Consuming Leisure Time: Landscapes of Infinite Horizons

TY - JOUR

T1 - Consuming Leisure Time

T2 - Landscapes of Infinite Horizons

AU - Vacher, Mark

PY - 2011

Y1 - 2011

N2 - The aim of this article is to explore the Danish seaside as a culturally framed arena of experience. In the first part of the article, I present the appearance of Denmark's seaside as a recreational location for the Danish middle class. Using Danish films that portray the middle class on holiday, the article illustrates the perceptual consequences of a specific appropriation of the landscape. The analysis of the relationship between landscape and people then introduces anthropological perspectives on time, consumption, and perception. Drawing on ethnographic interviews and comparative observations, I show how accessing and consuming the landscape as a recreational location come to constitute it as a finite arena of infinite time and space, as well as a distinct location that allows for equal social relations.

AB - The aim of this article is to explore the Danish seaside as a culturally framed arena of experience. In the first part of the article, I present the appearance of Denmark's seaside as a recreational location for the Danish middle class. Using Danish films that portray the middle class on holiday, the article illustrates the perceptual consequences of a specific appropriation of the landscape. The analysis of the relationship between landscape and people then introduces anthropological perspectives on time, consumption, and perception. Drawing on ethnographic interviews and comparative observations, I show how accessing and consuming the landscape as a recreational location come to constitute it as a finite arena of infinite time and space, as well as a distinct location that allows for equal social relations.

KW - Faculty of Humanities

KW - Ethnology

KW - Leisure Time

M3 - Journal article

SN - 0155-977X

VL - 55

SP - 45

EP - 61

JO - Social Analysis

JF - Social Analysis

IS - 2

ER -