Rethinking multiphase leisure experience: a hermeneutic phenomenological approach to experiences of art museum visitation

Kim, Sohye

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/98286 Copy

Description

Title

Rethinking multiphase leisure experience: a hermeneutic phenomenological approach to experiences of art museum visitation

Author(s)

Kim, Sohye

Issue Date

2017-07-13

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Shinew, Kimberly J.

Doctoral Committee Chair(s)

Shinew, Kimberly J.

Committee Member(s)

• Stewart, William P.
• Santos, Carla A.
• Ostler, Teresa A.

Department of Study

Recreation, Sport and Tourism

Discipline

Recreation, Sport, and Tourism

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Degree Level

Dissertation

Keyword(s)

• Hermeneutic phenomenology
• Meaning
• Museum visit
• Multiphase leisure experience

Abstract

Since Clawson and Knetsch (1966) first proposed the multiphase leisure experience (MLE) model, the phasic nature of leisure experience has been given substantial attention by tourism and leisure scholars who to date have largely focused on the dynamic on-site experience with quantitatively measurable values. However, their traditional goal-oriented, post-positivist approach is limited in its ability at both the practical and theoretical levels to fully reflect the holistic aspect of the model that emphasizes not only the connectivity of phases from anticipation through recollection, but also the equal value between phases. In this dissertation, I have applied the multiphase leisure experience model from a hermeneutic phenomenological perspective and explored the experience of a visit to the Seoul Museum of Art (SeMA) based on this meaning-based approach in order to investigate the meanings of the multiphase leisure experience for art museum visitors. This approach emphasizes understanding an individual’s life experience as a reflection of cultural traditions that are transferred through language. The methodological framework is based on hermeneutic phenomenology and Gadamer’s fusion of horizons. This multidimensional concept enabled me to apply the MLE model to interpreting the meaning of the museum visit as a cultural leisure experience. By engaging in analysis of the symbolic metaphors that emerged from and delivered a node of crucial values, meanings and concerns of each participant, I was able to consider both the individually different experiences and their socio-cultural contexts that assisted in comprehending the evolving meaning of their visits. Through in-depth interviews and reflexive journals with twelve participants, I sought to understand the meanings of the multiphase leisure experience for art museum visitors beyond the physical boundaries of the museum. Furthermore, I sought to understand how the verbal interaction between interlocutors influenced the meanings of their visits. Participants’ narratives were interpreted with six symbolic metaphors that led to the identification of a representative image of their visits: learning for those who consistently interpreted SeMA as an educational institution and showed interest in exhibits they considered worth learning; aesthetic for those whose aesthetic appreciation neglected the external values of exhibits and played a crucial role in constructing the meaning of their visits throughout all the phases; high-culture for those who alienated themselves from this cultural institution, considering it exclusively for the wealthy and educated; everyday-ness for those who signified their everyday concerns and interests without paying attention to the aesthetic value of the exhibits; trigger for those whose experiences at SeMA directly triggered them to visit other art institutions; diary for those who focused on telling and creating their own stories in relation to their on-site experiences. Their self-reflective stories at the intra-textual level were analyzed and situated with sociocultural traditions at the inter-textual level. This showed that the meanings of their visits reverberated with contemporary Korean orientations such as collective authority, disinterestedness, post-museum, cultural capital and cultural autobiography. These multi-layered interpretations enabled me to understand how the initial signification of their visits became recessed, conserved, altered and expanded in the final recollection phase. The findings encourage leisure and tourism scholars to escape from the narrow interpretation of leisure as a frozen, snapshot-like immediate experience and to understand leisure as a contextualized phenomenon that erodes the boundaries between extraordinary and ordinary experiences, off- and on-site activities, work and leisure, and leisure and tourism. My interpretation of the findings supports the need to consider leisure experience as an evolving set of meanings.

Graduation Semester

2017-08

Type of Resource

text

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/98286

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2017 Sohye Kim

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