Department of Tourism, Sport and Society

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https://hdl.handle.net/10182/48

The disciplinary backgrounds and fields of study within the Department of Tourism, Sport and Society range from national parks management and outdoor recreation to history, sociology, and geography, to urban recreation, sport management, and tourism in all its forms.

Now showing 1 - 5 of 703

Hypoxic exposure at rest or during light to moderate-intensity exercise improved blood pressure and heart rate variability in cardiovascular risk individuals
(American Society of Exercise Physiologists, 2023-06) Saengjan, W; Hamlin, Michael; Muangritdech, N; Namboonlue, C; Tong-un, T; Manimmanakorn, N; Manimmanakorn, A
This study evaluated the effects of 6 weeks of intermittent hypoxic at rest or plus exercise and long-lasting effects on blood pressure and heart rate variability (HRV) in cardiovascular risk individuals. Thirty combinations of several CVD risks participants: hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and obesity were randomly allocated into 3 groups: (a) the Control Group (CON, n = 11) received no intervention; (b) the intermittent hypoxic exposure during rest (IHR, n = 9), and the intermittent hypoxic training (IHT, n = 10) combined with walking on a motorized treadmill at a light to moderate-intensity. Both IHR and IHT performed 8 sessions of 3 minutes of hypoxic breathing alternated with 3 minutes of normoxic breathing for 6 weeks. All participants blood pressure and HRV were measured at baseline, at week 6 (POST1), and at week 10 (POST2). The IHR and IHT Groups showed significantly lower SBP (P < 0.05) compared to the CON Group, but not DBP and MAP after the IH training program. Compared to CON, the low-frequency band (VLF) and the low-frequency band and the high-frequency band (LF/HF ratio) showed a significant decrease only in IHT (P < 0.05) at POST1 and VLF remained significantly decreased at POST2. VLF in the IHT Group remained significantly lower than in the IHR Group at POST2. After the IH training program, IHT revealed a significant increase in HF (P < 0.05) compared to the CON Group. HF (n.u.) was a significantly stronger negative correlation with changes in SBP (P < 0.05). The IHT Group showed more effectiveness than the IHR Group. The study suggested this IH training program improved SBP and HRV at POST1. An increase in parasympathetic activity may have played an important role in the SBP reduction seen in this study.
The making of a globally-recognised wine region: A case study of Ningxia, China : A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Lincoln University
(Lincoln University, 2023) Zhai, Beifang
Recent theorising about place-making – a key element of regional development and a core theoretical construct in the field of human geography – emphasises the need for researchers to adopt a relational perspective and a naturalistic methodology to understand how, through action and interactions, people create new economic spaces. Building on this literature, this study examines the implication of the commodification of place based on the global countryside and rural culture economy in the context of a wine region in China. The study interprets how local, regional and national actors and agencies in China are working in concert to create a globally-recognised wine region. The study’s location is Ningxia – a rural area with established vineyards and boutique winery clusters. The place-making process involves the local implementation of central government policies and initiatives designed to raise the region’s international profile as a place of high quality wine production and associated wine tourism opportunities for visitors. Throughout the process of commodifying place, this wine region is marked by evidence of global connectivity and flows but, at the same time, this study reveals that these global forces intersect with, and are modified by, local contingencies and specificities including political, economic, physical, cultural and technological elements. The political influences are mainly framed around the regional government and the government authority, the Administration of Development of Grape Industry of Ningxia (ADGIN), as well as regional policies and regulations from the central Chinese government. Economic influences are primarily recognised through financial transactions and capital investment, and marketing activities. The physical characteristics of the location are fundamental to any wine industry and, in this context, have been largely explained in terms of the physical elements of terroir, a French term, further reflecting the influence of the global in the local. Local cultural influences are manifest in the interpretation of the concept of terroir through a traditional Chinese culture and philosophy lens, so that the physical elements of terroir are influenced by local cultural elements. The technological forces discussed mainly relate to the adoption, at a local level, of technological knowledge and equipment in grape growing and wine production. Thus, global forces are interwoven with the local development of the wine industry, through industrial (capital investment), technical and cultural attributes, and new social relationships associated with wine originating beyond the regional level influence the development of a collective regional body. This study contributes to the conceptualisation of a relational sense of place in a particular Chinese wine region and the examination of the process of making a wine region by discussing the construction of a wine region from the perspective of key supply-side stakeholders; by understanding the role of Chinese political and cultural values in making a wine region; and by addressing the interaction of local and global forces in the locality. This study also contributes to the creation or interpretation of local terroir from local-global nexus by investigating a wine region with its specific features in the Chinese context. Finally, his study contributes to providing a reflection of the fact that the global-local nexus means that the emergence of a wine region is not uniform and that global factors and local/regional factors are manifest in different ways. These global-relational perspectives provide insights into how the Ningxia wine region can be perceived as a “newly differentiated global countryside”, being transformed by the interaction of global forces with extant local elements.
