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.

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

Inhalt

1. Introduction: Scuba Diving as a Leisure Activity.- 2. The Global in the Local: Scuba Diving in Greece.- 3. Technology and Underwater Worlds.- 4. Diving technology at the Recreational World.- 5. From the Navy to the Sport's World.- 6. Underwater Phantasmagoria: The touristization of Scuba Diving.- 7. Breathing Under Water: Scuba Diving as Multisensory Experience.- 8. Pleasure and Aquastalgia.- 9. Conclusion: Diving as Travel on the Boundaries.