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Transnational Mobilties in Snowboarding Culture: Travel, Tourism and Lifestyle Migration

2012; Routledge; Volume: 7; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/17450101.2012.654999

1745-011X

Holly Thorpe,

Sports, Gender, and Society

Abstract Abstract Drawing upon global ethnographic methods conducted in six countries over seven years, this paper offers the first in-depth examination of the transnational flows and corporeal mobilities in the contemporary physical culture of snowboarding. Focusing on the travel and migration experiences of various groups of snowboarders (that is, tourists, professional athletes and lifestyle sport migrants), and engaging recent work by human geographers, as well as Pierre Bourdieu's key concepts of field, capital and habitus, this paper reveals fresh insights into the lived transnationalism and global migration of contemporary youth facilitated by the 'action', 'alternative' or 'extreme' sports economy. Key Words: Youth cultureaction sporttravellifestyle migrationsnowboarding Acknowledgements The author would like to thank the editors and anonymous reviewers, as well as colleagues at the University of Brighton, Chelsea School, for their helpful comments and suggestions in developing the ideas presented in this paper. The author is also grateful for the financial support provided by the Leverhulme Trust, and the Faculty of Education at the University of Waikato, that helped make various stages of this research possible. Notes 1. In 1998, ESPN's different sport channels beamed the X Games to 198 countries in 21 languages (Rinehart 2000). According to a Leisure Trends survey, 32% (nearly 92 million people) of the United States population watched the 2002 Olympic snowboarding half-pipe competition in which Americans won gold (Ross Powers), silver (Danny Kass), and bronze (J.J. Thomas) in the men's event (this was the first US winter Olympic medal sweep since 1956) and gold (Kelly Clark) in the women's event. Of those viewers 18.6 million Americans said they wanted to try snowboarding (Snowboarding And 2004). More recently, it has been reported that NBC coverage of the men's snowboard half-pipe final drew more than 30 million viewers in the US alone (Dillman 2010) (see Thorpe and Wheaton 2011). 2. According to Doug Palladini, publisher of Snowboarder magazine, snowboarding magazines are 'not just something you pick up at the airport'; to core participants they are 'the bible' (cited in How 1998, p. 104). Cultural commentator Rob Reed (2005) also describes snowboarding films as 'windows into the culture of snowboarding. Through these films viewers can connect with the best [snowboarding] personalities, styles, destinations, and tricks, taking virtual journeys around the world of snowboarding, living it, if only for an hour or so' (p. 114). Niche snowboarding websites also offer important spaces for the sharing of information and communication across local and national fields. The world's largest snowboarding website, for example, www.snowboard.com hosts 550,000 registered members – 313,000 from the USA, 98,000 from Canada, and 144,000 from other countries around the world (see Thorpe 2011). 3. According to the authors of Snowboarding the World, 'Snowboarders are, by definition, travellers. Unless you're lucky enough to live at the foot of a mountain, the typical snowboarding trip means planning an overseas journey...' (Barr, Moran and Wallace 2006, p. 3); A recent online survey of more than 2000 snowboarders from around the world showed approximately 43% of correspondents had snowboarded at least once in a foreign country (Poll Results 2006). 4. For some committed participants, this discourse of transnationalism is such that a global snowboarding identity takes precedence over more traditional notions of identity (such as nationality). For example, when Haakonsen was asked to explain his highly controversial decision not to compete in the 1998 Winter Olympics, his response revealed stronger identification with the global snowboarding culture, and a transnational snowboarding company, than his nation state: 'Norway is a great country to live, but it's never supported me like my sponsors. My flag should be Burton not Norway' (cited in Reed 2005, p. 135; also see Thorpe & Wheaton 2011; Wheaton 2004a). 5. Of course, anthropologists have long studied nomadic people, travellers and transhumant populations (Hendry 2003). The recent emergence of 'multi-sited fieldwork' or 'global ethnography', however, is located within 'new spheres of interdisciplinary work', including media studies, science and technology studies, cultural and social geography, and cultural studies broadly (Marcus 1995, p. 95). According to Burawoy (2000), the agenda of global ethnography is to 'replace abstract globalization with a grounded globalization that tries to understand not only the experience of globalization but also how that experience is produced in specific localities and how the productive process is a contested and thus a political accomplishment' (p. 158). For Marcus (1995), 'tracing a cultural formation across and within multiple sites of activity' can help us 'examine the circulation of cultural meanings, objects, and identities in diffuse time-space' (p. 96). 