About

Diversity Outdoors seeks to investigate how social inequalities are embodied through a comparative analysis of participation in outdoor recreation in Europe. We ask: What are the effects of ethnoracial embodiment on sociocultural diversity in outdoor recreation? How are bodies constituted as in or out of place in outdoor recreation in Europe? How is diversity in outdoor recreation influenced by local, national, and transnational discourses and imaginations? What is the role of ethnoracial affinity and opposition in experiences of participating in, and contesting the status quo of outdoor recreation? Addressing these questions aims to generate critical knowledge of the embodiment of ethnoracial inequality.

Outdoor recreation – such as hiking, climbing, swimming, but also birdwatching and camping – is a pivotal arena where racialised encounters and practices manifest. In Europe, people from minoritised communities are often less involved in recreational outdoor activities, a fact largely overlooked by European institutions. The lack of ethnoracial diversity in outdoor spaces points to a deeper, less visible problem that goes beyond participation or access. 

However, identity-based groups are reclaiming their place in these spaces and challenging their sense of not belonging outdoors. These emerging grassroots outdoor movements provide a unique opportunity to better understand the embodiment of ethnoracial inequality on a sensorial level. As the first ethnographic study of socio-cultural diversity in European outdoor recreation, Diversity Outdoors will provide insights into the evolving processes of diversity in outdoor recreation and advance our understanding of racialised embodiment.  

This project therefore undertakes a comparative ethnographic study of ethnoracial embodiment in outdoor recreation in Western-Europe, asking the questions: What are the effects of ethnoracial embodiment on sociocultural diversity in outdoor recreation? How are bodies constituted as in or out of place in outdoor recreation in Europe? How is diversity in outdoor recreation influenced by local, national, and transnational discourses and imaginations? What is the role of ethnoracial affinity and opposition in experiences of participating in, and contesting the status quo of outdoor recreation? Addressing these questions aims to generate critical knowledge of the embodiment of ethnoracial inequality. 

The central objective is to gain insight into the commonalities and socio-cultural distinctiveness of how ethnoracial inequalities are embodied, experienced, and contested across Europe. The concept sensory ecologies will be used as an innovative analytical approach to gather insights into the relations between body, environ, and discourse and investigate the social and cultural aspects of ‘feeling’ in or out of place. Integrating the sensorial and political dimensions of embodiment, it will address racial embodiment and its intersections with other axes of difference, such as class, gender, religion, and ability. This will help reveal when, how, and why racialization is experienced, expressed, and contested in outdoor recreation in Europe. 

The approach is both multi-sited and multi-scalar, addressing the local, national, and transnational levels of ‘diversity in the outdoors’. The project compares three countries with emerging identity-based outdoor groups: the Netherlands, Germany, and the United Kingdom. It analyses these outdoor groups and activities, but also outdoor recreation policies and discourses between local movements, national-level organizations, online communities, and transnational collaborations.