Chinese migrant communities’ relationships to coastal spaces in the ‘City of Sails’, Aotearoa New Zealand

Abstract

New Zealanders have long-standing and multifaceted relationships with coasts, including recreation activities in, on and by the water. Leisure scholarship to date has paid little attention to outdoor recreation in New Zealand's fast-growing Asian migrant communities, whose involvement in coastal recreation is relatively low. This study explores Auckland's Chinese communities’ relationship with coastal blue spaces (i.e. the ocean/sea, beach and harbour) through their recreation activities, and the potential impacts on their experiences of cultural identity, belonging and wellbeing. Interviews were conducted with Chinese immigrants and community sport organisations’ representatives to understand the factors that enable and constrain Chinese immigrants’ outdoor blue space recreation practices. Applying Bourdieu's concepts, we identified that Chinese communities’ relationships to coastal blue spaces are impacted by their ‘blue space’ related habitus and cultural capital. Findings also suggest that when facing habitus-field mismatch, participants reject norms and expectations in the field, actively disrupting and challenging them.