Reimagining Community Festivals and Events : Critical and Interdisciplinary Perspectives

This book celebrates and builds on Alan Clarke (1956–2021) and Allan Jepson’s 2015 book Exploring Community Festivals and Events. It showcases how far the study of community festivals and events has come in the intervening years, and in so doing it is a response to recent calls for researchers to take a more critical approach to event studies.

This is an interdisciplinary book that draws together empirical research across a wide range of community event types, sizes and within diverse communities. Chapters in this book are grouped into four themes that highlight the breadth and depth of work being done: reviving and maintaining tradition(s); a focus on belonging; challenges and tensions; and innovations in teaching and research. Another of its core strengths is its international perspective – the book encompasses research from around the world including Turkey, Portugal, Greece, India, the UK, the US, Austria and New Zealand. There is also a diverse range of theoretical lenses applied to the study of community events, and some innovative methodologies used to achieve research aims and objectives.

This volume will appeal to students and researchers in the fields of critical event studies, cultural studies, place-making, tourism, music, sociology and geography. Several chapters also provide insights and key learnings for those lecturing and working in event management and industry professionals.

Allan Stewart Jepson, PhD, is a multi/ interdisciplinary researcher following a track on well-being in contemporary leisure experiences; this has included research into power and hegemonic relationships, community festivals and events, social inclusion, festival and event memories, gerontology, and neurodiversity. Allan continues to build teams to investigate the complexity of physiological, psychological and sociological paradigms which influence long-term well-being. He is an advocate for change, equity and inclusion of neurodivergent populations.

Raphaela Stadler is Associate Professor for Tourism and Event Management at Management Centre Innsbruck (MCI), Austria. She is currently working on several multidisciplinary research projects to better understand the sociological and psychological impacts contemporary leisure experiences (festivals, events and tourism) have upon individuals, families and communities. Her specific research interests and areas of expertise include community events and festivals, community cultural development, power and empowerment, well-being and quality of life.

Trudie Walters is a critical event studies researcher from Aotearoa, New Zealand. Her research platform is centred on events and leisure as interdisciplinary lenses through which to understand the inner workings and values of society. She serves on the editorial board of a number of top academic leisure and events journals and is a board member and past president of the Australia and New Zealand Association for Leisure Studies.