To call my own”

Migrant women, nature-based leisure and emotional release after divorce in Hong Kong

Bibliographic Data

ID11436668
AuthorsA Ridgway (0000-0001-7968-1459, Department of Sociology, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, corresponding author)
Year2024
Volume43
Issue3
Pages434-446
Publication date2024-05-03
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueLeisure Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0261-4367 • E-ISSN: 1466-4496
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/02614367.2022.2148717
OpenAlexW4309468495
LanguageEN
Citations received9
References cited71

For women who migrated for marriage, life after divorce may be characterised by disappointment, sorrow, and despair. Yet, leisure activities can transform their lives and emotions after separation. Using detailed case studies of five migrant women who experienced divorce in Hong Kong, this article examines how leisure with and within green and blue spaces can release negative emotions generated by this difficult life event while also creating opportunities for new ones, such as pleasure and joy, to emerge. It finds that these women’s chosen forms of nature-based leisure were highly embodied, with sight, smell, taste, and movement key to their emotional and personal transformations. In some cases, these experiences even led to the development of strong, kin-like, affective connections with natural objects. Overall, this article highlights the benefits of considering the role of leisure in and with nature for divorcees and divorced migrant women in particular – a group who are under-researched within the field of leisure studies

Disappointment · Embodied cognition · Feeling · Pleasure · Sociology · Sorrow · Taste · Adventure Sports and Sensation Seeking · Gender Studies · Psychology · Recreation, Leisure, Wilderness Management · Social Psychology · Sport and Mega-Event Impacts

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