Rebecca Abushena’s research while affiliated with Manchester Metropolitan University and other places

This article explores performances of intensive motherhood in the context of taking children to visit Manchester’s Christmas markets. Much sociological literature has studied intensive motherhood within the safe, managed space of the home. Less work, however, has examined performances of motherhood in urban spaces. Through in-depth interviews with 16 mothers with recent experience of taking their children to the Christmas markets, we highlight how such festive urban experiences surface tensions in intensive motherhood display. Intensive motherhood is grounded in shielding children from risk, yet our findings reveal how visiting the city-centre during the Christmas period exposed children to a range of perceived dangers. Our mothers reinterpreted the concept of intensive motherhood, performing a hyper-intensified practice in response to the less predictable nature of this ‘risky’ setting. We contribute to intensive motherhood literature and highlight several risk management strategies that participants employed to manage the risk their children were exposed to.

Drawing on the Manchester and Salford Whit Walks, a Church of England Whitsuntide procession, this research adopts della Dora’s concept of the infrasecular to interpret the interstitiality of the religious or civic nature of leisure experiences in the urban context. Processional walking at Whitsuntide originated as a pre-industrial custom that was simultaneously a religious and a leisure practice. However, with the decline of religion the meanings the Whit Walks have changed in a number of dimensions. Using the lens of infrasecular geography, this research explored the ways in which these Walks have remade sacred space in the secular city through an historical account of their evolution, interviews with participants and observation. The research re-emphasises the continuing importance of custom to contemporary leisure practice and through the infrasecular lens enables new insights into the dynamics of the historical spaces of leisure practice. The study concludes that religion remains an important influence on leisure and that the concept of the infrasecular merits further investigation in leisure practices.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify ways to develop museum shop product, which will possess competitive advantage, and to recommend what should be done to develop such product so that it has a positive impact on the city brand of St. Petersburg. Design/methodology/approach In total, 76 museums have been studied through the observation method to describe their shops’ inventory in terms of percentages of each product. Mostly St. Petersburg museums were included in the analysis. The observation method enabled the researchers to analyse the inventory of the museum souvenir shops. The findings of the analysis enabled the researchers to reach conclusions about museums’ strategies of product development. Findings The research allowed to make the conclusion that although the museum shops in St.Petersburg demonstrate positive tendencies in the development of competitive stores’ products a lot of work is still to be done. Not all museums are characterised by availability of clear strategy for product development. They offer souvenirs (if any) which do not differ from those existing on the market according to topics and functions which are characteristic for them. Recommendations on how to make the product of museum shops more competitive were proposed. Practical implications Cities need new and fresh ways to create and promote their brands. Museums can contribute to this significantly with the help of souvenirs production. This research will provide insight into the process of how museums can do this by developing their shops’ inventory strategies. Recommendations to improve strategies for creation of competitive product were offered in the paper. Originality/value In today’s competitive conditions, museums are creating augmented products and create museum shops. Nevertheless, the role of museum shops in brand creation is underexplored. Museum shops have a high potential for creating high-quality products that may influence the museum and city brand in a positive way, as souvenirs and visual images of museum artifacts play an essential role in making an impression on tourists.

This chapter discusses the food economy and the way it falls into a collaborative consumption model based on sharing, assisted by the internet. Starting with a review of the sharing economy, the chapter evaluates food-sharing platforms that are taking the social dimensions of dining to new levels.