Report -International Conference
The 'Outdoors' and 'Adventure' as Social and Cultural Phenomena: Critical explorations of relations between individuals, 'others' and the environment.
April 8 - 10, 2002
Wellesbourne Campus, Buckinghamshire Chilterns University College (BCUC), High Wycombe hosted this international conference in partnership with European Institute for Outdoor Adventure Education and Experiential Learning (EOE) and Institute for Outdoor Learning (IOL). The conference was concerned with exploring aspects of the 'outdoor industry' from a variety of social and cultural frameworks. The 'outdoor industry' is taken to be that which provides or makes available outdoor adventure experiences for a variety of purposes including, education, youth and social work, management development, therapy, leisure and recreation. In most cases, but not all, these experiences are assumed to occur in 'natural' environments and there is frequently an element of 'journeying'.
This path-breaking conference brought together, academics world wide to discuss findings from current research in the 'outdoors'. Around 60 people attended. Nearly 40 papers were presented related to the conference perspective. These were organized around themes: philosophy/discourse, narrative/research, landscape and nature, professional issues, youth, adventure therapy, leisure/recreation.
Researchers at the forefront of the field presented papers and heard
a number of keynote presentations. Professor Frank Furedi, author of 'Culture
of Fear' and 'Paranoid Parenting' talked on 'Challenging Challenge-The
Precautionary Approach Towards Children Outdoors'. Dr Cara Aitchison,
editor of 'Gender, Space and Identity' talked on 'Venturing into Other
Territories: Theoretical Journeys of Social and Cultural Inclusion in
Outdoor Environments' and Professor Peter Becker, Marburg University,
Germany talked on 'The Intense Longing for Authenticity-Why People Look
out for Adventure in Sublime Nature'.
The conference opened with a welcoming address by Professor Mogford, the
Director of BCUC and was then addressed by mayor Nigel Vickery and Professor
John Tribe.
The paper presentations were of a high quality and stimulated much debate. These included titles, 'Rough Comfort: consuming adventure on the 'edge'; Critical reflexive action research in adventure therapy and 'eating disorders': exposing the narrative of an embodied, gendered and relational self; A philosophical journey in the Antarctic; outdoor environmental education in the UK: A conceptual framework of epistemological diversity and its educational implications. Amongst the poster presentations was one from the Leisure level 2 , Outdoor Education &Adventure Recreation (OE&AR) BA degree first cohort , of their three month cultural exchange in Nurmes , Finland. Abstracts of all papers are available from cmiles01@bcuc.ac.uk. The conference closed with a stimulating panel discussion: Indeed 'whose journeys' might we endorse and through whose 'identity' politics'?
In addition to the academic discourse, a very enjoyable and lively ceilidh and banquet were held Tuesday evening. Guests entered the Manor House at Chalfont to the accompaniment of Scottish bagpipes expertly played by Dr Robbi Nicol from Edinburgh University.
The conference provided the opportunity for participants and others to gather together after the conference to meet in national forum. It provided space for meetings of the IOL research group and also its Further and Higher Education working group and the international therapy group. On the following day, the EOE held its Board meeting.
The conference was an important opportunity for practitioner and academic
scholars to come together to discuss the human and nature interface and
its impact upon young people and others 'journeying' through life. The
reviewed papers presented will be published by the Institute for Outdoor
Learning and will be available later this year, details may be found on
the conference web-site below and at www.eoe-network.org.
.
I would like to thank the OE&AR students for their help during the
conference and also to thank the conference organising team for all their
hard work. They really made the organisation of the conference enjoyable
and the conference itself a success, and with the participants, a very
memorable event.
Go to www.bcuc/leisure/conf for further details and photos
Professor Barbara Humberstone
Director, Outdoor Learning and Experiential Education Research Unit
Buckinghamshire Chilterns University College
Bhumbe01@bcuc.ac.uk
