“Dear International Guests and Friends of the Icelandic Horse”: Experience, Meaning and Belonging at a Niche Sporting Event

Abstract

Landsmót hestamanna is the national championships for the Icelandic horse and a major festival for the special interest group addressed by the event organisers as 'Friends of the Icelandic horse'. As the designated country of origin for this particular equine breed, Iceland has a special place in the discursive practices of the communities involved with the Icelandic horse worldwide, while the Icelandic horse plays an important role in the tourism marketing of Iceland as a destination.Participant observation was conducted at the 2012 Landsmót in Reykjavík by two independent observers; one was an international visitor while the other was a native of Iceland. The data collected raise interesting questions about belonging to a niche market and attending associated events, the social construction of event experiences, about being an insider and an outsider, and how these positions are contingent and changeable across spatial and temporal boundaries within the flow of an event.

Event quality, perceived value, satisfaction and behavioural intentions in an event context

“…In contrast to every day experiences, event experiences "provide a space and time away from everyday life in which intense extraordinary experiences can be created and shared" (Morgan, 2008, p. 81). Such non-ordinary experiences are characterised by liminality, communitas and sacredness (Helgadóttir & Dashper, 2016;Pettersson & Getz, 2009;Tumbat & Belk, 2013). Walls et al (2011) categorise consumer experiences along two continua: ordinary-extraordinary and emotive-cognitive.…”

Multispecies event experiences: introducing more-than-human perspectives to event studies

“…The research on experiences in general, including that on event experiences, has been largely dominated by positivist, quantitative approaches, although some studies have employed qualitative methods ranging from interviews to observations (Bouchet et al, 2011;Helgadóttir & Dashper, 2016;Wood & Moss, 2015). A number of researchers have argued for increased use of ethnographic methods in events research, as a way of trying to understand 'the rich and complex meanings and motivations linked to event experiences' (Jaimangal-Jones, 2014, p. 40; also see Coghlan & Filo, 2013, Holloway et al, 2010.…”

“…This approach focuses on the individual, and their internalised feelings and perceptions, but pays little attention to the social context of event experiences. Helgadóttir and Dashper (2016) focus more on the social construction of event experiences and the importance of shared understandings for creating meaning and feelings of belonging and the sense of being an insider or outsider at a sporting event. However, although their research took place at an explicitly multispecies event -a horse festival in Iceland -they focus solely on the human participants and do not consider the multispecies aspects of those event experiences.…”

20 years of Nordic event and festival research: a review and future research agenda

“…This cognitive approach to experience highlights the central role of the experiencing subject in constructing meaning in the experiences. Studying an Icelandic horse event, Helgadóttir and Dashper (2016) showed how the duality of context and individual result in insider-outsider experiences as, language, symbolism, myths of origin and markers of identity (e.g. nationality) enhance the visitor experience of belonging to either of the two groups.…”