The ‘Liverpool model(s)’: cultural planning,Liverpool and Capital of Culture 2008

Within the UK, the ‘Liverpool model’ is being celebrated as the new template for Capital of Culture festivals, and culture led urban regeneration in general. This paper will question this celebration and argue that there are, in fact, two ‘Liverpool models’: the first, outlined in its bid and developed within its initial planning strategy, represented the apogee of a New Labour informed ‘cultural planning’ framework for urban development; the second, developed post-2008 within the impact analysis Impacts08, is a more sober and realistic reflection of the role of culture in urban regeneration. This paper will demonstrate how this first model, while politically expedient and rhetorically seductive, was both theoretically unstable and practically unrealizable. Its subsequent abandonment represents an indictment of cultural planning as a nostrum for the complex structural, social and economic problems of the post-industrial city.     

Airports and air-mindedness: spacing,timing and using the Liverpool Airport, 1929–1939

Some popular texts have associated airports with a lack of identity. It is supposed that people are alienated from these ahistorical and interstitial spaces (Augé 1995 Augé, M. 1995. Non-places: Introduction to an Anthropology of Supermodernity, London: Verso.  [Google Scholar]; Castells 1996 Castells, M. 1996. The Rise of the Network Society, Volume 1: The Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture, Oxford: Blackwell.  [Google Scholar]). Other approaches have tended to ignore their sociality, exploring their role within transport networks rather than what goes on within. Through a discussion of the early beginnings of British airport development and the construction of Liverpool Airport at Speke, I attempt to show how there are other contextual geographies to airports. By using the concept of air-mindedness—a moral geographical concept that promoted the belief in the possibilities of aircraft mobility, this paper discusses how social identities became bound to flight, forming the context to the development of the airport and both local and national belonging. This examination will reveal the embeddedness of airports within the times, spaces and uses from which they are produced and consumed. Archival research provides the material for this discussion.

Les aéroports et le sens des choses de l'air: l'espace, le temps et l'utilisation de l'aéroport de Liverpool, 1929–1939

Un nombre d'écrits populaires ont dressé un parallèle entre les aéroports et un déficit d'identité. Les gens, suppose t'on, se sentent aliénés par ces espaces ahistoriques et interstitiels (Augé 1995 Augé, M. 1995. Non-places: Introduction to an Anthropology of Supermodernity, London: Verso.  [Google Scholar]; Castells 1996 Castells, M. 1996. The Rise of the Network Society, Volume 1: The Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture, Oxford: Blackwell.  [Google Scholar]). Dans d'autres cas, on a fait fi de leur socialité, explorant alors leur rôle au sein de réseaux des transports plutôt que de s'intéresser à ce qui se passe dedans. Une discussion sur les tout débuts de l'expansion des aéroports britanniques et de la construction de l'aéroport de Liverpool à Steke tente de montrer comment les aéroports sont situés dans des contextes géographiques différents. Grâce au concept du sens des choses de l'air—un concept moral en géographie qui renforçait la croyance dans les possibilités de mobilité qu'offre l'avion, cet article traite de la façon dont les identités sociales se rattachent au vol créant ainsi le contexte dans lequel se situe le développement de l'aéroport et de l'appartenance locale et nationale. Dans cette étude, il est question de l'enchâssement des aéroports dans les époques, espaces et usages à partir desquels ils sont produits et consommés. La discussion fait état des résultats d'une recherche en archivistique.

Mots-clefs: aéroports, géographie, contexte, mobilité, identité, sens des choses de l'air.

Aeropuertos y air-mindedness: espacio, tiempo y el uso del aeropuerto de Liverpool 1929–1939

