Festival Places: Revitalising Rural Australia (Paperback or Softback)

Festivals have burgeoned in rural areas, revitalising old traditions and inventing new reasons to celebrate. How do festivals contribute to tourism, community and a rural sense of belonging? What are their cultural, environmental and economic dimensions? This book answers such questions - featuring contributions from leading geographers, historians, anthropologists, tourism scholars and cultural researchers. It draws on a range of case studies: from the rustic charm of agricultural shows and family circuses to the effervescent festival of Elvis Presley impersonators in Parkes; from wildflower collecting to the cosmopolitan beats of ChillOut, Australia’s largest non-metropolitan gay and lesbian festival. Festivals as diverse as youth surfing carnivals, country music musters, Aboriginal gatherings in the remote Australian outback, Scottish highland gatherings and German Christmas celebrations are united in their emphasis on community, conviviality and fun.

Chris Gibson is Professor in Human Geography at the University of Wollongong. John Connell is Professor of Geography at the University of Sydney. For well over a decade they have been researching and writing about music, tourism and festivals in Australia and beyond. More recently they were part of a team undertaking Australia’s largest ever study of rural festivals, with 480 festivals participating in the research. Insights from that research project feature throughout this book.

John Connell is Professor of Geography and Head of the School of Geosciences, University of Sydney. His research interests span mobility, tourism, music and place identities. He has published widely on urbanisation, migration, and tourism. His books Sydney: Emergence of a World City (Oxford University Press, 2000) and Small Worlds, Global Lives: Islands and Migration (Pinter, 1999).