes both while they are competing at events and at other times, particularly pre/post event.

The topic of animal ethics has advanced in tourism studies since its inception in 2000, based on a diverse range of studies on species involvement, types of uses and contexts, level of engagement, states of animals, and theoretical perspectives. While there is still considerable scope to amplify research on animal-based tourism, a gap exists in tourism pedagogy amidst the field’s emphasis on a new expanding consciousness platform. We review the depth of existing scholarship on animal ethics in tourism and develop an agenda for advancing animal ethics pedagogy for the future. Our intent is to issue a call to action for curriculum committees, programme administrators, and educators to recognise and act on this critical moral domain in tourism education.

Heritage is a cultural process that is constantly exposed to contestation and therefore to reconstruction, resignification and repositioning. This paper goes beyond anthropocentric interpretations and recognises that heritage often involves other species in human-defined heritage practices. Based on an ethnographic approach, this study examines how contemporary practitioners of Charrería - a Mexican equestrian sport - embrace their intangible cultural heritage and problematise some of the interactions between the species involved. It evidences how Charrería participants navigate tensions between national identity and pride in their cultural heritage, on the one hand, and the ethics of involving other animals in sport and human heritage, on the other. The animal ethics issues involved threaten not only the social licence to operate of Charrería as a sport, but also the status and preservation of Charrería as heritage. This paper concludes that international and national organisations that institutionalise heritage play important roles in guiding efforts to protect and maintain intangible cultural heritage while addressing the changing ethical demands of interspecies relationships.

This mixed methods study investigated differences in men’s and women’s career success in the events industry. A ‘glass slipper’ (Ashcraft, 2013) of success was identified that aligns more readily with some bodies/people than others. An online survey tested the extent to which this glass slipper ‘fits’ men and women. Results illustrate that men are more successful than women on all measures, indicating that the glass slipper of success is gendered. Interviews were used to explore experiences of success (or otherwise) and to investigate the workings of the glass slipper. Women were often aware of their lack of fit, whereas men did not recognise the gendered norms that make it easier for them to have their merit acknowledged and rewarded. The gendered glass slipper contributes to ongoing gender inequality in the events industry, making it harder for women to be recognised – by themselves and others – as successful in their careers.

The equestrian sport of Charrería is the national sport of Mexico. This ethnographic study illustrates ways in which Charrería helps legitimise unequal gender relations and, in some circumstances, provides opportunity to challenge and rework the wider gender order. Hegemonic masculinities are performed and reified through the gendered performances of male charros and the complementary, opposite, yet unequal gendered performances of female escaramuzas. Yet hegemony requires constant renewal and consent, and Charrería illustrates the potential for equestrian sports events to also contribute to challenging and reworking the wider gender order and reconfiguring relations between men and women, masculinities and femininities, to be less hierarchical and oppressive.

This is the first book to critically explore international leisure during the COVID-19 pandemic. It analyses the ways in which the pandemic has impacted upon our leisure practices and our leisure lives, focusing on three key spaces - public, private, and digital. The book seeks to understand how changes in leisure have led to transforma-tions in the ways we have had to 'do' and 'redo' activities, such as incorporating digitalisation and distancing measures, as well as dealing with restrictions on social interaction, gatherings, and cultural activities. It presents a series of case studies covering topics as diverse as music festivals, theatre on-screen, walk-ing, static cycling, smartphone use, holidays, and the 'lockdown leisure' of pre-school children, including people across the life course, from young children to older retired people. The book discusses changes in patterns of behaviour, lei-sure experiences, and leisure environments worldwide and critically re-evaluates what leisure is and what it means in contemporary societies. It illustrates both the significant impact the pandemic has had on leisure and the important role leisure plays in helping support and maintain individual and community well-being. This is fascinating reading for any student, researcher, or practitioner with an interest in leisure studies, tourism, events, sociology, cultural studies, or perfor-mance studies.

Most research on equestrian sports, including horseracing, has been developed in contexts in the Global North. This has led to a narrow perspective of what horseracing is and means in different historical and sociocultural contexts. This paper extends this reach through considering informal horseracing events in Mexico. Based on understanding gender as a ‘doing’ rather than a ‘being’, and as an integral part of all social practices and identities, the races are examined as leisure events that function as sites through which masculinities are performed and (re)produced. Drawing on an ethnographic study, the horseracing events are identified as spaces in which male-male interactions provide opportunity for men to perform culturally hegemonic norms of masculinity, against a backdrop of shifting economic and social practices that are affecting wider gender relations in Mexico. Although women also have a presence in horseracing, they play a marginal role within the events which celebrate and foreground male homosociality. Masculinities are performed and validated predominantly through male-male interactions and expressions of male dominance over the horses. This paper thus illustrates the importance of gender to understanding different leisure practices and the significance of social and cultural context to examining leisure generally and equestrian sports specifically.

This volume unpicks mega-events as gendered entities and showcases how they both position athletes in relation to one of two binary sex positions and also push the boundaries of what we see and accept as a recognisably gendered male or female body.

Unisex sport – where males and females compete directly against each other with no form of differentiation – offers a radical challenge to the norms of sex segregation that contribute to ongoing gender inequality in sport. This paper presents findings from an ethnographic study of horseracing events in rural Mexico as an example of the unisex model operating within a wider sociocultural context still characterised by machismo and traditional gender relations. Findings indicate that although horseracing remains a male-dominated sporting space, the presence of women as jockeys, spectators and veterinary professionals is beginning to challenge this. Women’s acceptance is contingent on male support and authorisation, and women are often marginalised symbolically and physically, yet their presence illustrates that the unisex model may be an important way of beginning to challenge the masculinisation of horseracing. The study highlights the importance of considering how wider sociocultural context influences acceptance and experience of the unisex model and steps towards greater gender equality in horseracing and other unisex sports.