New Zealand attitudes towards the emerging sport of Esports: Content analysis of New Zealand public discourse on Esports : A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Applied Science at Lincoln University
(Lincoln University, 2023) Benden, Jenn.
Globally, esports is no longer a new activity due to the expansion of esports tournaments, university scholarships, large sponsorships, and well-documented growth in popularity. Despite the global growth, esports and esports research in New Zealand is in a preliminary phase, with a national sporting body for esports only being approved in 2016. This research sought to develop an understanding of the prominent conversations, attitudes, and discourse in New Zealand through analysing publicly available articles and documents written in New Zealand and by New Zealand authors. A qualitative content analysis method (Bengtsson, 2016) was chosen, focusing on a sentence-by-sentence coding methodology. It was found that esports is yet to be accepted in public discourse, with articles repeatedly using justification language to defend esports against stereotypes and criticisms. Sport was conversely not criticised for these same objections, despite many of the criticisms being challenges sport also faces. Sport continues to be upheld in public discourse in New Zealand as an inherent ‘good’ regardless of potential negative outcomes for participants, while esports is not provided the same benefit of social acceptance, confirming again the Great Sport Myth (Coakley, 2015). Beyond comparisons to sport, it was found that esports faces similar criticisms to videogames, adding to the difficulty of esports finding full acceptance socially and politically. While the data gathering method was set to rule out irrelevant articles, it was not possible to fully separate videogame content from esports content. Future research could compare the videogame and esports discourses to determine whether the themes are the same, similar, or different. Other future research opportunities found include determining a clear picture of the demographics of New Zealand esports players and fans, as well as investigating the current and potential future locations of esports facilities in New Zealand.
The relationship between family and sport in the socialisation of children : A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Lincoln University
(Lincoln University, 2023) Stojanovska, Aleksandra
Driven by the goal of providing the best for the child, both parents and coaches bring different perspectives to sport. For a child involved in sport, parents and coaches fulfil important influential roles. Yet surprisingly, there has been very little research examining the way these two parties’ function and work together, even though both can be seen as prominent agents of socialisation within sport. Therefore, this thesis explores the relationship between parents and coaches in the non-elite sporting context, a context which has received far less attention than high performance. Inspired by an interest in the relationship between primary (family-based) socialisation and secondary (outside of family) socialisation, this study utilised the approach of social constructionism as defined by Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann (1966). This approach was adopted to understand the roles of parents and coaches within the process of socialisation, and the capability of sport to build and maintain the social identity of children. A purposeful sample encompassing parents, coaches, and children was selected from sport clubs in Christchurch, New Zealand, representing children participating in the four most popular New Zealand team sports: rugby union, football (soccer), basketball, and netball. A total of 43 semi-structured interviews were conducted in person or over the phone with parents, coaches and children aged 10 - 12. Key findings indicated a positively characterised dyadic coach-parent relationship at the non-elite level, with parents and coaches in agreement that the role of parents is to support the work of the coach. Parents were found to support the Great Sport Myth (GSM) through strongly emphasising many positive benefits their children received from sport and were indirectly socialised into ‘not interfering’ with the work of the coach. This agreement on the importance of sport for the socialisation of children meant that there was little conflict between primary and socialisation, with similar norms and behaviours being reinforced in the family and sporting contexts, including a belief that sport should be fun for children without overemphasising winning. The inclusion of the children’s voices also indicated a contrast between how the coaches’ described their coaching style compared with how children perceived it. These findings are significant for highlighting the complexity of children’s sport. On the one hand, this thesis shows the lack of parental control often found in elite sport can have roots at this early competitive stage, yet on the other hand, the socialisation of parents and consistency of expectations between coaches and parents also creates very positive experiences for children.
Hairpins and blindspots: Exploring the potential challenges of electric vehicle tourism
(2019-11-28) Fitt, Helen; Page, Shannon; Moreham, R
Electric vehicles (EVs) are gaining in popularity in NZ and worldwide. Extensive electrification of vehicle fleets is increasingly expected and is a common part of the national response to climate change and of strategies for a low carbon future. Social science research considering the impacts of a transition to EVs has been limited and has largely focused on initial concerns such as adoption and early range anxiety. There are, however, deeper and longer term challenges associated with vehicle electrification. Tourism provides a particularly fascinating case study for exploring the potential impacts of EVs. Visitor travel is characterised by highly differentiated peaks and troughs in travel demand that could pose infrastructural challenges, by travellers making non-routine, unfamiliar journeys and stepping outside of habitual practices, and by inequity in participation that may be compounded by unequal EV access. This presentation considers how well prepared we are to meet longer term challenges associated with vehicle electrification. It does this by examining some of the less commonly discussed impacts of EV adoption in the tourism sector and by exploring how to facilitate an effective transition.

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