Family Events

Practices, Displays and Intimacies

Thomas Fletcher, Thomas Fletcher

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2022
• ISBN:
  9781000580815
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Sozialwissenschaften
• Subtopic: Soziologie

An unprecedented exploration of the intersection of events and family studies, Family Events uses events as a lens through which to explore the concepts of families, family practices, family displays and family intimacies.

Family Events explores the idea that how families come to be and, moreover, come to be defined as 'families' relies on events: whether that be via 'family events' – those which serve to celebrate being part of 'my' family – (e.g., birthdays, weddings, funerals), 'events experienced as a family' (e.g., a holiday or day trip) or 'events which impact families' (e.g., recession, war, global health emergency). Family Events brings together contributions from the social sciences, leisure and event studies which focus on a variety of different event contexts, including the life cycle, death and illness, sport, holidays, and community and religious festivals.

Family Events offers a multitude of insightful perspectives on the intersection of events and family studies, and is a valuable resource for academics and students with a research interest in events, leisure and the family.

Part 1 Family events, display and identity

1 Community events as a context for displaying family practices and identity

Charlene S. Shannon

DOI: 10.4324/9781003051190-3

Introduction

Research over the last 25 years has developed understanding of leisure as a context in which families spend time together and access beneficial outcomes, including creating memories, cultivating and deepening bonds, passing on and affirming family values, and developing family identity (Fletcher, 2020; Fullagar and Harrington, 2009; Shaw and Dawson, 2001; Zabriskie and McCormick, 2003). Feminist theorists also produced a body of knowledge recognising the contradictory aspects of family leisure (Shaw, 1997) – that it may be beneficial, but not always freely chosen or enjoyable for all family members (Shannon, 2014; Shaw and Dawson, 2001; Trussell and Shaw, 2009). For example, women may feel obligated to facilitate family leisure to instil values in their children (i.e., purposive leisure; Shaw and Dawson, 2001) and the facilitation may involve planning and organising activities which may be experienced as work-like (Trussell and Shaw, 2009). Family leisure research has focused predominantly on heteronormative nuclear family units (i.e., a heterosexual mother and father raising children together), and has resulted in calls for research that includes more diverse families (Fletcher, 2020; Shaw, 1997; Trussell, Jeanes, and Such, 2017).

Two sociologists have provided frameworks for studying diverse, contemporary families that move away from family being conceptualised as a static unit. Morgan’s (2011) concept of family practices reframes family as an active process; as something individuals ‘do’; as everyday activities in which individuals engage that have meanings associated with family and can be recognised as ones that constitute ‘doing family’. Finch’s (2007) concept of display, which concentrates on the performative aspect of family, extends Morgan’s reframing of family. Several leisure researchers have incorporated the concepts of family practices and family display into their family-centred leisure research. For example, Harrington (2013) discussed the performative feature of family leisure and its influence on her understanding of purposive leisure, “as a way of being, doing or ‘practicing’ family both at home and in public space” (p. 329). Other researchers have recognised the performative aspects of engaging in family activities such as eating out in restaurants (Karsten, Kamphuis and Remeijnse, 2015), being involved in sport (Fletcher, 2020), visiting the zoo (DeVault, 2000) and being on holiday (Gram, Therkelsen, and Larsen, 2018). Community events are also contexts in which families are encouraged to engage in recreation and leisure together (Sharaievska, 2014; Stadler and Jepson, this volume) and therefore display family and family leisure, both to those within their family and beyond. In this chapter, I propose that local community events designed to include families are also spaces in which individuals can display family practices to each other (i.e., those within the family) and to external audiences (i.e., those in attendance at the event).

Community festivals and events as contexts for family leisure have been largely examined in relation to tourism and family holidays/vacations. Limited research considers family participation in festivals and events in one’s local community, including the motivations, opportunities and benefits (see, for example, Stadler and Jepson, this volume). Existing research suggests that community festivals and events offer unique ways to bring families together (Jepson, Stadler and Spencer, 2019) around Memorable Event Experiences (MEE). Jepson et al., for instance, argue that “a festival/event experience positively remembered and recalled after the event occurred – can help families bond and connect through the creation of collective memories” (p. 46). These “short-term, intense and memorable” (ibid.) experiences can be as important as traditional family vacations. Further, local festivals are opportunities for creating internal networks between family and friends which tie them to each other, develop local community pride, and offer new social connections that extend beyond home and socially familiar boundaries (Black, 2016).

The purpose of this chapter is to share research findings that focused on two questions. (1) In what ways are individuals experiencing family leisure at local community events? (2) How are these being displayed on the social networking sites (SNS) Facebook and Instagram? The chapter begins with a discussion of the concept of display and family as a social identity. Next, I describe the research that sought the lived experiences of individuals, including those whose family identity does not fit the heteronormative nuclear family. Individuals’ use of images and narratives of community event participation on SNS to define and redefine family, to demonstrate belonging and to characterise family will be discussed. Finally, I outline the implications of the study’s findings and future directions for research.