Existing understandings of decent work – and the wider 2030 Agenda – are profoundly anthropocentric. This paper explores how focusing on interspecies relations subverts our ideas about decent work and its implications for more sustainable approaches to tourism. Specifically, we bring insights from slow philosophy to bear on fieldwork focused on the shared labour of people and horses involved in forestry and trekking in the UK. Horses emerge as co-workers and epistemological partners, shaping the ways we think about and experience decent work and unsettling people’s ideas about space, place and time. The rhythms and needs of these animal workers challenge apparently unassailable characteristics of contemporary working life, enabling us to develop a less human-centred and more energising imaginary for the future.

The Olympic Games are a major tourism attraction and are used by host cities and destinations to try and positively affect destination image and drive tourism attractiveness. Olympic tourists travel to enjoy the sport and carnival of the event, but some also seek to engage in sex tourism. This study draws on interviews with 10 heterosexual male sex tourists during the 2016 Rio Olympics in order to investigate the relationships between the Olympic Games, destination image, and sex tourism. Findings reveal that the limonoid atmosphere of the event provides an appealing atmosphere for sex tourists to engage in sexual encounters with sex workers and local women. The image of Rio as a destination was important in this, as it was seen as a relaxed and fun destination and Brazilian women as beautiful and sexually available. Issues of power between the mainly white sex tourists from the Global North and more economically vulnerable local women in destinations in the Global South were identified and recommendations offered for how Olympic and host destination stakeholders can better protect those most vulnerable to sexual exploitation during mega-event hosting, such as working with other related organisations to educate tourists and protect local women.

Purpose: This research aimed to explore the complexity of the carnival as a space that both challenges and reinforces social hierarchies, as well as a potential catalyst for social transformation for marginalised groups. Methodology: Participant observations were carried out at various carnival sites, with a particular emphasis on the "Carnaval de Ixtapan" in Central Mexico in 2024. These observations were supported by photographs and videos. Findings: The carnival's transgressive nature has led to progress in inclusivity, notably by featuring women and LGBTQ+ individuals in prominent roles, thereby shifting gender and heteronormative dynamics. However, it remains predominantly male-dominated, hindering change and reinforcing existing power dynamics. While cross-dressing challenges societal norms, it can also inadvertently reinforce male supremacy, and LGBTQ+ individuals often encounter resistance to their participation. Despite these challenges, the carnival's temporary, spatial, and purposeful nature provides a platform for social change, offering visibility to marginalised groups and facilitating dialogue on diversity and inclusion. Originality: This study provides rich insight into the ways in which carnival can be a mechanism for both reinforcing and challenging social norms in Latin America.

Events are all about experiences, and event managers and designers are encouraged to explore innovative and creative ways to engage and excite customers, creating satisfaction and loyalty. These experiences are not always solely human phenomena, although event studies as an academic field has yet to acknowledge this multispecies aspect and remains firmly anthropocentric. In this paper we introduce more-than-human perspectives to event studies to illustrate how moving beyond humanist paradigms can open up alternative insights and add to the richness of understanding about event experiences. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork conducted at equestrian ‘endurance riding’ events both in the UK and Australia, we apply a multispecies lens to the investigation of event experiences. In equestrian events, the experiences of human participants are profoundly shaped by those of the equine participants, and the interactions between the two. Endurance riding offers an interesting example of one ‘contact zone’ between human and nonhuman, as horse and human work together to create sporting performance, travelling through varied landscapes and environments. In such ways, horses are co-creaters of event experiences, actively shaping and helping create those encounters, whether they be memorable or mundane. By decentring human experience, more-than-human perspectives open up possibilities for exploring and understanding the richness of event experiences that involve multiple actors and species.

Issues of accessibility, diversity, and inclusion are becoming increasingly important for MICE managers around the globe and need to be considered in terms of both event attendees and employees/meetings professionals. The UK MICE sector is facing an unprecedented period of disruption in relation to the recent COVID-19 pandemic and the uncertainty of Brexit, the impacts of which may have far-reaching consequences in terms of equality and diversity. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 13 stakeholders - meeting planners, venue managers, entrepreneurs and member organization leaders - this paper considers how issues of accessibility, diversity, and inclusion are playing out in the changing landscape of the UK meetings industry. Findings suggest that although the MICE sector is paying increasing attention to the importance of accessibility, there is evidence of persistent inequality and marginalization on the grounds of gender, age, ‘race’ and (dis)ability. We question if a focus on diversity remains a priority in economically, politically, and socially unsettled times, and what this may mean for an inclusive future for the UK meetings industry.

There is no denying that the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the ways we socialise during our leisure time. This edited collection aims to critically explore international leisure during the pandemic by seeking to understand how changes in leisure have led to transformations in the ways we have had to ‘do’ and ‘redo’ activities, such as incorporating digitalisation and distancing measures, as well as dealing with restrictions on social interaction, gatherings, and cultural activities. This has caused people worldwide to change their patterns of behaviour, especially when it comes to leisure experiences and the leisure environment, leading to critical re-evaluation of what leisure is and means in contemporary societies. This Introduction sets out this context and also the structure of this edited collection. It seeks to set out for the readers what they can expect from the following chapters and the main themes to be discussed throughout the book.

