Imagined Communities: National and LocalAuthor(s): Peter Stowe and Alan BurnettSource: Area, Vol. 26, No. 2 (Jun., 1994), pp. 197-198Published by: The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers)Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20003435 .

Accessed: 15/06/2014 19:39

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

.

The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) is collaborating with JSTOR todigitize, preserve and extend access to Area.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 188.72.126.196 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 19:39:08 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

IBG Annual Conference 197

fiction novels. Reporting his discussions with three in-depth study groups, he explained how readers develop their representation of place and come to terms with their experience of place, often by imposing their own, strongly gendered, rules on to it.

The second module of the session, chaired by Adrian Passmore (Oxford), brought together four researchers who are broadly interested in the provision of care support services in England and Wales today. Sara MacKian (Aberystwyth) led the way, by reporting on interviews she has conducted with individuals, in East Dyfed, suffering from Myalgic

Encephalomyelitis (ME): an illness for which there is extremely little support available via the National Health Service. The potential inadequacies of voluntary support groups (the government's preferred solution) were highlighted and she noted that the active coping strategies developed by individuals are far wider than currently acknowledged and would be a

more apposite focus of political attention. She therefore concluded that real tension exists between the rhetoric and reality of active citizenship, as espoused by John Major. The theme of health and community care was continued by Hester Parr (Lampeter). Within the context of the continued fragmentation of sites of care (deinstitutionalisation) in Nottingham, her work has centred on discussions with individuals with mental health problems. She described the development of a new social geography: the creation of ' sane ' and ' insane ' spaces in the cityscape and the ghettoisation of users of mental health care services within negotiated boundaries of activity. Fiona Smith's (Reading) research is focused on out-of-school childcare and the spatial inequalities in provision that she identified in her paper caused her to call for a national co-ordinated childcare policy to facilitate equality of access. She traced the development and described the present pattern of provision in Reading, where local authority services dominate, and Richmond-upon-Thames, where the voluntary and private sectors are in the ascendancy.

The final paper in the session, from Ruth Young (Liverpool), returned to the health care theme; specifically the factors influencing the uptake of health care by women, based on questionnaire and interview work in the Netherley and Woolton areas of Liverpool. The need for more flexible arrangements was emphasised because access to necessary health care can be inhibited due to a variety of reasons including work commitments, employer attitudes and limited economic resources and mobility.

Chris Ribchester Aberystwyth University

Imagined communities: national and local The morning session focused on nations and statehood. James Sidaway (Birmingham), in a paper entitled ' Geopolitical (re)imaginations: the Portuguese case ', analysed and started to calibrate the astounding geopolitical transition from Portugal as the last global colonial power to its modern role in the European Union. Michael Miller (School of Slavonic and East

European Studies), by contrast, showed the success of a foreign authority in creating the geopolitical reality of a new state (Moldavia) in part of Bessarabia and-perhaps Transdniestria. Bronwen Walter (East Anglia Polytechnic University) contributed a paper called 'Paddies not biddies: Irishness and gender in Britain' and James Newman (West Sussex Institute of Higher Education) gave a paper on urban design and national identity in Romania. Taken as a whole, these two modules demonstrated the important contribution detailed case study research can have on the key political geographical issues of nationality and statehood.

The afternoon session of local communities attracted a large and varied audience. John Agnew (Syracuse) gave a fascinating account of the origins and key characteristics of the northern Italian Lombard League. He illustrated its rhetoric and showed the reality of its spatial support. Mike Craig (Bristol) illustrated the varied community perceptions of elderly people in central Bristol, including how external control and internal conflict was rationalised. Darrin Baylis (QMW, London) contrasted tenants' perceptions of struggling to improve some

This content downloaded from 188.72.126.196 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 19:39:08 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

198 IBG Annual Conference

of London's inter-war estates with the notion of ' Community as Service' held by well-meaning outsiders.

In the last module Michael Chisholm (Cambridge) gave some revealing insights into the task which he had embarked on as a local government review commissioner. He described some of the difficulties of the review process with masterful understatement. Bob Evans (South Bank) and Alan Burnett (Portsmouth) then concluded the session with papers on how community concepts are frequently used politically by participants in urban renewal and locational conflicts respectively.

Peter Stowe West Sussex Institute of Higher Education

Alan Burnett University of Portsmouth

Postgraduate research in human geography For the first time at this year's IBG Conference, the Population Geography Study Group ran a half-day session devoted to the presentation of recently completed and ongoing postgraduate research in Population Geography. The high quality of the six papers and the interest evident in the ensuing discussions suggest that postgraduate sessions of this kind should feature more regularly in the future activities of the study group. The session was opened by Julia Williams (Leeds) who described her simulation model for forecasting the spread of HIV and AIDS in the UK. The model, which combines demographic multistate projection models with epidemiological models of disease transmission can be used for forecasting at the regional level and therefore to examine the role of different transmission routes which vary spatially in importance. Her forecasts showed how changes in behavioural practices could considerably reduce the incidence of disease and pointed to the significance of international movements as an influence on future levels of HIV and AIDS in the UK. The theme of forecasting and planning was continued by Marcus Blake (Leeds) who showed how GIS could be used to assist Local Health Authorities in their assessment of health needs. Using the example of colorectal cancer, Marcus focused on the use of Besag statistical techniques to sift through large complex population data sets and identify regions with a high incidence of disease. These papers demonstrated clearly how methodological advances within population geography are being applied to key research areas. The third contribution from Doulao Wang (Southampton) also focused on an issue of contemporary significance; the demographic impact of China's family planning policies. Doulao argued that despite relatively high levels of contraceptive use in China, fertility has not fallen to desired target levels because of low levels of contraceptive effectiveness resulting in an increase in ' unwanted ' births. Contraceptive failure was linked to the mix of methods used, to socio-economic and educational status and to rural or urban

milieu of origin. For population policies to be successful, high contraceptive uptake rates must be accompanied by effective use.

The papers presented in the second half of the session were devoted to the study of migration. Victoria Chell's (QMW, London) paper on the arrival and adaptation of new female migrants in Rome examined the particular circumstances of Filipino and Somali women. The research based on the use of qualitative research methodologies, highlighted the importance of

migrant social networks and the retention of cultural ties to the long-term survival strategies of these women. John McKendrick (Manchester) then examined the relationship between lone parent formation and migration. Based on a study of the Strathclyde region, it was revealed that moves into lone parenthood are typically short-distance moves to more deprived areas and instigated by negative stimuli; relationship breakdown caused, for example, by violence. At a time when political debates surrounding lone-parenthood are often centred on young single

mothers, John's paper suggested that this group constitutes a small minority of lone-parents and policy-makers should instead address the social contexts of lone-parent migration. To conclude the session Rhodri Davies (Southampton Institute) took us back to the nineteenth

This content downloaded from 188.72.126.196 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 19:39:08 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions