Faculty & Research

Education:

• Ph.D. at University of Georgia, 2008
• M.S. at SUNY Cortland, 2003
• B.A. at Ithaca College, 2001

Contact Information:

(812) 855-5835

[send e-mail]

HPER 133H

Background:

Research:

Based on my background in qualitative methodology, gender studies, and leisure studies, my primary line of research uses post-structural feminist theoretical perspectives and creative analytic practices to examine and represent how individuals negotiate dominant expectations of gender, race, class, ability, and sexuality, and construct subjectivity within socio-cultural discourse. In particular, I am interested in understanding the ways that discursive expectations are disseminated, disciplined, and re-created within leisure spaces. The intent of such research is to show the complexity of individuals' negotiations of subjectivity, to complicate the myth of "innocuous" leisure, and to illuminate the potential for us all to "see" how we are disciplined, challenge that discipline, and open up different and new possibilities of viable social existence. This agenda is apparent in my dissertation work that explored discourses of femininity within sorority spaces, and will be extended within my future work that will explore issues of stigma, in-group joking, sex and pornography, and the marginalization of non-dominant discourses in the practice of therapeutic recreation.

Publications:

Berbary, L.A. (under review). Reflections of culture: I'm not a typical sorority girl. Submitted to Qualitative Inquiry.

Berbary, L.A. (under review). Becoming feminist: Auto-rantings of a journeying first-timer. Submitted to Frontiers: A journal of women studies.

Berbary, L.A. & Samdahl, D.M. (in process). Sororities and discursive discipline: Don't be a whore, its not ladylike. Intended for submission to Leisure Sciences.

Berbary, L.A. (in process). Post-structural writerly representation: Screenplay as creative analytic practice. Intended for submission to International Review of Qualitative Research.

Berbary, L.A. (in process). Casting against the stereotype: The complexities of sorority subculture. Intended for submission to Contemporary Ethnography.

Presentations

Berbary, L.A. & Lewis, S.T. (2008). Caged in TR: Are the benefits always endless? Recreation Therapists of Indiana Annual Conference, Evansville, IN.

Samdahl, D.M. & Berbary, L.A. (2008). Capturing it: Positionality of the researcher in qualitative data representation. Leisure Research Symposium, NRPA, Baltimore, MD.

Berbary, L.A. (2008). The journeying feminist: Tales of anger, possibility, and realization. Institute for Women's Studies Student Research Symposium, Athens, GA.

Berbary, L.A. & Samdahl, D.M. (2008). Do I laugh? White participation in African American humor. Canadian Conference on Leisure Research, Montreal, Canada.

Samdahl, D.M. & Berbary, L.A. (2007). Learning to interview: Class exercises to promote effective interpersonal communication. Society of Park and Recreation Educators Teaching Institute Conference, Clemson, SC.

Berbary, L.A. (2006). Complicating traditional leisure theory: A call to post-structural research. Interdisciplinary Qualitative Mini-conference, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia.

Berbary, L.A. & Reel, H.A. (2005). Exploring personal TR philosophies through creative arts. Southeast Therapeutic Recreation Symposium, Gatlinburg, Tennessee.

Berbary, L.A. & Anderson, L. S. (2004). Assessment of best practice implementation for inclusive recreation in New York recreational agencies. New York State Therapeutic Recreation Association, Albany, New York.

Courses Recently Taught:

HPER-R270 Inclusive Recreation Services

HPER-R362 Therapeutic Communication

HPER-R490 Research Methods

HPER-R561 TR Interventions