Carnival is one of the most dynamic and representative cultural expressions in Mexico, and particularly in the eastern region of the State of Mexico. Beyond music, dances and costumes, carnival embodies identity, collective memory and, at the same time, a space of transformation. Each community celebrates it in its own way, with its own timings, styles and nuances, yet all share the same festive pulse that unites generations and reaffirms social bonds. This catalogue brings together descriptions of ten carnivals in the region, constructed from interviews with their organisers and observations of different carnivals in 2024 and 2025. The testimonies reflect the perspective of those who shared their stories, and so may differ from other views within the communities. Although, due to limits of response, resources and time, it was not possible to document more cases, these ten carnivals offer a glimpse into the richness and diversity that characterise the eastern State of Mexico, making visible cultural practices that are essential to regional identity and collective memory. The work forms part of the research project “Tradition and transformation: carnivals as drivers of diversity, equity and inclusion in the eastern region of the State of Mexico” , registered with the Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México and carried out in collaboration with Leeds Beckett University (UK). This catalogue is a gesture of social retribution. It seeks to give thanks and return to the community part of what was shared with us, showing that carnivals are not only about festivity and tradition but are also spaces where inclusion, resistance and collective creativity flourish. More than a descriptive work, this catalogue is a testimony of the present and a recognition of the community effort that keeps alive a tradition that changes without losing its essence. These pages show how, through music, dance and shared joy, carnival becomes a driver of identity and an open space for diversity.

Landsmót hestamanna is the national championships for the Icelandic horse and a major festival for the special interest group addressed by the event organisers as ‘Friends of the Icelandic horse’. As the designated country of origin for this particular equine breed, Iceland has a special place in the discursive practices of the communities involved with the Icelandic horse worldwide, while the Icelandic horse plays an important role in the tourism marketing of Iceland as a destination. Participant observation was conducted at the 2012 Landsmót in Reykjavík by two independent observers; one was an international visitor while the other was a native of Iceland. The data collected raise interesting questions about belonging to a niche market and attending associated events, the social construction of event experiences, about being an insider and an outsider, and how these positions are contingent and changeable across spatial and temporal boundaries within the flow of an event.

This book provides an in-depth understanding of human-horse relationships and interactions as embodied in equestrian sport and leisure.

Work and organisations are considered to be predominantly human domains, and the labour of other animals in the service of human needs is often unrecognised and unvalued. The human/animal boundary reflects the anthropocentrism of understandings of work and to be treated ‘like an animal’ usually conjures up images of degradation and mistreatment. However, the human/animal boundary may sometimes provide space to create alternative ways of valuing work and the people and animals who perform it. Drawing on a multispecies ethnography of work between people and horses in forestry and trekking tourism in the UK, we explore the entanglements between humans and equines through these forms of interspecies work. We suggest that through focusing on the productive potential of some of the exclusions inherent in these entanglements that help sustain the human/animal boundary, to be treated ‘like an animal’ can be reconstituted as an aspiration for more humane working practices.

Interest in human-animal relations in sport has grown, but it often remains anthropocentric, overlooking the agency of animals, particularly in Global South contexts. This study focuses on the Mexican equestrian sport of Charrería, using multispecies ethnography to explore the complex power dynamics between humans, horses, and bulls. Drawing on James Scott’s concept of “weapons of the weak”, we examine how animals resist domination through both subtle tactics (like denial, surrender, escape) and overt acts of confrontation that challenge human domination within equestrian sports. The concept of everyday multispecies resistance is proposed that highlights the everyday nature of these forms of resistance, exploring overlap between individual and collective action, and complex entanglements with power. Through multispecies ethnography, the research reveals the nuanced interplays of agency, power, domination and resistance in human-animal interactions, challenging traditional human-centric practices in equestrian sports.

This chapter focuses on issues of gender in dark tourism, a topic the field has barely addressed. Based on feminist approaches, this chapter explores the ways in which witches, and related dark histories of misogyny and violence, are represented in witches tours in Britain. Witches tours are a popular tourist attraction in places that once held witch trials and executions. We seek to examine how those historically accused of being witches, who were mainly older or independent women, are portrayed in contemporary times and what gendered narratives this promotes and emphasizes. Methods include ethnographic techniques of participant and direct observation of witches tours to be immersed in the visitor experience including how these tours are advertised and how so-called witches are represented and to examine how the historic persecution of (some) women has been commercialised and sanitised for touristic consumption. How we view the past often influences how we see things in the present, and even tourist attractions based loosely on historic events can have an impact on re/constructing and reinforcing gendered narratives. The ways these witches tours are presented online suggests that they can be interpreted as one of the 'lightest' forms of dark tourism in that they are oriented for edutainment in a Disneyfied vein.

This chapter focuses on issues of gender in dark tourism, a topic the field has barely addressed. Based on feminist approaches, this chapter explores the ways in which witches, and related dark histories of misogyny and violence, are represented in witches tours in Britain. Witches tours are a popular tourist attraction in places that once held witch trials and executions. We seek to examine how those historically accused of being witches, who were mainly older or independent women, are portrayed in contemporary times and what gendered narratives this promotes and emphasizes. Methods include ethnographic techniques of participant and direct observation of witches tours to be immersed in the visitor experience including how these tours are advertised and how so-called witches are represented and to examine how the historic persecution of (some) women has been commercialised and sanitised for touristic consumption. How we view the past often influences how we see things in the present, and even tourist attractions based loosely on historic events can have an impact on re/constructing and reinforcing gendered narratives. The ways these witches tours are presented online suggests that they can be interpreted as one of the ‘lightest’ forms of dark tourism in that they are oriented for edutainment in a Disneyfied vein.

