Union of Socialist Geographers: Theory and Empirical Research in GeographyAuthor(s): Ian CookSource: Area, Vol. 13, No. 1 (1981), pp. 83-84Published by: The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers)Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20001684 .

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Annual Conference 83

Next, attention shifted to curriculum innovation in geography in higher education, with R. E. Hebden (Sheffield City Polytechnic) considering the implications of a declining pool of students and a tighter financial situation for geography courses-issues which have now become of vital concern to members of the Institute. To avoid the danger associated with large group teaching more emphasis is needed on the production of teaching materials,

which could be achieved both effectively and efficiently through collaboration between like minded teachers. Here, lecturers in higher education can learn from their secondary school counterparts.

The session concluded with a paper by R. H. Osborne and F. H. Molyneux (Nottingham) on the Geography of higher education in the East Midlands. This was based on a comprehen sive survey of full-time students in higher education in the region, and compared catchment areas and journey to study patterns of students in different types of institutions in the five counties. A survey had also been made of students from the East Midlands studying at higher education institutions elsewhere in the country.

DavidJ. Smallbone Middlesex Polytechnic

Union of socialist geographers: theory and empirical research in geography This session developed into two distinct halves: the first focused upon the complexities of the relationship between theory and empirical research, the second with the problems associated with the political role of academics and the application of socialist geography in practice. At least 16 people contributed to the discussion, and if this figure is any guide, the session can be regarded as being successful. In the first module Doreen Massey (SSRC Research Fellow) argued that Marxist approaches which began with an elaboration of an abstract model of the mode of production, gradually adding more and more detail and

moving closer to the real world before coming to a stop and starting again with empirical detail, were inadequate. Monolithic Marxism was a danger-what exactly is the relationship between Volume 3 of Capital and the present economic crisis, for example? Andrew Sayer (Sussex) followed this with a resume of his interpretation of realism and his critique of poor urban and regional Marxist research which is at worst a parade of the mastery of Marxist theories and at best is often pseudo-concrete research. He described the concept of internal and external relations and presented examples of the relationship between these and between the abstract and the concrete. His conclusion was that Castell's theoretical coding had stultified empirical research, which need not be empiricist. These views stimulated considerable discussion and questioning, with main points emerging as follows: that empirical research is important, that becoming a Marxist is difficult, that the empirical work of non-Marxist can be used, plus certain of their concepts, provided that great care is taken in this. The question of the relationship between theory and practice was raised and this was dealt with more fully in the second module. I described work carried out by Tom Manion (Lancaster) and myself in the problem estate of Netherley in Liverpool showing how the results were fed back to the flat dweller's action group and used by them in their evidence to the local authority. I argued strongly for the need for socialist geographers to involve them selves in local issues on behalf of deprived groups in society, but noted that this could create tensions between academic and socialist work, with political pressures being put upon us by colleagues in the geographic profession and by our employers. Such views provoked a con siderable and wide-ranging discussion with some contributors suggesting that our main role should be to expose students to socialist approaches, others that we could not make much of a contribution as geographers to local problems for our geographical skills were comparatively unimportant. Some felt that geographers have more to learn from involvement in class

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84 Annual Conference

struggle than to inform or teach it, and others that involvement in local problems could ignore more fundamental problems in the underdeveloped world for example. Finally, the question of what is socialist geography was raised and how to communicate it to students and colleagues. For those interested in such issues the Union of Socialist Geographers will be developing perspectives upon them in future work.

Ian Cook Liverpool Polytechnic

Geography and literature

The third meeting of geographical literates, chaired by J. Appleton (Hull) and convened by D. Pocock (Durham), had as its theme, Landscape and memory. In a broad review D. Pocock used imaginative literature and experiences from everyday life to illustrate the circularity of time; landscapes of memory and hope are intertwined. Memory is an alchemy of remem bering, forgetting and creating. Recalls, contemplated or spontaneous, are part of life's experience. Examples were given of landscapes of memory-of compressed time-worthy of study.

D. Lowenthal (UCL) observed that landscapes lacked the novelty and freshness of the original experiences. But the rediscovery both of one's own past and of historical and prehis toric scenes often proved exciting and fruitful. Various types of memory-personal, historical, mythic, memento mori-differ in their genesis and in their characteristic features, and variations among landscapes and observers affect the strength and nature of memory.

Memory and history are often confounded, and over time personal recall has progressively given way to records and other aides-memoires. Although we mourn the loss of memory, forgetting is an essential part of the process of recall and in making memory itself significant.

C. Laverick and G. Armitage (Hull) presented an investigative framework whereby the transformation of landscape experience to the art form of the novel is affected via the processes of memory and recollection. Artistic constraints mean that the resultant landform differs from that recorded by the layman.

D. Cosgrove (Loughborough) discussed collective memory, showing how in the example of Venice community, belief and landscape formed an organic unity. It was shown, firstly, how the city-state was remembered and made memorable, how the myth was appropriated and exploited (especially in England), and how the myth was then reformulated in Ruskin's Stones of Venice. Ruskin's history was fictive rather than subjective.

D. Pocock University of Durham

Soviet Union and Eastern Europe: geographical changes in planned economies

This session, convened by David Turnock (Leicester) and chaired by Tony French (UCL), attracted a small but enthusiastic audience on the final afternoon of the conference. The programme opened with a set of land use studies, beginning with a review of Recent changes in the Polish countryside by Andrew Dawson (St. Andrews). Agriculture must become more productive on small pivate farms, yet pollution depresses yields while prices remain too low and government discourages amalgamation of holdings. A solution may lie in the establish

ment of a flexible cooperative system but meanwhile the crisis in agriculture remains an

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