Lazer, aventura e risco: reflexões sobre atividades realizadas na natureza

This paper reflects on the conceptions of adventure and risk, revealed in activities in nature. The presented speeches are contained in a research, whose boarding works with a universe of reasons, aspirations, values, beliefs and attitudes, corresponding to a deeper space of the processes, relations and phenomena. It was possible to perceive that the adventure activities in nature are carrying of innumerable meanings, related with new discoveries, new challenges, search for the stranger, uncertainty, cooperation, friendship, among others. Such activities understand diverse forms of experimentation, pointing besides to physical risk, the symbolic and imaginary risk.

Road wanderers in Brazil: a study on modern psychosocial human mobility

Human mobility patterns are quite diverse nowadays and a very singular, extreme pattern is seen in the Brazilian scene: road wandering. Road wanderers are individuals who leave their home, family, work and other territories of a settled life and throw themselves into a life of solitary wandering along Brazilian highways. This study aimed to describe the lifestyle of road wanderers, investigate the reasons that led them choose this way of living and understand it against a background of modern human mobility patterns. A total of 63 interviews were conducted with individuals wandering on road shoulders. We found road wandering is associated with the following determinants: poverty; unemployment; marital conflicts; emotional suffering following the loss of loved ones; desires for adventure and freedom; and cultural symbols related to journey, migration, exodus and other modes of displacement. Despite its particularities, road wandering can be understood as a way of human mobility in the modern world.

A História segundo Xenofonte: Historiografia e usos do passado

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Fear and adventure tourism in Brazil

The search for new non-routine emotions and sensations has become a decisive factor in taking part in adventure tourism. As Barros and Dines (2000) have pointed out, Brazil's natural resources are abundant and have been widely used to promote the nation's tourism. Empirical literature describes fear as one of the main emotions in adventure activities, and for this reason a questionnaire was designed to examine the presence of fear before and after three adventure activities (parachuting, white-water rafting, and rock-climbing). This study not only aimed to consolidate fear as a fundamental emotion in performing such activities but also to stimulate interest for further studies in this area. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Adventure race's injuries

Objective. - To describe the distribution of frequency of the injuries during adventure competition.Material and methods. - Fifty-five participants who underwent to the second stage of the Caloi Adventure Camp competition answered to a questionnaire about their personal characteristics, training status and injuries.Results. - The age of the athletes was 32 +/- 10 years old and the body mass index (BMI) 23.3 +/- 2.2 kg/m(2). The most frequent injuries occurred during trekking (61%), followed by mountain bike (24%). Abrasions (36.7%) and cuts (24.5%) were the most frequent injuries mentioned. Tissue level lesions occurred in 61.2% of the episodes. The most frequent injuries were contusions (16.3%) at muscular level, and sprain (6.1%) and fracture (6.1%) at osteoarticular system. Related to the body structure, the lower limb was the most affected (49%), mainly ankle (14.3%) and knee (12.2%). In the upper limb (30.6%), arm and forearm were more affected with cuts and abrasions. Neck and trunk were responsible for 20.4% of the injuries. Cramps (31%) and tendinitis (11%) were also mentioned.Conclusion. - The data suggest that it is necessary to create one training approach including prevention and logistics for participants rescue and rapid attendance during the tournament. (C) 2008 Published by Elsevier Masson SAS.