Work and organisations are considered to be predominantly human domains, and the labour of other animals in the service of human needs is often unrecognised and unvalued. The human/animal boundary reflects the anthropocentrism of understandings of work and to be treated ‘like an animal’ usually conjures up images of degradation and mistreatment. However, the human/animal boundary may sometimes provide space to create alternative ways of valuing work and the people and animals who perform it. Drawing on a multispecies ethnography of work between people and horses in forestry and trekking tourism in the UK, we explore the entanglements between humans and equines through these forms of interspecies work. We suggest that through focusing on the productive potential of some of the exclusions inherent in these entanglements that help sustain the human/animal boundary, to be treated ‘like an animal’ can be reconstituted as an aspiration for more humane working practices.

Purpose - Mexico has a rich programme of community carnivals that both perpetuate and offer opportunities to subvert existing power structures and social relations. Carnival organisers have a key role to play in either reinforcing or challenging existing social norms and creating spaces of inclusion or exclusion. This study explores the role of organisers as curators of the symbolic and structural conditions of inclusion and exclusion at these contested events. Design/methodology/approach - An ethnographic approach was adopted to investigate the ways in which carnivals in the eastern region of the State of Mexico become spaces of inclusion and exclusion. Observations were conducted at 19 carnivals. In addition, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 carnival organisers. Findings – Carnival organisers play a key role in shaping the extent to which these festivals are welcoming and inclusive for different groups. Organisers are in positions of power in terms of decision making, programming, and deciding who can participate and in what ways, positioned between local traditions and restrictive social norms, and the subversive and transformative potential of carnival. Originality/value – The study illustrates the important role organisers can play in supporting diversity and ensuring carnivals and festivals are inclusive spaces.

This short reflective piece sets out the background to the Reclaim the (Night) Life project, an ongoing research project into sexual violence/harassment in the night-time economy of Leeds (UK). This initial output from the project, which has involved a team of five academics from the UK Centre for Event Management at Leeds Beckett University, is based on work produced at a co-creational zine-making workshop. The workshop involved a group of students, from the university, working with their lived experience and using the workshop to support them in undertaking some initial analysis of data captured from a prior online survey. Sociologically, the zine’s purpose is to share initial research findings in a way that could engage its target demographic (young women), give voice to some of their experiences, explore zine making as a form of data capture and participant-led data analysis, and act as a prevocational device for the next stages of the Reclaim the (Night)Life research project.

Rural regions are experiencing fundamental challenges to their ways of life and social fabric, as traditional land-based occupations are in decline and younger and better-educated rural residents migrate to cities for greater work, social and cultural opportunities. Rural tourism offers a possible solution to the problems associated with lost economic opportunities and population decline that accompany the waning of agriculture. Many governments and regional authorities have embraced rural tourism as an opportunity to bring new money into rural regions, stimulating growth, providing employment opportunities and thus beginning to halt rural decline. However, the possibilities of rural tourism to promote rural regeneration have been criticised for being over-stated and unrealistic. Rural tourism has frequently been found to under-deliver in terms of expected economic benefits and job creation, and may sometimes exacerbate local hierarchies and inequalities. This edited collection questions the contribution tourism can and does make to rural regions. Drawing on a range of geographically diverse, research-driven case studies, the book is thematically organised to explore a variety of issues relevant to rural tourism, from the perspectives of local communities, businesses, government/policy makers and the tourists themselves.

Events and festivals are recognised as valuable tools to contribute to social sustainability and community cohesion. However, within this, the experiences of old people are often overlooked, and the important roles events can play in older lives underestimated. Research within both tourism and events has tended to neglect the gendered experiences of ageing, with old women in particular overlooked in terms of their experiences as tourists or event participants. This paper draws on a qualitative study with thirty-three women over the age of 65, participating in regular creative events in rural England. Using a feminist gerontological framework, we explore some of the gendered experiences of ageing for our study participants, and the contribution that participatory creative events play in terms of social sustainability within this group. We find that events provide an escape from routine and a supportive environment in which self-worth is fostered through creating and socialising. The space to make and to reminisce with peers also has a restorative effect which requires regular events if it is to be sustained. Life stories – elicited through narrative inquiry and framed within feminist gerontology – provide a holistic understanding of the role of events in the lives of these women.

More-than-human approaches open up theoretical and methodological space for considering if and how all animals, human and nonhuman, play important roles in shaping relationships, actions and encounters in leisure. This paper introduces an ecological-phenomenological framework for understanding relationships between animate actors and their environment in and through leisure. The example of human riders and horses in the context of a pleasure ride leisure event is used to illustrate the application of the framework for understanding the importance of individual differences and constraints, and their interaction with the environment, in appreciating the variety of affordances and possible outcomes in leisure practices. The ecological-phenomenological framework has theoretical and methodological implications for researchers of multispecies leisure, and may have practical application for event managers and designers of multispecies leisure activities. This article is important because it transforms current appreciation of multispecies leisure and opens doors to new ways of thinking and investigating the value and meaning of leisure in a multispecies context.

In recent years, research has shown that nature and pets have a profound impact on positive wellness outcomes and lifestyle behaviors. In this chapter, we provide evidence for the importance of nature and pets, otherwise referred to as companion animals, in facilitating human wellness, and point to the implications of this evidence for the development of policy and practice initiatives. Specifically, we argue that nature and pets have important roles in the initiation and enhancement of wellness lifestyle habits and outcomes across multiple wellness domains. Evidence indicates that interacting with nature and pets positively influences emotional, intellectual, spiritual, physical, occupational, and social wellness [1]. Viewing pictures and videos of nature, being active in the presence of nature, and immersive experiences in nature have proven to have resulted in enhanced levels of wellness.