Algunos textos populares asocian los aeropuertos con una falta de identidad. Se supone que la gente se siente distanciada de estos espacios ahistóricos e intersticiales (Augé 1995 Augé, M. 1995. Non-places: Introduction to an Anthropology of Supermodernity, London: Verso.  [Google Scholar]; Castells 1996 Castells, M. 1996. The Rise of the Network Society, Volume 1: The Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture, Oxford: Blackwell.  [Google Scholar]). Los enfoques de otros no tienen en cuenta el aspecto social y exploran el papel del aeropuerto en las redes de transporte en vez de explorar lo que pasa dentro del mismo aeropuerto. Por un estudio de los inicios del desarrollo del Aeropuerto Británico y la construcción del aeropuerto de Liverpool en Speke, pretendo mostrar que, con respecto a los aeropuertos, hay otras geografías contextuales para explorar. Haciendo uso de la idea de ‘air-mindedness’—un concepto geográfico moral que fomentaba confianza en las posibilidades de movilidad aeronáutica—este papel habla de cómo las identidades sociales llegaron a ser vinculadas a la aviación, así formando el contexto para el desarrollo del aeropuerto y un sentido de pertenencia, tanto local como nacional. Este estudio revela hasta qué punto los aeropuertos se han arraigado en los tiempos, espacios y usos de los cuales son producidos y consumidos. Hago uso de investigaciones de archivos para este debate.

Palabras claves: aeropuertos, geografía, contexto, movilidad, identidad, air-mindedness.     

Decline and sprawl: an evolving type of urban development – observed in Liverpool and Leipzig1

Much of the empirical research on urban sprawl has been carried out in North America and most theoretical studies on this problem have been concerned with expanding urban areas. This study differs, firstly in that it is concerned with sprawl in two European cities, Liverpool in England and Leipzig in Germany, and secondly because both these cities are in decline. This presents an opportunity to explore whether the process of urban sprawl is somehow specific in a situation of urban decline and what its outcomes might be for both urban form and urban policy.     

An important 16th-century finds assemblage from ‘Moorfields’, Liverpool Street,London

SUMMARY: Excavation at Liverpool Street, London, for Crossrail Limited, uncovered two large drains and a pit in an area of the city known since the medieval period as ‘Moorfields’. Their fills can be closely dated to the mid 16th century and included artefacts such as personal possessions, domestic utensils and refuse, and material likely to be waste from leather and textile processing. The combination of excellent preservation, tight dating and an assemblage encompassing all facets of everyday life is seldom encountered for this period, making this a nationally significant assemblage, which is outlined here by broad functional category.     

The Liverpool Economy during the War of American Independence, 1775–83

Much has been written about how the American War of Independence, a key imperial event, affected the British Isles. However, within this body of work there is limited reference to Liverpool, which was arguably becoming ‘the second city of empire’. This article attempts to fill this gap in the historiography, and addresses the economic impact of the war upon this key port town. It shows that there were four overall stages to Liverpool’s foreign commerce during this period—initially trade remained broadly steady, then there was a noticeable decline, the penultimate stage marked a sluggish improvement, and finally it was not until the post-war years that a sustained recovery took hold. That said, despite these overall trends, individual markets such as the trans-Atlantic slave trade often had their own dynamics. Although privateers (private ships of war) contributed towards the town’s eventual commercial recovery, this activity was by no means the only factor in explaining this rebound. Furthermore, the American war had an impact upon other sectors of the Liverpudlian economy, including shipbuilding and infrastructure projects. Combined, this evidence suggests that eighteenth-century warfare had positive and negative repercussions for the UK economy. As a result, we learn more about being ‘at home with the empire’.     

Examinations,access, and inequity within the empire: Britain,Australia and India, 1890–1910

Recent scholarship on transnational immigration restriction have tended to frame British policies in opposition to those of white settler colonies, emphasising the frustration of British officialdom at the explicitly racist exclusions in South Africa, Canada, New Zealand and Australia. While acknowledging these, this paper interrogates the British position, by locating synergies between the deployment of examinations as a form of racial gatekeeping at the height of the empire, with reference to discourses of equity and access emanating from Britain, Australia and India. It reads British attempts to ameliorate the harsh exclusions of the White Australia policy – administered through the apparently neutral device of the Dictation Test – alongside remarkably similar constraints embedded in the exams for the Indian Civil Service that were designed to limit the numbers of Indians in the ICS. Race-based immigration restriction was consistent with – not repugnant to – imperial sensibilities, contrary to so many protestations. The prevalence of racially discriminatory immigration legislation in settler societies had the effect of projecting the worst forms of racism to the peripheries of empire, exposing the contradictions of the colonial project in India.     

