Scuba Diving Practices in Greece A Historical Ethnography of Technology, Self, Body, and Nature

This book provides a historical-sociological analysis of recreational scuba diving practices. Starting from a national case study, Greece, the book analyzes the gradually evolving global institutional arrangements of this version of underwater recreational activities. Based on the author's experience as a former diving instructor and on an historical and sociological research of scuba diving in Greece, the book examines the stages of institutionalization of scuba diving as a leisure practice on a global scale, from 1945 to the present day. It combines two traditions: the phenomenological approach of underwater multisensory embodied experience and tourism studies. The two main research questions that the project answers are (a) how scuba diving has historically been shaped as a leisure activity, (b) how has underwater experience been conceptually shaped as a leisure activity. This case is an excellent example for exploring the relationship between society, technology, body and modern practices of self in the late modernity world, under a phenomenological and historical perspective.

About the author

Manolis Tzanakis is Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Crete, Greece.

Product details

• Authors: Manolis Tzanakis
• Publisher: Springer, Berlin
• Content: Book
• Product form: Hardback
• Publication date: 24.01.2024
• Subject: Social sciences, law, business > Sociology > Sociological theories
• EAN: 9783031488382
• ISBN: 978-3-0-3148838-2
• Pages: 304
• Illustrations: XXI, 304 p.
• Dimensions (packing): 14.8 x 2.1 x 21 cm
• Series: Leisure Studies in a Global Era
• Subjects: Sozial- und Kulturanthropologie, Ethnographie, Geschichte des Sports, Scuba, TourismStudies, technologystudies, sociologyofleisure, HistoryofScuba, ReflectiveMethodology, Sociologyofbody-sensoryexperience, leisurestudies