*** APOLOGIES FOR CROSS-POSTING ***
Call for papers.
During the XIIIth World Congress of the International Economic History
Association in Buenos Aires, 22-26 July 2002, there will be a session
(three or four papers) on migration flows from urban to rural areas in
industrialized economies. The session title is: "'Back to the Land':
Counter-urbanization, Countryside and Culture in Industrial Economies'.
The main focus of the session will be on explaining where and why
counter-urban migration has taken place. Papers which adopt a comparative
perspective (especially those which relate to countries outside Western
Europe/North America) are particularly welcome.
Two themes which it is hoped the session will explore are (1) the
relationship between counter-urbanization and economic development and (2)
the relevance of social and cultural factors to contrasting national
experiences of counter-urbanization.
At this stage potential contributors are asked to provide a preliminary
title and a commitment to submit a full abstract by the end of February
2000.
The full text of the session proposal accepted by the IEHA is reproduced
below. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any initial
queries. Further information about the XIIIth World Congress can be
obtained from the IEHA website at http://www.eh.net/XIIICongress.
Contact details:
Dr Jeremy Burchardt
Rural History Centre
University of Reading
Whiteknights, PO Box 217,
Reading, RG6 6AG
United Kingdom.
telephone: +44 (0)118 9318665
email: [log in to unmask]
Text of accepted session proposal:
'BACK TO THE LAND': COUNTER-URBANIZATION, COUNTRYSIDE AND CULTURE IN
INDUSTRIAL ECONOMIES
Urbanization has traditionally been seen as a pivotal component of the
shift from agrarian to industrial societies, and of the rising living
standards which ensued. But in the twentieth century the relationship
appears in many parts of the world to have been reversed. The causes and
implications of this shift remain obscure. Why have such large numbers of
people chosen to go 'back to the land' in industrialized economies in the
twentieth century? Is there a relationship between stages of economic
development and counter-urban migration? If so, is this the result of
falling opportunity costs of living in the countryside, or of increasing
personal incomes, or of a rise in the disutility of living in cities?
Alternatively, should counter-urbanization be seen as a largely
socio-cultural rather than economic phenomenon? In Britain, often
taken as the paradigmatic case, counter-urbanization was associated with a
culture which, it has been alleged, was deeply antipathetic to urban and
industrial values. This raises fundamental questions about the role of
culture in mediating the relationship between town and country in
societies with very different economic structures and political
traditions.
This session is co-organized by Dr Jeremy Burchardt and Professor E.J.T.
Collins (Director, Rural History Centre, University of Reading).
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