6. According to Nayak and Kehily (2008), 'global ethnographies' have the potential to facilitate new understandings of the 'interconnections between the local and the global, and the ways in which diasporas, migrations and cultural 'flows' permeate' the everyday lived experiences of youth in late modernity, as well as illuminate how young people are negotiating these global transformations in and across local spaces (p. 31). Also see Canniford (2005) for an interesting discussion of the possibilities (and problems) associated with doing ethnography in the 'touristic global surfing subculture' (p. 214). For Canniford (2005), moving through a 'multi-vocal, iterative, non-linear process' allowed him to select surfing 'voices from both global and local discourses', and ultimately gain a better understanding of surfing as a fluid and 'complex culture to be found between and within other complex cultures' (p. 214). 7. Of course, the covert nature of some aspects of these participant-observation phases raises many ethical issues. As Sands (2008) explains, 'when or if the ethnographer reveals his/her role as a fieldworker and informs those being observed of the intent of the ethnographer is a matter of ethical concern' (p. 369). While all participants have the right to know when their behaviour is being observed for research purposes, in some situations it was not feasible (or, indeed, safe) to declare my researcher identity or ask for informed consent from all participants. For example, while making observations from the chairlift of unidentifiable snowboarders and skiers interacting in the terrain park below; or at a Big Air snowboarding event with thousands of young, intoxicated spectators; or while overhearing a conversation between travelling snowboarders on a bus from the airport to a ski resort destination. Rather, I negotiated my way through the various social situations differently depending on the dynamics of the interaction and my role in the relations. In so doing, I regularly engaged in 'situated ethics'; that is, I made ethical decisions regarding the overt and covert nature of my research based on the dynamics and complexities of the particular social, cultural and/or physical environment (Simons and Usher 2000, Wheaton 2002). 8. While much of this fieldwork was self-funded (and thus conducted on a shoe-string budget), I am very grateful for the financial assistance provided by a New Zealand Postgraduate Study Abroad Award (2005), two University of Waikato Research Grants (2007, 2010), and a Leverhulme Fellowship (2010), as well as the generous hospitality of some of my former snowboarding colleagues. 9. As Knowles (1999) explains, 'fieldwork offers the transnational researcher the prospect of reconnection with a former life or the prospect of escape; it sustains the possibility of an alternate sense of belonging and self, deftly busied in conceptions of work and intellectual enterprise' (p. 60). While I certainly enjoyed moments of escapism, nostalgia, adrenalin and joy during my fieldwork, the practice of global ethnography should not be romanticized. Transnational ethnography has the potential to be 'humiliating, belittling, at times dull, boring and downright exhausting' (Silk 2005, p. 75), as well as dangerous. When conducting global (and local) fieldwork the researcher – particularly the female researcher – should be prepared for an array of potentially high-risk or threatening situations in which instantaneous decisions may need to be made (such as witnessing violent, sexist and/or criminal behaviors; hiking out of bounds of a ski resort despite avalanche warnings). In such situations, researchers need to protect both the rights of their participants (anonymity) and their own safety. When confronted with situations requiring an almost immediate ethical response, the researcher should draw upon all of their senses to interpret the dynamics and complexities of the particular social, cultural and physical environment. 10. The majority of snowboarders are white and from the middle and uppe- classes. According to a recent study conducted by the United States National Sporting Goods Association, 89% of snowboarders are white; only 11% of American snowboarders are members of racial/ethnic minority groups; 3.6% Asian, 2.3% Hispanic/Spanish/Latino, 1.6% African American, 1.1% Native American, and 2.4% other (NGSA 2001). A study reported in Transworld Snowboarding also stated that in 2005, 44. 3% of American snowboarders had a household income of US$75,000 a year or more, which was considerably higher than the national average of US$50,200 the same year (Hard Numbers 2005, p. 58). 11. For example, in 2009, Ski New Zealand tourism agency offered Australian snow-sport enthusiasts an array of all-inclusive packages ranging from 'luxury holidays' to 'backpacker specials' (five nights accommodation in a multi-share room in a hostel in Queenstown, four day lift pass, and rental equipment for NZ$595). Indeed, during the three peak months of the 2009 winter season (June, July and August), Queenstown hosted more than 250,000 Australian visitors (Stats Confirm 2009, para 4). Similarly, British snowboarders can choose from a variety of all-inclusive packages to resorts across Europe (for example, Andorra, Austria, Bulgaria, Finland, France, Italy, and Switzerland). For example, during the winter season of 2008–2009 a three-day trip to Courcheval, France, including flights, lift passes, chalet board, rental, flights and three days' packed lunch cost just £465. Attracting 37.5% of the 1.22 million British ski and snowboard holidaymakers, the French Alps continue to be the most popular destination for British snow-sport tourists (UK Ski Market, 2008). 