Indian migrants have been moving to South Africa for the last 150 years. Yet, amidst the predominant Black-White racial binary operating from within South Africa, pre- to post-apartheid, very little is actually known about this heterogeneous and complex community of people. In this paper, we particularly focus upon the subjective realities of 10 Indo-Muslim men, in and through their involvement in the sport of hunting. Through the use of semi-structured interviews, we grapple with their changing senses of national identity and belonging, from relatively invisible outsiders to sporting insiders. The pleasures and positions of these sporting Indo-Muslim men though does not necessarily alter their “middle-man” citizenship status more broadly.

In this critical commentary we propose that ‘the outdoors’ is a contested leisure terrain that is both a space for freedom, relaxation and enjoyment, and, at the same time, a site of exclusion, hierarchy and discrimination. We review some of the well-established benefits of outdoor leisure in relation to physical and mental health, well-being and personal development. However, these benefits are not equally accessible to all, with many groups and individuals reporting feeling excluded from leisure in the outdoors. Drawing on the context of the UK, we argue that the COVID-19 pandemic is exacerbating these divisions, as outdoor leisure takes on added significance during times of lockdown. Nevertheless, we suggest that the pandemic may also offer an opportunity to rethink outdoor leisure and ‘the outdoors’ as a leisure space in more inclusive and accessible ways.

The tourism academy is a key site through which gender is produced, reproduced and, potentially, challenged. In this paper, we draw on Acker’s (1990) concept of gendered organisations to present a case study of a tourism department preparing to apply for an international gender equality charter-accreditation, Athena SWAN. Ketso was used as a method to try to stimulate active involvement of all staff members and breakdown traditional hierarchies within the team, and to encourage honest discussion about gender and inequality in this context. This was only partially successful, however, and we discuss how explicit focus on gender (in)equality through this process both enabled discussion of usually ignored topics and revealed entrenched gender power dynamics and structural and institutional barriers to reform. The paper illustrates both the possibilities of gender equality initiatives like Athena SWAN to highlight many of the gendered practices of tourism academia and the limitations they hold for overcoming deep-rooted gender inequality.

The tourism academy is a key site through which gender is produced, reproduced and, potentially, challenged. In this paper, we draw on Acker’s (1990) concept of gendered organisations to present a case study of a tourism department preparing to apply for an international gender equality charter-accreditation, Athena SWAN. Ketso was used as a method to try to stimulate active involvement of all staff members and breakdown traditional hierarchies within the team, and to encourage honest discussion about gender and inequality in this context. This was only partially successful, however, and we discuss how explicit focus on gender (in)equality through this process both enabled discussion of usually ignored topics and revealed entrenched gender power dynamics and structural and institutional barriers to reform. The paper illustrates both the possibilities of gender equality initiatives like Athena SWAN to highlight many of the gendered practices of tourism academia and the limitations they hold for overcoming deep-rooted gender inequality.

This article focuses on the crisis of precarious work/livelihoods that pervades the global tourism industry and prevents many from experiencing fair and just employment. Drawing on an ethnographic study of high altitude mountaineering tourism in the Himalaya, we explore the various ways in which mountain workers are precarious, vulnerable, marginalised and often overlooked in the context of cross-border tourism practices. Drawing on concepts of justice and fairness we argue that the ongoing racial and social contours of colonialism give privileges to some bodies and not ‘Others’, entrenching precarity of vulnerable communities and workers. However, despite these unfavourable conditions, local workers are not without agency to shape their conditions and experiences. Mountain workers on Everest provide an example of how, despite their precarity, workers can self-organise and exercise their voice to secure more just and equitable work. Decent work, secure livelihoods, and equality are core features of the sustainable development goals and will only be achieved through collective action, solidarity from different tourism stakeholders and the realisation of fair and just employment practices for the most vulnerable communities.

This article focuses on the crisis of precarious work/livelihoods that pervades the global tourism industry and prevents many from experiencing fair and just employment. Drawing on an ethnographic study of high-altitude mountaineering tourism in the Himalaya, we explore the various ways in which mountain workers are precarious, vulnerable, marginalised and often overlooked in the context of cross-border tourism practices. Drawing on concepts of justice and fairness we argue that the ongoing racial and social contours of colonialism give privileges to some bodies and not ‘Others’, entrenching precarity of vulnerable communities and workers. However, despite these unfavourable conditions, local workers are not without agency to shape their conditions and experiences. Mountain workers on Everest provide an example of how, despite their precarity, workers can self-organise and exercise their voice to secure more just and equitable work. Decent work, secure livelihoods, and equality are core features of the sustainable development goals and will only be achieved through collective action, solidarity from different tourism stakeholders and the realisation of fair and just employment practices for the most vulnerable communities.

Due to historical relationships with the military, royalty, landed gentry and upper-class society, equestrian sport faces regular accusations of being elitist and exclusionary. Through qualitative textual analysis of British press reporting of dressage events at the London 2012 Olympic Games we argue that despite British dominance of the sport, these historical associations with the upper classes, privilege and elitism were foregrounded in many media reports; trivialising and at times mocking dressage. We identify three key themes related to the ways in which media reports framed dressage and its participants in heavily class-laden terms. Faced with their ignorance of the sport, the majority of articles analysed resorted to class-based stereotypes that trivialised, satirised and devalued this seemingly elitist and incomprehensible sport. The success of Team GB in dressage meant that media reports were never wholly critical and elements of the hysteria and pride surrounding the Games led to a highly ambivalent response to dressage that reflects the 'vague, confused, contradictory [and] ignorant'� (Cannadine 1998: x) attitudes to social class that characterise British society at the current time.

