HONS 1990H: CONCEPTS OF LEISURE, CULTURE, AND SIMPLICITY
This site will be used to post handouts
and articles related to class discussion.
The files have been saved either as Word, .rtf, or .pdf. Let the instructor know if you have
difficulty accessing any of this linked material.
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Supportive
Material (updated 10/8) NOTE: This schedule is likely to change as we
accommodate longer discussions that extend across two or more class
periods. The readings are intended to
get you thinking about aspects of each topic for discussion; skim them with
an open mind and come to class with questions or ideas to discuss. Remember to use your journal for
reflection. |
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8/20: Intro to class |
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8/27: Thinking about “time” Handout: Time
as commodity |
Our
contemporary understanding of time is a cultural creation; different cultures
and different eras in history are marked by significantly different
understandings of time than what we
have today. Think about the movement
from cyclical time to linear time—how did that impact our society? What about the more recent movement to digital
time—what impact does that have on our culture? It might be helpful to contrast American’s concept of time to time as it exists in other
cultures, in order to better understand what is meant when I say time is a
cultural creation. Assignment for today: Pick
three situations during the week and for each situation reflect on your
relationship to “time” in that context.
One should be a period when you’re feeling time stressed, one should
be when you’re feeling like time doesn’t matter, and the remaining is of your
own choosing. In your journal,
briefly describe each situation and reflect on the following questions: ·
What is your relationship to time
in this situation? Why? · In this situation, are you very conscious of time, or not? How does that make you feel? · Suppose that time didn’t exist.
How would that change this situation? |
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9/3: Busy-ness Slow modems beware: the following is a larger .pdf file Waiting for the Weekend (ch 9) |
It’s hard
to think about time without also
thinking about how busy people feel, because feeling busy is often a
consequence of not having enough time. In the US, people find it hard to slow
down. Being busy is not only
expected, it is rewarded; likewise, “doing nothing” is often frowned
upon. Where do these attitudes come
from? What lies behind our busy-ness?
Is it necessarily bad to fill all your time with activities? If you magically had more free time, what
would you do with it (more work?)?
Try to understand the cultural value we place on being busy. Assignment
for today: Reflect on how you spend your time. Talk with a variety of people (including
non-students!) about how they spend their time. Do they feel “busy”? Is
that good or bad? Do they think they
have enough free time? If not, what gets in the way to prevent free
time? Does free time come only in
small chunks or is it available in larger blocks as well? In your journal, write about what you like
or don’t like in terms of how you spend your time, and compare your time use
to that of other people. Optional: You might find it interesting to keep a
diary of how you spend your time for one full week. You can use this chart for
recording time use using five broad categories (school and employment,
personal care, other obligations, free time-social/active, free
time-alone/quiet). |
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9/10: (continuing above discussions) |
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9/17: Work Time for
everything—but leisure You might also look at this on-line text, especially portions of Ch. 3: |
Have you ever thought about how much value our culture
places on work? Where does that come
from and how does it impact your life?
If you decided to drop out of school and just “hang out” for a year,
how would your family react?
Assignment
for today: Think about the “work” you do in your daily routine (school
work, house work, employment, etc.).
What is it about these things that makes them fall under the label work (that is, what do we mean by the
word work)? In the big scheme of things, how are those
activities perceived by others—are they valued? What does it say about you that you are doing them? Our goal is to understand how the value we
place on work permeates many layers of our lives. |
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9/24: Consumerism ‘Leisure
Class’ author...on the money |
One of
the main reasons we stay busy is the necessity to get an education so we can
get a job so we have lots of money to buy things. It is impossible to talk about time and busy-ness
without also examining our relationship to consumer culture. In an oft-quoted book published over 100
years ago, Veblen (Theory of the
Leisure Class), proposed that Americans gain status by showing off the
things they own (“conspicuous consumption”).
