Kendra Fortin

Degree

MA (Master of Arts), Recreation and Leisure Studies

Thesis title

Sacred Memories, Decolonial Futurities

Year of defence

2022

Abstract

Employing a collective memory work research methodology, this thesis narrates discussions between four Settler-Christians as they grapple with notions of travel, tourism, Christianity, divinity, and settler colonialism. Informed by settler colonial theory and postcolonial theology, the purpose of this collective memory work study was to collaborate in understanding, critiquing, and ultimately enhancing Indigenous-Settler relationships as storied in and through the travel experiences of Settler-Christian students at a Canadian university. Memory texts demonstrated how notions of divinity are tied to broader Christian discourses, specifically relating to divinity as connected to service, land, evangelism, and material expressions of religiosity. Analyses revealed the ways in which memory texts both do and undo settler colonialism in tourism contexts. Participating in the collective memory work process encouraged co-participants to consider the diversity of Christian theology and religious interpretation, thus creating space for the emergence of theologies oriented to uplift Indigenous ways of being and Indigenous expressions of Christianity. This study also demonstrated how theological inquiry might be deployed in tourism research to enrich and complicate analyses, especially those related to religious tourism experiences.

Biography

Kendra is in her first year of the Master’s Thesis Recreation and Leisure Studies program at the University of Waterloo in the Faculty of Health. Growing up on the shores of Lake Huron in Port Elgin, Ontario, Kendra was instilled with a love and respect for the outdoors. Some of Kendra’s happiest memories have taken place while camping at provincial parks across Ontario with her family and cousins. Kendra has a passion for sports, especially if they are outdoors, and frequently spends her spare time hiking, running, swimming, rock climbing, and instructing fitness classes at the University of Waterloo.