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***Apologies for cross posting*** Half-day session at Royal Geographical Society / Institute of British Geographers Annual Conference 2001 University of Plymouth Tues 2nd - Fri 5th Jan. Discourses of Social Exclusion Tim Hall, Geography and Environmental Management Research Unit, Cheltenham and Gloucester College of Higher Education, Francis Close Hall, Swindon Road, Cheltenham, GL50 4AZ. Tel: 01242 532836; Email: [log in to unmask] This session aims to critically examine ideas of social exclusion circulating within policy, media, academic and popular debates. It seeks to provide critical analyses of the discourses of social exclusion emergent in recent years and to read social exclusion as a rhetorical device, a way of labeling people and place and as justifying policy and government intervention in the urban realm. In addition it seeks to include excluded voices and alternative articulations of exclusion with a view to challenging dominant constructions of social exclusion and suggesting alternatives. In doing so the session would hope to attract academics from a range of disciplines including geography, sociology, politics, policy studies, media studies, linguistics and cultural studies. Themes that session participants might explore include the following, although alternatives would also be welcome: * Meanings of social exclusion in government policy * Media constructions of social exclusion * Iconographies and images of social exclusion * Public understanding of social exclusion and its spaces * The emergence of ideas of social exclusion * Constructing the spaces of social exclusion * Representations of socially excluded communities * Social exclusion, race and space * Social exclusion and local maps of meaning * Social exclusion as justification for policy and government intervention * Articulating the experience of social exclusion * Mediating the voices of social exclusion * Challenging discourses of social exclusion * Methodologies for reading the political spectacle Those interested in contributing to this session please send an abstract of up to 150 words to Tim Hall via post or email by 31st May 2000. In addition to the conference I am intending to put together an edited volume on this issue. If you are unable to attend the conference but would be interested in contributing to the volume please contact Tim Hall to discuss your idea or send a chapter proposal (200-300 words) to Tim Hall via email or post by the 31st May 2000. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%