Aspects of the History of Geographical EducationAuthor(s): Hugh MasonSource: Area, Vol. 25, No. 2 (Jun., 1993), pp. 199-200Published by: The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers)Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20003288 .

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Annual Conference 199

(Kingston) paper, presented by the former, also examined different experiences of people living in rural areas. Couched within the context of forthcoming changes in the mechanisms for delivering social services, the paper examined possible models involving telematic facilities which might be developed to provide a care and support service for elderly and disabled people in rural areas, concentrating for field data on the North Cotswolds.

Housing construction rates are often used as an indicator of the health of the economy. Keith Hoggart (King's College, London) reminded the packed audience of the claim that housing was promoted as one of the Tory success stories of the 1980s. His paper went on to examine the fluctuating fortunes of new house construction in different sectors during the decade and the uneven patterns of housing development in rural areas. General expansion in employment in the hotel and catering industries formed the background Peter Bull and Andrew Church's (Birkbeck) paper, which reviewed the patterns of change in rural areas during the 1980s. Growth in these employment sectors is not only attributable to increases in leisure time but also to changes in lifestyle.

The next group of papers reflected a slight change of direction in the session to a more locally based focus. Guy Robinson (Edinburgh) considered the introduction of Environmentally Sensitive Areas under the 1986 Agriculture Act in the light of the shift to a post-productionist phase in the industry. His main concern was with the employment generating effects of such designation, taking the Breadalbane ESA in central Scotland as an example. Martin Battershill (Exeter) identified a range of public and private sector initiatives in Britain which represent attempts to tackle the 'environmental problem' on farms. In a progress paper, he outlined a methodology for assessing the effectiveness of these measures in a standardised fashion, which was being applied to a sample of farms in south-west England. Conceptualising uneven develop ment from the theoretical position offered by the political economic approach lay at the heart of Ian Bowler's (Leicester) paper. He argued, with empirical reference to the Ontario poultry industry, that an understanding of the internal and external capitals and the interplay between them was crucial to examining how the process of uneven development operates. The state provides a political dimension to this analysis as it mediates between the fractions of capital. Olivia Wilson (Dunedin) was also concerned with the role of the state in agriculture, but in this case on the reaction of the New Zealand agricultural industry to deregulation, which occurred in 1985. The state does not of course just focus its attention on the agricultural industry in rural areas and Anderson and Rees (Applied Sciences, Luton College of Higher Education) evaluated the contribution of government programmes during the 1980s to diversify the economies of the numerous outports in Newfoundland.

The development of virgin territory is something which has become increasingly unlikely in Europe, but in parts of Finland in the immediate post war years new farms were created, which were occupied by displaced Karelian farmers. Mead (University College, London) first studied these settlers 45 years ago and in 1992 was afforded the opportunity of revisiting his study area,

Laplinlahti, east of central Finland, in order to take a longer term view on the 'pulse of rural change '. The contemporaneity of much geographical research often fails to take into account the importance of historical processes as a context for what is going on at the present time. Brian Short (Cultural and Community Studies, University of Sussex) identified a ' broad brush ' split in south-east England between the dominant coastal fringe, which experienced early develop

ment, and the relatively dependent interior area of the Weald. He argued that such historical legacies are an important backdrop for understanding contemporary patterns of development during the 1970s and 1980s.

Nigel Walford Kingston University

Aspects of the history of geographical education To celebrate the centenary of the Geographical Association, the History and Philosophy of Geography Study Group organised two modules on the history of geographical education. These sessions were held in an entirely suitable location; a lecture theatre equipped with the necessary

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200 Annual Conference

apparatus for showing lantern slides or projecting one's water colours of foreign parts. The first paper was given by Avril Maddrell-Mander (Oxford) to an audience which grew gradually as people crept back from relaxed lunches. She showed how geographical education responded to changes in the state, in civil society and in gender roles during the course of the Nineteenth Century. She illustrated her argument with examples of both good and bad practice in education and demonstrated that the best practice was far more imaginative than the capes and bays so despised by Geikie amongst others. However towards the end of the century it was mainly the boys who benefitted since girls often had to study 'domestic economy', by then a compulsory subject, in place of geography.

Michael Wise (LSE) also illustrated the imaginative quality often found in late nineteenth century geography in a paper on the Scott Keltie Report in context. He concentrated on the teaching under the London School Board and noted the way in which Her/His Majesty's Inspectors (HMIs) of the period had noted enthusiastic teaching often based on using children's observations of their own locality.

In the following paper on Tropical Africa in school geography, David Wright (UEA) paid attention to' geography readers ', descriptive works which were sold in huge numbers and which supplemented the purely factual material taught in too many schools. At their best they both covered factual material and provided exciting descriptions-some descriptions so striking that they were repeated and reprinted until well into this century. Although containing and propogating values which we might decry today, these readers had the immense value of en gendering enthusiasm for geography and making it, perhaps uniquely, a bottom up rather than a top down subject.

After time for questions and tea, the two overlapping, a somewhat larger audience reassembled to hear Bill Marsden's (Liverpool) paper on fragmentation in geographical education in which he distinguished between fragmenters, including such people as Fairgrieve and Wooldridge, who broke geography into small and often disconnected elements and who also created divisions between academic geography and geographical education, and connectors, who were concerned with establishing connections both within geography and between the academic and the things of everyday life. In particular Geikie, Mackinder and Dudley Stamp were heroes of connection.

Although not quite presented as heroes and villains, in the next paper, John Bale (Keele) examined the importance of charismatic individuals in the translation of new ideas from academic geography into school geography. On the one hand he noted the success of the ' geography for the young school leaver 'project, which owed much to enthusiastic presentation, and on the other the failure of radical geography to flourish in the school context. As one example of charisma he pointed to Rex Walford's (Cambridge) advocacy of games in geography, and the audience had the opportunity to put the thesis to the test when Rex Walford gave the final paper of the afternoon on the campaigns which had been fought to maintain and expand the role of geography in school education, culminating in the battle over the National Curriculum. He too emphasised not only the importance of the professional associations but of individuals within those associations. In particular at the beginning of this century he noted Mackinder's stature and the reasons why Fleure succeeded in promoting geography whilst Roxby had little success with government departments.

If one thing suffused the afternoon it was enthusiasm: the finest geographers were enthusiasts, the best geographical teaching was enthusiastic, great geographical writing conveyed enthusi asm, and, about all, geography had been, was now, and should be a subject about which to be enthusiastic. Most people left the session having caught, once again perhaps, something of that enthusiasm.

Hugh Mason University of Portsmouth

New thoughts on geography This was the second of two sessions organised by the History and Philosophy of Geography Study Groups. The session was convened by Martin Phillips (Coventry) to give a forum for

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