Family display

Finch’s (2007) concept of family display involves a “process by which individuals, and groups of individuals, convey to each other and to relevant others that certain of their actions do constitute ‘doing family things’ and thereby confirm that these relationships are ‘family’ relationships” (p. 67). These ‘relevant others’ can include those within the family network who experience and observe family directly (Finch, 2011), but also external audiences who may be present in public spaces (Shannon, 2019; Walsh, 2018). Like Morgan’s (2011) ‘family practices’, the concept of display has been important in disrupting conceptualisations of family that focus on structure alone. Display requires social interaction through activities, such as everyday routines and/or leisure, that establish the family relationship and are recognised by the individuals who form the family unit as ‘doing family’. Feedback from others related to these ‘family-like’ activities is also a critical component of display and legitimises or challenges the construction of family in different contexts.

Finch (2007) identifies tools that can support family display, including narratives and photos. Photos of family are important artefacts that can demonstrate social relationships as well as the consumption of place and space (Crouch, 2002). Sharing digital images of aspects of family life on SNS has become popular (Duggan, 2013). Photo viewing is no longer restricted to those who can see what is displayed in frames at home or what can be carried to others within a photo album or scrapbook. Platforms such as Facebook and Instagram have made family photos, and narratives related to the photos, accessible to a wider and more public audience (Sarvas and Frohlich, 2011). In this way, SNS sites have become important platforms for displaying family leisure to external audiences, including those who may not have been present.

Family as social identity

Although what constitutes family is shifting, being part of a ‘family’ and being recognised as a member of a family remains a meaningful connection and social identity for most individuals (Morgan, 2011; Ribbens McCarthy, 2012). Social identity theory is a helpful conceptual tool when considering the experiences of individuals displaying family leisure on SNS and communicating that certain social actors are ‘family’ and ‘doing family’. Social identity is defined as feeling that one is part of a group and is concerned with the value and meaning one attaches to that membership (Spears, 2011). The feeling and meaning of membership results in processes of categorisation or labelling of groups, identifying with groups to which individuals belong, and comparing self to other members in the group as well as outside the group. Social identity is, therefore, constructed and embedded in context.

Goffman’s (1969) work on conscious self-presentation and the notion that individuals often present themselves in ways that meet social and cultural norms and expectations has new relevance in the era of social media. SNS platforms (e.g., Facebook, Instagram) provide opportunities for individuals to post images and narratives that express personal and social identity consciously and selectively. The ability to tag other members of a social group and to use hashtags to label group identity (e.g., #family) support the construction of social identity (Shannon, 2019; van Dijck, 2013). Goffman’s (1969) approach to identity explores the concept of self-presentation as varying by setting or social context and, therefore, is dynamic. He discusses the ‘front stage’ as the behaviour of social life that everyone sees – it is an identity performance that is consistent with the norms, values and practices of the social group serving as the audience. The ‘back stage’ can be a contradiction to what is performed (e.g., one’s sexual identity is not performed) where individuals feel free to be their authentic selves, though they may still think about and prepare for the front stage. In the research presented in this chapter, the ‘front stage’ was considered as the behaviour that participants described during their participation at local community events as well as the images and narratives posted on SNS.

Researching family display at local community events

This study is one piece of a larger research project that, using a phenomenological approach (van Manen, 1997), focused on individuals’ experiences of displaying family leisure on Facebook and Instagram. Individuals between the ages of 25 and 50 – from a city (population 60,000) in New Brunswick, Canada – who posted images and/or narratives about family leisure on Facebook and Instagram were invited to participate in the study. No specified family form was identified as a criterion. In fact, the recruitment poster read as follows:

Your family leisure could include only a spouse or partner. It may include children – your own or others’ children. Your family leisure may not include a spouse, partner or children, but may include an aunt or uncle, parents, siblings, other relatives, or close friends who you consider to be.

Participants ranged in age from 28 to 51 (12 women, three men, one gender fluid). Thirteen of the individuals were married or living common law with 11 of those partnerships being heterosexual. Ten participants had children (one of whom was a single mother; one who was also a grandmother). Two men identified as gay, one woman identified as lesbian and the individual who was gender fluid identified as pansexual. One participant, Karen (all participant names are pseudonyms), identified as South Asian Canadian; the remaining participants identified as White Canadians. Table 1.1 provides the demographic details of participants, including the number of images shared during the interviews that were displays of participation in local community events.

To capture participants’ experiences, face-to-face, semi-structured interviews were conducted while using photo elicitation. Each participant scrolled through their Facebook or Instagram posts stopping on images or narratives that they perceived as family leisure that they wanted to discuss. These posts had been made prior to their knowledge about or agreement to participate in this study. For each post, I asked questions such as “tell me about that particular family activity”, “describe that experience for me”, “why did you post that activity on Facebook/Instagram” ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• List of figures
• List of tables
• List of contributors
• Acknowledgements
• Introducing family events: practices, displays and intimacies
• Part 1 Family events, display and identity
• Part 2 Family events, memories and memory making
• Part 3 Family events, culture, religion and heritage
• Part 4 Family events and the life course
• Part 5 Family events and extended families
• Index