A Thematic and Critical Discourse Analysis of the Time Travel Method

The Time Travel Method is an educational approach that uses local heritage and history to encourage reflection on contemporary issues and facilitate community building. This article examines how TTM is structured, experienced, and represented across institutional documentary sources. Additionally, it aims to understand the relationship between activity design, participant experience, and participation outcomes of the Time Travel events. To do so, a multi-method qualitative analysis approach was used, combining thematic analysis and critical discourse analysis. A total of 47 documents published between 2000 and 2025 were analyzed. In addition, 42 participant testimonials drawn from seven case studies were examined. The findings indicate three main dimensions shaping Time Travel experiences: the structural features of activity design, experiential participation processes, and the outcomes associated with participation. As a result, TTM provides guided participatory experiences built around historical and thematic role-play, facilitator guidance, and group interaction. Participants’ testimonials reported temporal immersion, historical empathy, creativity, and social interaction. These experiences were associated with outcomes such as cultural learning, psychological restoration, stronger social bonds, and continued motivation to participate. This study contributes to the participatory heritage and leisure literature by providing a conceptual synthesis that explains how activity design, participant experiences, and participation outcomes are linked in TTM, while also showing how these dimensions are represented across documentary sources.