William Gould,Land Agent and the Rural Community in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire 1783–1788

The land agent played an important role in community relationships. His position was frequently one of mediator and liaison between landowner and tenant, although his role often extended to settling disputes more generally. These relationships are often hidden in estate correspondence but in the case of William Gould agent to the Duke of Portland are more readily available through his diaries. This article will utilise this valuable resource to explore how the land agent of a large estate which was entering a period of industrialisation interacted with both agricultural and industrial communities.     

WRITING THE NATION INTO HISTORY

This article considers the fruits of an elaborate multi‐year European Science Foundation (ESF)‐sponsored research project on the reciprocal dynamics joining nineteenth‐ and twentieth‐century historiography to the varying trajectories of European state‐formation. It reads the culminating volume in the eight‐book series sponsored by this ESF project against the wider associated discussions and the larger context of the contemporary historiography of nationalism. It seeks to draw out the defining features of the approach involved (conceptually, methodologically, intellectually, politically), while pointing to a number of the entailments and lacunae. In particular, it considers some of the attenuations and omissions resulting from the adoption of an overly institutional and “top‐down” approach to the chosen thematic of “nation and narration.”     

A post COVID-19 future - tourism re-imagined and re-enabled

Abstract

The urgent demands of the present necessitate an interrogation – a re-exploration and a re-envisioning of the future of tourism – of what has to change (and remain constant). Despite the crippling effects of COVID-19, new forms of solidarity are emerging that challenge the prevailing competitiveness ethic. While a transactional economic revival has to remain a top priority, progress will advance, so long as tourism becomes more transformational and transcendent. Discoveries of new methodologies for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and versions of a Green New Deal, for example, are generating interest, notably ‘mass flourishing’ introduced in ‘anti-fragile’ ways. Utilizing a ‘future-back’ paradigm that demands deep-dive assessments and articulation of purpose, the gaps between ‘what is’ and ‘what could or should be’ are bound to close. Such undertakings represent a ‘coming together’ of all stakeholders, a role that academicians are urged to embrace, especially through action research, curriculum change and creation of ‘daring classrooms’.