The concept of ‘icon’ has been applied to numerous athletes as a result of their sporting achievements, likeable public personas, and stories of triumph, resilience and courage. The cultural role of the horse as icon, hero, celebrity and national luminary, however, is lacking within the literature. In this article we extend this human concept to apply to the racehorse Kauto Star, who was heralded by many as the saviour of British racing in the early twenty-first century. We argue that the narrative surrounding Kauto Star had all the essential ingredients for the construction of a heroic storyline around this equine superstar: his sporting talent; his flaws and ability to overcome adversity; his ‘rivalry’ with his stable mate; his ‘connections’ to high profile humans in the racing world; and, the adoration he received from the racing public. Media representations are key elements in the construction of sporting narratives, and the production of heroes and villains within sport. In this paper we construct a narrative of Kauto Star, as produced through media reports and published biographies, to explore how this equine star has been elevated beyond the status of ‘animal’, ‘racehorse’ or even ‘athlete’ to the exalted position of sporting icon.

Events Management is a relatively new subject within universities, and is positioned as a vocational field with links to industry and practice. This paper considers the role of the academic within Events Management higher education, and how individuals within this field position themselves and make claims to legitimacy. Drawing on interviews with 16 Events Management academics in the UK, we identify three narrative strategies adopted by individuals in this field as they position themselves in relation to academic and professional identities. The three narrative strategies identified – the anti-academic, the traditional academic and the blended professional – illustrate the precarious and often unstable identities of those within vocational subjects. Individuals within Events Management experience difficulty in terms of both their professional and academic identities, and may rely on a mixture of both traditional (e.g. research and teaching) and industry metrics in their claims to status and legitimacy.

The hospitality industry in Qatar is rapidly expanding and heavily reliant on migrant labour to staff its hotels and restaurants, with women migrants forming an increasingly important part of the workforce. Global perceptions of Qatar as a location for female migrant workers are ambiguous: it is a patriarchal and traditional country, which limits women’s career opportunities, yet at the same time offers relatively high wages, low taxes and multiple job options for women in the hospitality industry. This study draws on an ethnographic study of migrant women workers in a five-star hotel in Doha to examine various ways in which they navigate this ambiguity and their perceptions and motivations for working and living in Qatar. Findings illustrate that the women in the study had positive perceptions of Qatar as a safe environment where they could earn money to send to support families back home. For many women from the Global South, Qatar offers a hospitable environment and the hospitality industry provides opportunities to capitalize on the benefits of migrating to work in Qatar, for both the individual worker and her wider family.

Purpose The events sector is an innovative and dynamic working environment that requires a creative and diverse workforce to help it thrive. However, in the main, the events workforce is not diverse, with evidence suggesting that most leaders continue to be White and male. There has been no previous research exploring the experiences of ethnically diverse professionals in this environment. This paper aims to draw on the theory of racialised organisations to begin to address this gap and amplify the voices of ethnically diverse events professionals. Design/methodology/approach Qualitative, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 17 ethnically diverse event managers working in the UK events industry. Findings Covert and overt forms of racism and discrimination remain ubiquitous within the culture of event organisations, and in a number of guises, ranging from regular racialised microaggressions to more subtle forms of exclusion. The events industry needs to do more than pay lip service to neoliberal notions of diversity and acknowledge the ways in which racial relations of power shape the industry and the experiences of individuals within it, and design interventions to address these issues. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to apply the theory of racialised organisations to the events industry, recognising the centrality of race and racism to events organisations and careers. In so doing, it offers essential insight into race and ethnicity in this sector and contributes to ongoing efforts to integrate race and racism within theorising in management and organisation studies.

Events and festivals are recognised as valuable tools to contribute to social sustainability and community cohesion. However, within this, the experiences of old people are often overlooked, and the important roles events can play in older lives underestimated. Research within both tourism and events has tended to neglect the gendered experiences of ageing, with old women in particular overlooked in terms of their experiences as tourists or event participants. This paper draws on a qualitative study with thirty-three women over the age of 65, participating in regular creative events in rural England. Using a feminist gerontological framework, we explore some of the gendered experiences of ageing for our study participants, and the contribution that participatory creative events play in terms of social sustainability within this group. We find that events provide an escape from routine and a supportive environment in which self-worth is fostered through creating and socialising. The space to make and to reminisce with peers also has a restorative effect which requires regular events if it is to be sustained. Life stories - elicited through narrative inquiry and framed within feminist gerontology - provide a holistic understanding of the role of events in the lives of these women.

Safety stewards are an important part of the events sector, providing a supplementary pool of casual workers to support event operations, but there has been limited attention paid to their work experiences, aspirations, training and progression opportunities. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 17 safety stewards to begin to understand the lived experiences of these precarious workers. Findings indicate that stewards do not follow a traditional career trajectory. They are required to be continually flexible, both in their availability to work and in the type of work they do. Participants report feeling compelled to accept work offered, often beyond their usual area of expertise and without additional training or support and may feel that stewarding does not offer a viable career path. Without addressing some of these negative consequences of precarity, which do not lead to decent work, it is likely many stewards will leave the sector for other roles, thus undermining the future of the industry.

