Telling tales of participation: exploring the interplay of time and territory in cultural boundary work using participation narratives.

Consideration of the "stakes" attached to participation is most clearly associated with the debate around Bourdieu's [(1984). Distinction: A social critique of the judgement of taste. London: Routledge] concept of cultural capital and the role this plays in processes of domination and social closure. Yet, the preferred method of understanding practice variation in the cultural field - the analysis of cross-sectional survey data focused on established tastes and activities - reveals little of the broader nature, dynamics or significance of participation in people's daily lives. In this paper, I explore the potential of participation narratives for re-scoping the field of cultural participation. These accounts foreground the multiplicity of participation, its embeddedness in everyday concerns, institutions and relationships, and the interplay of time and space in the demarcation of the field by class and gender. As well as highlighting the limitations of theoretical models that focus on participation through the lens of cultural practices funded by the State, they suggest that articulations of cultural value in policy need to take more account of the personal histories, social relations and local contexts of participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]