Leisure Myths and Mythmaking

This book centralizes powerful leisure stories that may otherwise be understood as mythssometimes recognized, often less sothat circulate in the field of leisure studies and beyond. In everyday use, a myth perpetuates a popularly held belief that is false or untrue. However, in social and cultural theories, myths are more complex as partial truths that privilege particular versions of a shared social reality. We see myth as having an absent presence in leisure studies, and want to know what myths are, what they do, and how they circulate and shape peoples leisure lives. Myths can do more than obfuscate; they often animate peoples lives, motivate collective action, and inspire change. As the chapters in this edited volume explore in further detail, leisure myths and mythmaking involve complex relations in the gaps between reality and imaginationfrom the shared myths of musical legends to myths of placemaking and communities, as well as from origin myths of sport practices to fantasy and festivals, to the importance of storytelling as mythmaking in tourism. In different ways, each of these chapters alerts the readers to the absent presence of myths and mythmaking in leisure research. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Leisure Sciences.