Inconsistencies in job titles, descriptions, responsibilities and rewards can make it challenging to identify progressive career trajectories in the events sector. Over the course of six months, all job adverts for events positions across four popular recruitment channels in the UK were analysed to establish shared criteria for roles at different levels, supplemented by interviews with 19 experienced events professionals. Analysis resulted in the identification of progressive career trajectories for both employed and self-employed career paths. Findings provide evidence to underpin career development at individual, organizational and sector levels. Identification of viable career trajectories is essential for career planning and supporting potential and current events professionals to see the sector as providing a long-term option for a successful and satisfying career, and to assist events organizations in recruiting, supporting, developing and retaining staff that are essential to both the organization and the wider sector’s success.

In this paper, we draw on research conducted in Wales to consider reasons for participation and non-participation in sport and physical activity among Black and minoritised ethnic (BME) groups. This study exposes the challenge at the heart of sports policy in relation to ‘race’ and ethnicity in Wales that, if not addressed, may lead to the marginalisation of attempts to increase BME participation in sport and physical activity despite good intent. It points to a disjuncture between supply and demand and leads us to question the extent to which such policies resonate with the interests, needs and lived experiences of people from different BME communities in Wales. We draw on testimonies of policy-makers and implementers, as well as individuals from various BME communities in five regions of Wales, to consider the extent to which national sports policy encourages strategies to increase participation among different ethnic groups. We suggest that increasing participation among BME communities and other ‘hard-to-reach’ groups must go beyond accounting for the supply aspects of sport and physical activity to consider more critically the plethora of barriers and exclusions facing many BME communities. We conclude by arguing that for racial inequalities to be reduced, and promises such as ‘sport for all’ to be realised, the analysis of policy needs to be related to broader relations of power in the culture of both sport and society.

There are only 14 peaks in the world (The 14) which rise above 8000 metres altitude into the so called ‘Death Zone’ where oxygen is 30% less than at sea-level. The race to conquer these mountains after WW2 by European powers was fueled by nationalistic, imperial, and colonial sentiments which saw The 14 as great symbols of racial, technological, and militaristic prowess. Themes of affective nationalism, including glorified sacrificial deaths, have been central to the high-altitude mountaineering tourism imaginary. Over the last century, hundreds of precarious local workers, as well as international tourists, have died chasing fame, glory, and transcendent experiences in the Death Zone. This thesis is saturated with visceral stories and themes of death – the deaths of workers and tourists, epistemological reflexivity in spaces of death, death-related personal traumas, and finally Death Zone imaginaries. From March until August, 2019, I conducted ethnographic field research at the Mount Everest and K2 basecamps in Nepal and Pakistan, going as high as Camp 2 on Mount Everest (6500 metres). Emic, corporeal, phenomenal, and emotionally reflexive approaches have been applied to gather embodied knowledges of the high-altitude phenomenon. Alongside this, I conducted 75 in-depth interviews with 92 participants, and recorded daily field notes and photographic observations. A key contribution of this research has been to engage in emotionalized epistemological reflexivity which reveals how a researcher’s emotions are integral to knowing spaces. This thesis’ contribution to tourism studies occurs through examining The 14, the Death Zone, mountaineering imaginaries, and high-altitude performances through a bricolage of philosophical approaches. The main thrust of analysis utilizes theories from the emotional geographies, but also pieces together psychoanalytic fantasy, draws on key existential theories (anxiety, authenticity, alienation), incorporates aspects of postmodern deconstruction and de-colonial trajectories. This bricolage approach sophisticates the analysis of emotions and affects, situating the emotionalized narratives of high-altitude climbers amongst the major philosophical canons. Tourism in the Death Zone examines the personal, subjective, emotionalized content of the attachment which leads the high-altitude climber into negotiations with the imagined, liminal spaces of high-altitude mountaineering. As such, tourists’ and workers’ emotionalized desires and fantasies of authentic being, attachments which compel the climber towards the summit, are explored throughout. The structure of the thesis utilizes the central metaphors of the stage, the performance, and the audience or ‘vicarious publics’; each has the capacity to affect and be affected, to compel participants towards action. This approach to the analysis of emotions and affects creates a complete loop between tourist/worker/actor/performances-to-stage/imaginary-to-audiences. Emotions and affects are explored relationally from different subject positions; workers feel the spaces and performances of high-altitude mountaineering differently than tourists, just as women do from men. Each participant subjectively appropriates their own meanings (attachments) which orient their doing of Everest or The 14; some seek to be liberated from the anxiety of historical traumas such as the death of a loved one, others view the ‘space’ of Himalayan mountaineering as a stage to exercise gendered agency as a form of resistance. These subjectively liberating interactions with the place and space of high-altitude mountaineering reveal how spatial interactions attach personal meanings while simultaneously acceding to concretized spatial representations – they both produce and consume spatial meanings. This research contributes to the emotional geographies in tourism studies for its depth of exploration into emotionalized journeys and lived realities of the tourism phenomenon.