Taking it one step further, he also argued that the most status comes
from conspicuously displaying your leisure (“I’m so rich I don’t even have to
work”). Is that still true
today? What role does consumerism
have on how we spend our time, money, and leisure? Assignment
for today: Think about the things you own
and the ways you spend your money.
For one or two items that you “really needed to buy,” critically
analyze the factors that made you “need” that item. What value did it bring you?
What would your life be like without it? Are there items you own that, upon reflection, were probably a
waste of money? At the time, what
motivated you to buy those items? |
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10/1: At the mercy of advertisements Explore the following website and
follow some of it’s links. |
In
today’s society, almost every home has a television and computer. In addition, people read magazines,
newspapers, billboards, etc.
Advertising through these media is a major influence on the
consumerism market and very important to the success of those products. What messages (overt or hidden) are
employed in advertisements in attempt to get you to buy that product? Examine whether the ads plays on emotions
like fear or envy. Analyze what it
means to have this product (being a better mom, being like everyone else at
school). If you accepted as fact the
messages and images in that ad, what would it have you believing? Then think about what can be done to help
people build resistance to those messages that ads try to convey. Assignment
for today: Think about the ads that you
encounter. What products are they
trying to sell? What images are they
trying to sell? Which ads are effective
for you and which are not? Why? Bring in an advertisement (or the
description of an ad from television) that you think will be interesting for
us to analyze. |
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10/8: Slowing down Experiencing
the fullness of time See more of this book at netlibrary.com: Receiving the Day |
Some of
the most thought-provoking discussions on the value of relaxation come from
religious scholars including Josef Pieper who was a Jesuit priest (Leisure: the Basis of Culture), and
traditions such as the Jewish Sabbath.
Today’s readings make a case for the inherent benefits of slowing
down. As you read, try to integrate
these ideas into what we’ve already discussed about the compulsory busy-ness
of American lifestyles. Why don’t
Americans value relaxation, especially if it has the spiritual rewards these
authors describe? Assignment
for today:
Reflect on the relative value of doing nothing. Beyond benefits like rest
and recuperation, what else might be good about those slow periods in our
days? Think about what you do when
you have unexpected free time, and how you feel when there’s “nothing to
do.” Find a 15-minute period during
the week when nothing else is pressing and sit quietly, trying your best to
turn your mind off and just be. Can you do it? |
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10/15: Practicing
what we preach: an exercise in
meditation |
Assignment for today:
This is a midpoint where we can stop and attempt to integrate the
ideas we’ve discussed so far including:
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10/22: Practicing
what we preach: nature sit exercise Long Class-- 3:35 – 5:15 |
(information
to be updated) |
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10/29: No Class |
Retreat to some wonderful spot and reflect on the value of Fall
Break. |
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11/5:
Downshifting: living more slowly |
Today’s class activity: Students will
share what they found on the web about living more simple lifestyles |
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11/12:
Downshifting: living more simply |
Today’s class activity: Students will share
what they found on the web about living more simple lifestyles |
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11/19: Practice what we preach:
guest speaker Nate Olive
Look at Nate’s website at
www.thawookie.com and follow
the link to “journals” |
After helping us design this course last spring, Nate Olive
took off to spend several months hiking the entire length of the Pacific
Crest Trail from southern California to the Canadian border. We’re hoping he’ll be back to tell us
about his adventure and the time he spent “living simply.” Assignment for today: Take a look at his
website (see link at right) and reflect on what it would be like for you to do this type
of trip. What arrangements would you
have to make to be gone for six months?
What would you have to give up during this period of time? Would you enjoy it or not? Would you be willing to do it? |
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11/26
Thanksgiving |
Assignment during vacation: Think about the
celebration of holidays. Did your vacation
have elements of a “holiday”? Why or
why not? Also thing about the “work”
goes into the production of a holiday: who does that work and who is the
beneficiary of those efforts? |
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12/3: Reflections on the course |
Today we’ll reflect back over the semester. Is there anything you’ve gained through
this course? Have your understandings
of leisure, culture, and simplicity changed at all? What could be different if we did this course again? (pizza) |
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