Dear All
This year's Progress in Human Geography Lecture at RGS-IBG conference
will be given by
Gill Valentine
at 13.10 - 14.25 on Thursday 30 08 07
in the Ondaatje Theatre
Everyone welcome
Title and Abstract are as follows
'Living with Difference': reflections of geographies of encounter'
Stuart Hall (1993: 361) has argued that 'the capacity to live with
difference is, in my view, the coming question of the 21st century'. In
this Progress in Human Geography annual lecture I reflect on
geographical contributions to academic and policy debates about how we
might forge civic culture out of difference. In doing so I begin by
tracing and drawing together insights from a set of disparate
geographical writings about - the micro-publics of everyday life,
hospitality, and new urban citizenship - that have sought to understand
the role of shared space in providing the opportunity for encounter
between 'strangers'. This literature is considered in the light of an
older tradition of work about 'the contact hypothesis' from psychology.
Then, employing original empirical material, I critically reflect on the
notion of 'meaningful contact', and the transmission of positive and
negative emotions. In conclusion I explore the paradoxical gap that
emerges in geographies of encounter between values and practices.
Best wishes
Roger
--
Roger Lee AcSS
professor of geography
Queen Mary, University of London
http://www.geog.qmul.ac.uk
managing editor
Progress in Human Geography
http://www.pihgjournal.com
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