As Artificial Intelligence (AI) continues to reshape service industries globally, the events sector stands at a pivotal point in its digital evolution. This exploratory study examines the perceptions and preparedness of UK-based event professionals to incorporate AI into design, planning, and management practices. Framed through stakeholder theory and extending the conceptual foundations laid by Neuhofer et al. (2020), the research explores how AI influences stakeholder dynamics, value co-creation, and ethical engagement within event ecosystems.Drawing on qualitative interviews with twenty-six experienced event professionals in the United Kingdom, conducted between January and April 2023, the study finds that professionals simultaneously welcome AI's potential for personalisation and operational efficiency, while voicing concerns about over-automation, diminished creativity, and stakeholder exclusion. Building on Neuhofer et al.’s conceptual scenarios, this research grounds those trajectories in lived practitioner experience, offering empirical insight into how AI adoption is shaped by sectoral context and stakeholder influence.A key contribution is the development of the AI in Events Stakeholder Framework, which reconfigures traditional stakeholder models to incorporate AI-specific actors, such as technology developers, ethical advocates, and regulatory bodies. This is further operationalised through the integration of Mitchell et al.’s (1997) stakeholder salience framework, which reveals how power, legitimacy, and urgency dynamically influence AI governance across different event formats. The study underscores the need for inclusive implementation strategies and targeted upskilling, emphasising that AI integration must align with stakeholder values to preserve the industry’s human-centric identity while enabling responsible innovation.

Report submitted to the United Nations.

In this paper we reflect on the challenges of ethnographic fieldwork in tourism research. Specifically, we discuss the intense, messy and complex dynamics of doing (tourism) ethnographic fieldwork, highlighting how key challenges have affected us as researchers, our practises, relationships, and experiences in the field. Our reflections are illustrated considering respectively our research experiences of mountaineering in the Himalayas, walking tourism in China, horse-riding tourism in the UK and volunteer tourism in Peru. Although these fields have very different social and geopolitical contexts, we experienced similar issues. Our most commonly experienced challenges include time limitations, having ‘enough data’, accessibility to the informants and rapport-building. Through the discussion of these challenges, we unpack the often conflicting emotional contours of fieldwork which are commonly experienced but rarely spoken of. With this paper, we seek to open critical debates on the emotional aspects of tourism research which may be particularly useful for novice ethnographers and scholars constrained by the institutionalised pressures of academia.

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Purpose: This article explores: 1) student perceptions and understanding of Events Management; 2) how Events Management is positioned by different UK higher education providers through their online marketing; and 3) the perceived value of an Events Management degree among students. Findings: Students demonstrate a lack of knowledge about what Events Management is, what a career in Events Management might entail and, the perceived value of an Events Management degree. This suggests the need to re-position Events Management degrees within a broader applied management base. Course marketing presents a narrow view of Events Management degrees. This does a disservice to Events Management as the narrow vocationally-laden narrative undersells and ‘over-vocationalises’ Events Management degrees. Design/Method/Approach: A mixed-methods approach, combining an online student questionnaire (n=524), semi-structured interviews with current first year Events Management students (n=24) at two UK universities, and website analysis of all Events Management degrees offered in the UK. Practical implications: Better understanding student perceptions will help Universities market Events Management degrees more effectively and will benefit broader efforts to illustrate the value and credibility of it as a degree subject choice and career. More balanced presentation between the practical and non-practical aspects of the courses in University marketing may help reposition Events Management alongside more readily understood vocational subjects. Originality: This is the first study to examine student perceptions over the credibility of Events Management degrees. It also addresses Park and Park’s (2017) observation that reviews of Events Management education and curricula are conspicuously absent from Hospitality and Tourism journals.

Like the other home nation sports councils, Sport Wales has a responsibility to increase participation, improve sporting performance and raise standards in sport and physical recreation. For some time the sports councils in the UK have been concerned that people from Black and minority ethnic (BME) groups may not be getting as much from sport as they might (e.g. the Sports Equity Index (Sport England, 2001)). The concern with increasing participation is multidimensional: it might serve to recruit new talent; allows sectors of society to enjoy what are thought to be the benefits of sport; and in so doing help to unite the nation. However, as recognised by the Equality Impact Assessment that was conducted by Sport Wales, there has been a shortage of research around sport participation by Black and minority ethnic communities. Thus, the current research is closely aligned with the aim of increasing participation and understanding non-participation. The research also addresses the identified need for further investigation into identified differences in participation between different equalities groups. This project, commissioned by Sport Wales, has been undertaken by the Institute for Sport, Physical Activity and Leisure (ISPAL) in conjunction with Ecorys. It is a response to the strategy, action plans and operational plans of Sport Wales that embrace diversity and inclusiveness. These policy and operational documents consider ethnicity alongside other protected characteristics and a concern to address poverty and deprivation by operating in conjunction with other agencies. The research reported here will help to establish what resonance people in Black and minority ethnic groups have with the goal of ensuring ‘a thriving sporting community, where all individuals feel safe, welcome and free from discrimination’ (Sport Wales, Equality And Diversity Operational Action Plan).

Comparatively little is known about the extent to which students on vocational courses like events management fit within the student-as consumer framework and, in particular, why and how they decide to study for an events management degree. A study of 582 new events management undergraduates was undertaken at two UK universities. Survey and interview data illustrate that, although students demonstrated aspects of consumerist logic in valuing their degree predominantly in relation to their future careers, they based their choice of course and university largely on emotional, subjective criteria and so were not the ‘informed consumers’ espoused in public discourse.

The field of events management has been critiqued for being overly focused on operational and managerial concerns to the detriment of critical analysis of power and representation, of which equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) is an important aspect. This paper reports on an audit of the four leading events management journals over the period 2011-2021 to assess the current state of play in relation to engagement with EDI issues and consider whether this critique remains justified. After screening, 49 articles were included. Findings reveal that EDI remains a marginal issue in events management journals, often confined to special issues, with no evidence of increasing engagement over the review period. EDI needs to become more integrated in the core body of knowledge of events management to ensure that events research is socially useful to students, other researchers and practitioners, contributing to the development and reputation of the field.