‘Fighting from the fields’: developing the British ‘National Farm’ in the Second World War

The Second World War had a profound impact on British Agriculture, with state intervention at an unprecedented level cementing the idea of a ‘National Farm’ in both the popular and the governmental psyche. Critical attention has recently begun to refocus on this period, adding to the somewhat celebratory meta-narratives written in the official histories. Drawing from the practice of micro-historical research and recent work in geography that seeks to understand the production of the landscape ‘from within’, this paper explores how ‘small stories’ can afford an appreciation of the ‘complications of everyday existence’ and bring greater depth, nuance and understanding to these ‘larger’ historical events and their influence on the British countryside. Utilising oral histories from farms in Devon (UK), the paper explores the micro-geographies which shaped as well as destabilised the national farm message as it was translated into the local context.     

Reflections on reflections,or: less gloom please – let go and celebrate

This article is a comment on: Tubridge et al., 2012. Decennial reflections on a ‘geography of heritage’ (2000). International Journal of Heritage Studies, DOI: 10.1080/13527258.2012.695038     

Heritage and scale: settings,boundaries and relations

While recent years have seen increasing interest in the geographies of heritage, very few scholars have interrogated the difference that scale makes. Indeed, in a world in which the nation state appears to be on the wane, the process of articulating heritage on whatever scale – whether of individuals and communities, towns and cities, regions, nations, continents or globally – becomes ever more important. Partly reflecting this crisis of the national container, researchers have sought opportunities both through processes of ‘downscaling’, towards community, family and even personal forms of heritage, as well as ‘upscaling’, towards a universal understanding of heritage. While such work has had critical impact within prescribed scalar boundaries, we need to build a theoretical understanding of what an emergent relationship between heritage and scale does within the context of dynamic power relations. This paper examines how heritage is produced and practised, consumed and experienced, managed and deployed at a variety of scales, exploring how notions of scale, territory and boundedness have a profound effect on the heritage process. Drawing on the work of Doreen Massey and others, the paper considers how the heritage–scale relationship can be articulated as a process of openness, pluralism and relationality.     

‘Layered Networks’: Imperial Philanthropy in Birmingham and Sydney, 1860–1914

Traditionally, histories of philanthropy have adopted a nationalist focus. Influenced by new imperial history, this article seeks to move beyond national borders by placing metropolitan and colonial philanthropic practices in a single frame of analysis. This approach facilitates not only a comparison of philanthropic activities in two specific sites, Birmingham and Sydney, but a broader analysis of how philanthropic practices in both sites were shaped by ideas in constant flow between Britain, its colonies and the wider world. Evidence from various charities in Birmingham and Sydney reveal the existence of ‘layered networks’ spanning the local, national, imperial and global. As such, this article aims to extend the work of transnational/cross-border histories and geographical networks, by retaining a sense of the local.     

The Vinland Map,R. A. Skelton and Josef Fischer

Philipp Apian, 24 Bairische Landtafeln von 1568. Facsimile edition in colour offset. Munich, 1966 DM 380..

Journals and other documents on the life and voyages of Christopher Columbus. Transl. &; ed. by Samuel Eliot Morison. New York, The Heritage Press (1963).

Bo Bramsen, Gamle Danmarkskort. En historisk oversigt med bibliografiske noter for perioden 1570–1770. K?benhavn, Gr?nholt Pedersen forlag, 1965. pp. 160 c 100 maps. D.kr. 85. (Danish)

Karl Heinz Burmeister, Sebastian Münster, eine Bibliographie. Wiesbaden, Guido Pressler Verlag. 1964. pp. 143, 22 ill., DM 93.60.

Itinerarium orbis Christian!. Der älteste Reise‐atlas der Welt. Facsimile, publ. by Schuler Verlags‐gesellschaft, Stuttgart. 1965. Introd. by A. Fauser and T. Seifert. 267 maps and views. 20 x 27 cm. DM 30.—

The Fry &; Jefferson Map of Virginia and Maryland. Facsimiles of the 1754 and 1794 printings with an index. Published for the Harry demons Publication Fund of the University of Virginia. Charlottes‐ville, the University Press of Virginia, 1966. pp. 48; 2 x 4 reproductions, each 40 x 63 cm. In jacket, 35 x 24 cm. Printed in 500 copies.

Karol Buczek: The History of Polish Cartography from the 15th to the 18th Century. Translated by Andrzej Potocki. Cracow and Warsaw. 1966. 135 pages text, 60 plates, 1 table.

Sebastian Münster: Mappa Europae. Facsimile. Edited by Klaus Stopp. Wiesbaden, Guido Pressler Verlag, 1965, pp. 21, 24 sheets, 2 folded maps. DM 36.‐.

G. R. Crone, Maps and their makers. London, Hutchinson University Library, 1966, pp. xiv + 192. Illustrated. 11/6 paperback.

L. A. Goldenberg, Semen Uljanovi? Remezov, Siberian cartographer and geographer, 1642‐after 1720. Nauka, Moskva, 1965. pp. 260, ill, 3 folded reproduction. 20 x 13 cm. Russian. 3 Rbl.

Francesco Bonasera, Forma veteris urbis Ferrariae. Comune di Ferrara, Centro di studi sul rina‐scimento Ferrarese. Firenze, Leo S. Olschki, 1965. pp. 105, xxvi ill. 31 x 21 cm. 6000 Lire.

The History of Lucas Janszoon Waghenaer and his “Spieghel der Zeevaerdt”; (in colour facsimile). By Dr. C. Koeman, Lecturer in History of Cartography, State University of Utrecht, The Netherlands. Lausanne, Sequoia S.A., 1964. Facsimile, 12in. x 16Jin. (305 mm. x413 mm.) in case; Introduction, 8 3/4 in. x 11 in. (123 mm. x 800 mm.); 72 pp., 25 pls. price £40.     

Encountering enchantment: stories from the street football court in Singapore

While enchantment has been used productively to think through the geographies of social encounter, extant research – drawing largely from cases in the West – has reinforced a celebratory notion of enchantment, characterized by egalitarianism and serendipity. In this paper we draw ethnographically on encounters between Malay and Chinese users of two street football courts in Singapore, a non-Western context where principles of public interaction converge with but also exceed those in the West. In so doing we aim to advance existing debates by conceptualizing enchantment as it is negotiated and constituted, rather than asking if observed occurrences live up to dominant interpretations. We find that enchantment can be experienced through the construction, perpetuation and negotiation of boundaries; it is also a product of enduring rhythms in space that are produced and developed via the interactions of its users over time. In specifying the different ways in which enchantment is created, negotiated and lived we contribute to signalling the validity of expansive notions of publicness i.e. the different ways in which encounter in public space can be made meaningful and fulfilling.