12. Indeed, lift-pass prices at some resorts have skyrocketed in recent years. During the 2009 winter season, one-day lift passes at Treble Cone (Wanaka, New Zealand) and Vail (Colorado, USA) cost NZ$99.00 and US$97.00, respectively. During the same year, five helicopter-accessed runs in the Southern Alps (New Zealand) cost NZ$1245.00 per person, and a week of helicopter-accessed snowboarding in Valdez (Alaska) costs US$7640 per person, including accommodation and food. An even more exclusive week-long 'private package' for eight snow-sport enthusiasts in Valdez costs over US$67,000! 13. See Spowart, Hughson and Shaw (2008), however, for an interesting discussion of the creative strategies employed by committed snowboarders, particularly women, in an effort to continue participation after having children. 14. In light of government concerns about US unemployment, the law was amended in 2008 such that only 66,000 visas would be available to 'alien' workers per year. Visas are spread out over 12 months and exclude from the cap workers who were employed in the US during the previous three years. Prior to this law, the ski industry accounted for approximately one third of all H-2B visas issued each year (H2B Visa Information 2009). 15. For example, Nadja and Johanna, two young female snow-sport enthusiasts from Switzerland and Sweden, respectively, developed NAJO, a hand-made beanie company, to support their snowboarding lifestyle. During an interview in a small cafe in Zermatt (a Swiss town located at the base of the Matterhorn), Nadja and Johanna waxed lyrical about their transnational lifestyle, which consists of spending their winters skiing, snowboarding and making beanies, and their summers travelling across Europe surfing, climbing and selling their headwear. In their own words: 'We have knitted our beanies in the Philippines, Thailand, Spain, France, Sweden, Norway, China, and Central America… We love our lives. We really love it, just travelling and following the lifestyle, and we don't see our summer road-trips to the coast of Europe and winters in the Alps coming to an end any time soon' (Nadja); 'Everyone always asks me, when are you going to get a "real job"? But I just love my life right now. I read a lot and try to keep track of what's happening in the world. I like learning and knowing, and might go to university one day. But I would miss the skiing, surfing and partying. I guess the "real job" can come later' (personal communication, December 2007). Johanna and Nadja's entrepreneurialism and commitment to the snowboarding lifestyle, however, should not be dismissed as a frivolous 'time out' before 'going to university' or getting 'a real job'. In establishing and developing their company, they are learning many salient lessons about building a successful transnational business (such as website design, marketing and advertising, product sales and delivery, communication, product design, business ethics). 16. For example, later in her career Pamela organized inclusive, supportive, inter-cultural snowboard camps and clinics in New Zealand and Canada; upon returning to New Zealand, Adam enrolled in a Te Reo Māori language course in an effort to enhance his cultural sensitivity and understanding; and some travelling snowboarders and action sport enthusiasts are so deeply moved by their experiences that they found alternative sport-related social justice and humanitarian organizations. For example, Jeremy Jones, professional US snowboarder and founder of Protect Our Winters – a non-profit organization dedicated to educating and activating snow-sport participants on issues relating to global warming – describes his initial motivation as stemming from his personal observations of the effects of global warming on mountains, and in mountain communities, around the world: 'It's shocking to look through some of my own photos taken over the last two decades from snowfields all over the world, and to see the clear recession of these glaciated regions' (Jeremy Jones 2007, para. 4); 'Hiking up a grassy ski hill in Northern BC, a local skier is explaining to me how he had grown up skiing on this very hill as a kid. Unfortunately, due to rising snow levels, the town was forced to close the mountain. The local was only 30 years old, so if he has seen such a drastic change in the last 30 years, then what was in store for the next 30? It [was] experiences like this that motivated me to start Protect Our Winters' (About POW, no date, para. 1; also see Thorpe 2011, Thorpe & Rinehart 2010). 17. While most snowboard migrants retire from the 'back-to-back' lifestyle in their late twenties and early thirties, a few continue to pursue the transnational lifestyle well beyond their thirties. Others pursue careers (such as snowboard instructor in the winter, kayak instructor in the summer) or businesses (snowboard shop, local café owner) within local, regional or national contexts, which allow them to enjoy more permanent residences without sacrificing their participation in the sport and industry. 18. I am grateful to Professor John Urry and those in attendance at the 'Space, mobility and place' session during the 2010 British Sociological Association conference for their insightful comments here. 19. Importantly, these destinations also tend to be privileged places of play, pleasure and performance (Frohlick 2003, Sheller and Urry 2004). Compared to the population averages of their respective countries, the resident populations of Whistler, Chamonix and Queenstown are more highly educated, white, young, male, with higher household incomes. The majority of those travelling to, and temporarily residing in, these transnational physical cultural spaces also come from positions of social privilege.