Judaism and communism: Hanukkah,Passover, and the Jewish Communists in Mandate Palestine and Israel, 1919–1965

This article explores the mythological, ritualistic, and symbolic aspects of the ways in which the festivals of Hanukkah and Passover were celebrated by the Jewish Communists in Mandate Palestine and the State of Israel. It illustrates how elements of Zionist-socialist culture were adopted by Jewish Communists and integrated in their cultural activities. In a gradual process starting in the1920s and culminating in the mid-1960s, the Jewish Communists created a combination of Marxist ideology and Zionist-socialist cultural practices. However, when a group of young Sabra activists reinforced the Zionist-socialist elements, the balance was undermined, contributing to the rift within Israeli communism.     

Masculinities and geography,moving forward: men’s bodies,emotions and spiritualities

Geographical work on men and masculinities has expanded and diversified since the 1990s. Gender, Place and Culture has been, and continues to be, a significant outlet for this research. Geographies of masculinities now range across diverse sub-fields – social, cultural, economic, health, post-colonial, urban and rural geographies. We provide a brief overview of this scope, including the expansion of geographies of masculinities beyond the Anglo-American sphere. We then focus on two vibrant fields of research on geographies of men and masculinities, which cut across the various sub-fields of the discipline: men’s embodied and emotional geographies, and their experiences in relation to religion, faith and spirituality. We discuss these fields, suggesting further productive developments for geographies of masculinities, which include work on the body and wellbeing, body size, male care giving, men’s experiences in diverse faith communities, and men and alternative spiritualities. Ongoing development of geographical work on men and masculinities is important for helping to contest patriarchal structures and knowledge production.     

Patronage,gentility, and “base degree”: Edmund Spenser and Lord Burghley

This essay examines the social asymmetry of Early Modern patronage by focussing on Edmund Spenser’s complex relationship with Lord Burghley. Both were anxious to validate their social credentials, the one as novus homo, and other as novus poeta. Burghley sought to offset criticism of his rise by consolidating a reputation for public service with claims of illustrious ancestry, and scores of dedicators obliged. Spenser was anxious to claim the status of gentleman through talent despite his obscure origins. In appending a dedicatory sonnet to Burghley in the 1590 Faerie Queene he endorses his public image in the hope of reciprocal acknowledgement. Apparently disappointed, he responds in Complaints (1591) by presenting Burghley as a mercenary parvenu, while for the first time claiming kinship to the “ancient” house of the Spencers of Althorp, thereby reversing the social hierarchy but problematizing his own criteria for gentility.     

Müntzer,Taubes, and the Anabaptists: Emancipatory History and Political Theology

ABSTRACT

The radical apocalypticism of the sixteenth century mystic and revolutionary Thomas Müntzer has served as an enduring resource for the political left, from early investigations by Engels and Bloch to the recent works of Alberto Toscano and Wu Ming. In one of his lesser-studied works – the 1947 dissertation Occidental Eschatology – Jewish philosopher Jacob Taubes places Müntzer at a key juncture in the history of eschatology, first by situating him at the end of the Reformation period, and then by connecting his revolutionary apocalypticism to the critiques of Hegel leveled by Marx and Kierkegaard. This study aims to give a new perspective on Taubes as a philosopher of history, first by showing potentially surprising connections between Taubes’ Occidental Eschatology and the historiography of Anabaptism, and second by making suggestions about how Taubes’ distinctively emancipatory philosophy of history might contribute to thinking about time and history within contemporary political theology.     

‘Les Soixante-Routards: travel,generation, and 1968’

Philippe Gloaguen and the ‘Routard Generation’ reveal a variety of themes in the cultural history of 1968 and its legacy in France regarding the intersection of travel mobility and generational identification. Mobility was and remains a central motif in the mythology of 1968. The way the cultural phenomenon of French backpacker travel has come to be understood there is bound up with ideas about 1968 and generation. The cultural association of 1968 with French travel and mobility helped create a broad generational cohort able to incorporate those who were not politically involved, or at best, were on the margins of protest activity. The self-proclaimed soixante-routards conflate travel mobility with a generational construct centred on 1968 as a means to render their personal travel with political meaning.